 |
|
The Equal Justice NetworkThe Website of the Project for the Future of Equal Justice |
|
|
NONPROFITS: THE DOT COMS, DOT ORGS, AND OTHER DOTS 7115 B Monmouth Avenue Ventnor NJ 08406 609.822.3558 dgriesmann@aol.com January 15, 2001
WITHOUT COST TO YOU - FREE, FREE, FREE. This article is a starting place for finding web sites and linkages to other web sites that will give you the help you are looking for. In preparation of this article during January 2001, the author has looked at several hundred-web sites. Leads that I have followed have been useful. Many leads have been a total waste of time. I have tried to include sites that may be around and may be kept current for awhile and therefore the links in this article may not waste your time. There are sites that are maintained by nonprofit groups, by individuals and by profit making corporations. The material, however, that is listed here is currently free to the user. The fact that a web site is under one title, say, Board of Directors, that site may have material appropriate to other sections of this article, such as Grant Writing. I may have missed some sites you have found to be invaluable; please let me know. The Table of Contents of this article includes: I have listed the URL for all sites that are discussed in this article. If you have your Internet Provider on and this article on the screen, you should be able to access the sites as you scroll through this article by clicking on the URL. I suggest you bookmark or mark "Favorite" on each URL you want to keep. Depending on your system, you may have to copy and paste the URL to have access to the site. The Foundation Center is an incredible site of news, articles and linkages, http://fdncenter.org/.. The section entitled The Philanthropy News Digest shows online funding sources and nonprofit resources. There is a list of current Requests for Proposals (RFP). This section has a free newsletter that is e-mailed every Tuesday night. The Grantmaker Information section links to over 1,500 grantmaker sites. There is a Foundation Finder available if you have the name of the foundation to search through 59,000 private and community foundations. The Foundation Folder allows any foundation to have a presence on the Center's web site. It is possible to research any foundation's Federal tax return, Form 990 PF. There are links to nonprofit resources under a variety of categories. A new section, FC Stats, is a free online resource that provides access to statistical data about foundations and their funding patterns. The Center maintains an Online Library where the staff will answer questions about foundations and nonprofit resources. Online training is available about the grantseeking process, proposal writing and how to research a foundation. This may sound daunting, but the Center's web site is user-friendly, current and well maintained. The free electronic newsletters include the RFP Bulletin, the Philanthropy News Digest and news from the Center's New York or their other community's Library and Center. A search engine dedicated to serving nonprofit organizations and philanthropic sectors is located at http://www.philanthropysearch.com/. There are speed searches to fundraising, managing nonprofits, volunteering, foundations and grants and more. There is also a speed search for charities listed under the following categories: Art and Culture, Education, Social Services, Religious Charities, Environment, Children and Youth, Animal Protection, Health Charities and Seniors. The links generally lead to other sites. Agencies can submit their web sites to Philanthropic Search without cost for a cross-reference. Deborah Kluge is an independent consultant in proposal writing and government contracting. Her web site,
http://www.proposalwriter.com/, is an easily managed location. She has articles aimed at nonprofit groups and new businesses. There are helpful references for small, minority, women-owned and other disadvantaged businesses. She has an excellent proposal writing checklist and links to other grant sources and articles. The navigational bar on the left side is very helpful. The Council on Foundations is an association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. It is a membership organization. It provides help to people who want to start a foundation. On the Home Page, http://www.cof.org, there is a navigational bar on the left side. Two places to look for our interests are found by clicking on "Links and Networking". In the "Links and Networking" section, click on "Affinity Groups". There is a comprehensive list of select diverse affinity groups' web sites. Also click on "COF Member Web Sites"; this site has links to the web sites of all the Council's members. There are excellent articles and links to other funding sources. One article, "Cultures of Caring: Philanthropy in Diverse American Communities", challenges institutional philanthropy to support four population groups, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. The Council has a newsletter but there is no direct link that I could find from the Home Page. An article, "Inner Secrets of Successful Proposals", is a total secret at this web site. I tried pulling it off the Home Page links without success. Try http://www.cof.org/foundationnews/0300/secrets.htm and you should get it. This "secret" article gives you the funders' view of what makes a successful proposal, important stuff it seems to me.
Tony Poderis has an excellent site about good old fashioned fund-raising with new twists. See his material at http://www.raise-funds.com/ . He has free handouts, articles about fund-raising, tips and techniques and a library. Material is available in Spanish and French. Tony will keep you informed when new material is posted on this site with a free e-mail service. Putnam Barber has a compilation of online resources for fund raising. The alphabetical listing of sites is very helpful. There must be some 156 links covering charity opportunities, schools, advocacy, women and so on. Some reference sites are being updated so give this site a start - http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/misc/990804olfr.html. Raising funds for charity on the Internet is growing rapidly. There are some studies indicating that visitors to such sites rarely contribute to a charity on line, but this is a new approach and may grow - or fail - over time. I encourage you to take a look and find out for yourself. Several national groups, such as the Big Brothers and Big Sisters are on at least one site. As noted elsewhere in this document, sites come and sites go. The e-philanthropy is subject to the market place and can close overnight. See articles at
TechSoup, http://www.techsoup.org/news_article.cfm_newsid=488,
http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v13/i17/17000101.htm
and http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22944,00.html
showing how quicksilver this aspect is. There is also the fear of fraud. On June 19, 2001 Damien Cave wrote in the Salon.com that "Most experienced Net users filter forwarded e-mails according to at least one simple rule: Sad stories probably aren't true, and really sad stories that ask for donations aren't just false, they're probably scams or viruses." For the full story, see http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/06/19/dawson/index.html. The lesson here is do your research, verify information before you support some scam. All of this is to say that there are scams. There has to be verification of YOUR appeal as well. You will not simply be believed just because you believe in your mission. Seeking funds through web sites and the Internet have to be demonstrably true. One place to start looking at this phenomenon is the Nonprofit-Matrix, http://nonprofitmatrix.com/. This site offers helpful descriptions of the new ways of raising funds through the Net. One section shows affinity shopping where a nonprofit agency can share in the online shopping habits of the agency's supporters; see HelpaNon-Profit that assists schools at http://www.helpanonprofit.com/ as a sample. There are also charity auctions that operate like other online auctions, but the proceeds go to the charity. There are sites that can help an organization listed in the matrix begin and maintain an e-mail campaign. Throughout this site, there are matrix groups that charge a fee and others where there is no fee for the assistance. If you are looking for ways to do fundraising in addition to grant writing, try http://www.fundraising.com/. Fund Raising.Com has traditional ways to raise money: T-shirts, aromatherapy, candles, lollipops, and the like. The organization or school will keep 86% of the money raised in this fashion. There is also an Online Fundraising Mall. For instance purchasing from Hickory Farms through the fund raising site will produce 7% of the sale for the charity of choice, if the charity is listed with the site. The site claims the organization or school keeps 100% of the commission. The site also claims the number of business partners is growing rapidly. DonationsToday.Com web site says it is a fund-raiser for 501 (c) organizations only, http://www.donationstoday.com/. They refer to their process as "Alternative Marketing" in raising funds. The system works from nonprofit groups' web sites with a banner from a company such as WalMart. A person visiting the NPO's site is invited and encouraged to shop. When a visitor shops at WalMart from the NPO web site, the NPO receives a commission. The system will match each dollar earned by participating. The company offers to set the system up at no cost and has a monthly newsletter. Donordigital is a consulting firm and web developer to the nonprofit community. They have a free newsletter and offer help in Internet strategy, possible partnerships with major Internet sites to distribute information about the nonprofit and seek funding. The site is http://www.fundraisingonline.com/. CyberGrants operates a search engine for both grant makers and grantseekers. Grantmakers have a fee schedule, but grantseekers do not. The site, http://www.cybergrants.com/, has an application process online with assistance and suggestions. The search engine can help the nonprofit organization match up the request with possible grantmakers with similar interests online. There is also e-mail assistance available. Another site where nonprofit groups can register the group and donors can select the group is located at http://www.helping.org/. Donors can select a charity to support through a directory search by type of charity, state or city. The database has over 640,000 nonprofit groups. Helping has partnered with other databases including Guidestar and others. Guidestar is a project of Philanthropic Research, Inc., a nonprofit organization itself. Guidestar offers donors an opportunity to give to charities on line. Agencies have to register to be included. There is a tutorial at the site to assist the enlisting; see http://www.guidestar.org/. Guidestar is now affiliated with Grantstar, http://www.grantstar.org, where you will find assistance on seeking grants and writing proposals. Workingforchange maintains a fundraising process for more than 300 nonprofit organizations in 11 categories, http://www.workingforchange.com/. This is an online resource for social action, advocacy and change featuring shopping for change, volunteering for change and activism. There is a biweekly newsletter. An older site dated 1996, but still useful, is the Non-Profit Guides at http://www.npguides.org/. There are five guides: grant writing, web design, housing management, tenant's rights and medical care rights. I will discuss only the grant writing guide here. The guide has a sample grant inquiry letter, grant application, and grant budget and other documents. There is a 10-point plan for a standard grant funding proposal. An extensive link-page is helpful with references to grantmakers, clearinghouses, and university-based sites with even more links. Yahoo has foundation grant links at http://www.yahoo.com/, then click on "Society and Culture", then under categories click on "Issues and Causes", and finally under "Categories" click on "Philanthropy". Follow the leads from there, one of which is "Grant Making Foundations". There are many other categories under "Issues and Causes" worth a look. Grant Help has good links to grant writing, Federal funds, and other assistance. Take a look at
http://granthelp.clarityconnect.com/resources.htm. There are two sites where you may be able to get "stuff" rather than funds. Gifts In Kind International handles what it calls product philanthropy. Charities have to register. In some parts of the country the process is through the local United Way. Visit the site at http://www.giftsinkind.org and look at the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section first then decide if this is for your nonprofit. The other place for "stuff", in this case recycled computers, try Share the Technology, http://www.sharetechnology.org. This nonprofit organization connects computer donors and nonprofit donation seekers throughout the country. Another viewpoint, though aimed at donated computers and school systems, has meaning for NPOs as well, http://www.siia.net/divisions/education/donatecomp.asp. Those who are considering accepting recycled computers and those seeking more information on technology should visit http://www.coyotecom.com. Jayne Cravens has a consulting firm, Coyote Communications, and her web site features Tip Sheets worth reading. One is about looking carefully at recycled computers as you would a gift horse. Her Tip Sheets are aimed at nonprofits and are about technology. There are two sources of funds that are not yet net-friendly. One source is State government grants. Each State has some sort of Home Page and from there a search button may be available. I have tried a variety of words to find where the State grants are listed, including "RFP", "Grants", "Funding" and so on. The best response I have received at several State sites is "Grant Availability". Also check the State departments or State agencies that parallel your agency's mission or interest and look on that web site. Do not be afraid of being creative - your interests may not be seen in the same light as the State and may be in some strange department or agency. There are usually links at State Home Pages to "departments" or to "grants" or "public notices". We have to face the fact, however, that most States are not using the web to seek interested applicants for their funds. If you have AOL as your Internet Provider, there is a Government Guide that includes the Federal, State and local governments, http://www.governmentguide.com/. That may be useful in your State to search for grants. Other Internet Providers may have similar assistance on the web. See the article on "Plugged In, Tuning Up: An Assessment of State Legislative Websites" by the OMB Watch, http://www.ombwatch.org/npadv/2001/stlg/index.html. The second source of funds that is not yet net-friendly is faith-based organizations. Many faiths, national, regional and local faiths, judicatories, diocese and so on are willing to fund social programs. The Roman Catholic Church, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran and Jewish faiths and others have contributed to causes. The starting place usually is with a local place of worship and contact with either a lay leader or the religiously trained leader. Personal spheres of influence are invaluable to securing funds successfully from faith-based organizations. There is one well-known faith-based sector for funds operated by the Roman Catholic Campaign for Human Development, http://www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/index.htm. The CHD funds community-based groups generally. The two funding opportunities of CHD are for organizing and for economic development. The site has the process easily outlined with deadlines and the application process. CHD has local contacts that are detailed on the site by State and Diocese. I do not mean to shortchange other faith-based charities, but this one grantor does stand out nationally. This article has been updated as you can see at the beginning. Quite apart from my efforts here, President George W. Bush has presented his initiative for greater participation by faith-based organizations in helping the homeless, recovering addicts and others. I will leave to scholars and theologians the First Amendment issues of freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Both faith-based and community-based organizations have fought hard for a finite amount of Federal, State and other dollars for decades. Those of us who have been in the grant writing pursuit are aware of the restrictions attached to grants, particularly Federal grants. There continues to be in my opinion with this new initiative a need for a renewed endeavor for collaboration to avoid competition and duplication. It will be an interesting time if the plan becomes reality. We also have to realize that some foundations and other grant makers receive more applications than they can handle. They may find it helpful to be invisible on the World Wide Web. The starting place for seeking federal funds, in my opinion, is the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance, http://www.cfda.gov/. This site is a compendium of Federal programs, projects, services and activities, which provide financial and non-financial assistance. The Home Page lists "Features" on the left-hand side including a section on developing and writing a proposal for Federal grants. Another section provides helpful assistance in applying for Federal funds and has a link to Standard Form 424, Application for Federal Assistance. You can scroll through a list of Catalogue highlights with links to information about grants, in alphabetical order from Agriculture to Utilities and Infrastructure. Another useful Federal site is the NonProfit Gateway at http://www.nonprofit.gov/. There is a network of links to Federal government information and services. There is a search engine of Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA) called "Community Toolbox". The use of this site could be a starting place along with the Catalogue mentioned above. Both are worth a study. It would be great if each State government created a similar site. The Federal Commons, http://www.cfda.gov/federalcommons/, serves the organization community as a portal to Federal agencies, grants and links. Federal departments have web sites that can be useful in finding a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and the application process. The Department of Health and Human Services has created GrantsNet, http://hhs.gov/grantsnet. Click on "Electronic Roadmap to Grants" and review the map that comes into view. Follow your interests. Other Federal department sites can be found rather easily through FirstGov, the first click to the federal government, http://www.firstgov.gov/ and click on "Federal Benefits and Grants" and follow the links to departments and Federal agencies. There is also a search button on the Home Page you can use to find specific items. The greatest detail about federal funds and everything else about the Federal government is the Federal Register, http://www.gpo.gov/. After going to the Home Page, click on "GPO Access", and then click on "Federal Register". The Government Printing Office (GPO) has issues from 1995 to current online. This is the official daily publication of rules, proposed rules and notices of Federal agencies including Federal funds. I would not start here. You may have to go to the Federal Register for the detail about a NOFA. You can research the Federal Register once you have the volume and page(s) numbers from a NOFA. A useful service about Federal Register and some foundation listings about grants and fund availability is provided by Abe's Email Reports. For $50 a year Abe will e-mail you the latest news. Do recognize that Abe does not discriminate about what funds are listed; they are all over the board, but it is close to sliced bread in being helpful. There is an archive of material at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abes-grant-reports. You can contact Abe at Abe's Email Reports, 1546 East 22nd Street, Brooklyn NY 11210 with your check. You can also contact Abe by email at . Please see the section, below, on Funding Periodicals. Innonet, http://www.innonet.org/, provides a WorkStation for nonprofit executives and grant writers to create a strategic plan and program map. The Station will walk you through setting program goals, objectives, activities, outputs and outcomes. There is no charge for the use of this active site. The site offers a free evaluation of one strategic program plan map and an evaluation plan that you create. You can create an evaluation plan on site that includes evaluation questions, indicators of success and strategies for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. You can also work on a program budget, fund raising and an action plan. There are 11 common grant application forms from which an agency can download the plan created at the WorkStation. When you log in the first time, you can select to receive a quarterly newsletter. There are links to other sites including how to start a nonprofit organization, evaluation, and fundraising, grant research and availability of funds. If you are at the beginning of starting a nonprofit program, this one is a place to start. This article does not go into detail about incorporating an organization but I intend to write a similar piece on that subject in the near future with Internet links and my own experiences. Grantstech, http://www.grantstech.com/, is a guide, it states, "to winning grants". There are useful tools and links to funding sources. The most valuable section may be the "cheat sheet" to measure the viability of an application. There are several lists, such as the 12 tips to strengthen your proposal and the 10 common mistakes and how to avoid them. There are other keys to successful grant management and the basis for evaluation of proposals. More and more grant makers require an assessment with measurable goals and objectives. United Way organizations have provided training for their member agencies throughout the country. Much of the material they use can be found at http://national.unitedway.org/outcomes/pgmomres.htm. If you are looking for the answers to outcome measurements, inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, indicators and targets, then this is the site for you. Check the United Way Online Resource Library as well. Some sites "KISS it", keep it simple, stupid. Grant Proposal.Com is one of them at http://www.grantproposal.com/. It offers step-by-step assistance in preparing a grant proposal to a private funder. The site has suggestions about the letter of inquiry covering strategy, introductory paragraph, mission, history and accomplishments, need, vision, other funding and costs, timetables, leadership and closing. There are site chapters on preparing the full proposal, research, and advice from funders and tips. The National Network of Grantmakers is an organization of individuals involved in funding social and economic justice. It is not a funding group. Through its web site, http://www.nng.org/, the group provides services to funders and grantseekers. Among its initiatives has been a push for foundations to increase the annual payout by at least 1% more each year. The site maintains a list of over 200 foundations with profiles on each with facts about the application process, timelines, contact person and budget information. The foundations are indexed by region, funding interest and other criteria. There is a toolkit covering topics from proposal writing to language to avoid when approaching mainstream funders. The organization has available a common grant application now accepted by over 40 foundation grant programs. The application form is useful to assess other applications you are working on to measure what you have covered or not covered. There are online resources with web addresses to foundations, fundraising, nonprofit management, technical assistance, E-philanthropy and more. There is a free "Grant Writing School" at http://granthelp.clarityconnect.com/ that is worth attending. There are seven lessons from types of proposals to after the application has been submitted. Grant Help has a section on links and a free newsletter If you are looking for a place to discuss funding, foundations, fundraising, mentoring and other topics of interest to you with your nonprofit peers, try Charity Channel, http://charitychannel.com/. The Channel claims over 40,000 of our peers have used the forum setup by e-mail. 4. Funding Periodicals The Chronicle of Philanthropy can be found at http://philanthropy.com. The Federal Assistance Monitor is, in my opinion, an incredibly useful newsletter, http://www.cdpublications.com/funding. CD Publications publishes a dozen periodicals covering topics that range from education, children and youth, school technology and youth crime to disabilities, mental health, AIDS and substance abuse. These periodicals can help a nonprofit organization find federal and private grants and they describe model programs. The Federal Assistance Monitor is the only periodical to which I have subscribed out of that list; however, CD Publications will send a sample of other periodicals to whet your appetite. The Federal Assistance Monitor briefly describes available grants with addresses, telephone numbers and web sites for the request for funding. It offers model programs, suggestions for preparing applications and covers some foundations by states and interest. I found it invaluable to get a leg up on grants and planning applications. There are reports on congressional legislation, policy development and budget appropriations. The price is currently $309 per year for 24 issues, 16-18 pages per issue. Paid subscribers can receive e-mail alerts at no additional cost. CD Publications does offer free e-mail on housing and community development, grant seeking and fund raising, senior issues and business and legal issues. Philanthropy News Network On Line (PNN) began as a print medium in Raleigh NC. In March 2000 it placed its products in a web-based format. PNN can be found at http://www.pnnonline.org/. PNN offers training and conferences for nonprofit groups. There is PNN Alert, a free e-mail twice a week and a free e-mail newspaper. There are excellent articles for nonprofits. When you sign up for the e-mail service, the prompts will ask for your website to be listed if that would be useful to your organization. There are links to private foundations, corporate foundations, and community foundations and provides a meta-index to nonprofit sites with additional links. It was difficult deciding where to suggest looking at sites about management. When I discovered Donald Clark's material, the task became very easy. Start with Big Dog's Leadership Page, http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/, and click on leadership. The name of the site may take you there, but the material will keep you there. There is excellent material on leadership with very helpful links to other leadership sites. There is the equivalent of a book on leadership with superb appendices. Set aside some personal time to live with The Big Dog. There is good reading and good study available. Check out About Big Dog's Bowl of Bones so you will know how you can and cannot use the material. Don Clark works for Starbuck's coffee in Seattle. He maintains this site with great love and great knowledge and dedication. I also recommend his site on "Performance" and the measurement tools that are available as well as his section on training. Big Dog has an e-mail service. I suggest also looking at http://www.advantagehiring.com/ as an early starting place. This site is not directly for nonprofit groups but for any business - and nonprofits are a business. AdvantageHiring offers tools for recruiters and employers. The site has a free interviewer training module worth the time to work through. There is a free electronic newsletter available. There are articles on a variety of hiring issues. On the right, green section of the Home Page, click on "Community", and then "Articles" on the next page. Articles feature discussions about recruiting on the web and through technology, the hiring interview, employee turnover and finding and retaining employees. There is a very useful section discussing the trends and news about hiring. See this author's article on Recruiting and Interviewing Prospective Employees, which can be found at www.advantagehiring.com/community/articles/griesmann_1200.shtml. AdvantageHiring has a free e-mail newsletter. The University of Maryland Civil Society Initiative and the Independent Sector have a collaborative web site, http://independentsector.org. The site is brought by a coalition of leading nonprofits, foundations and corporations to strengthen not-for-profit initiatives, philanthropy and citizens' action. The site about initiatives offers model programs throughout America that are working at the grass-roots area and renewing a spirit of volunteerism by the people most affected by the problems. The areas of sample programs covered at the site are arts and culture, economic development, education, environment, food and hunger, governance, health, housing, security and justice, senior citizens, technology, transportation and youth. There are links to research resources and a bibliography. There is a pull-down menu on leadership that offers an overview, a discussion of a three-sector collaborative looking at changing roles, changing relationships and the new challenges for business, nonprofits and government. There is a section that discusses leadership and ethics and accountability and there is one on organizational effectiveness. All of these are part of the pulldown menu under "Leadership" and are excellent. Another excellent perspective on organizational effectiveness, from a foundation's perspective, is the study "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Grantees". The publication is addressed to the foundation's grantees (and the rest of us) and can be found at the web site of the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, http://www.packfound.org/. Click on "Publications" and scroll down to the bottom of that page for the link to the article. This foundation has a special focus to groups in Northern California. The Benton Foundation has excellent material on advocacy in this century by and for low-income communities. See http://www.benton.org/Nonprofits/. There are articles on public policy and advocacy along with best practice toolkits on the Internet. There are samples of what others have done to develop advocacy plans in their community and on the World Wide Web. The University of Wisconsin and the Society of Nonprofit Organizations (http://www.danenet.org/snpo) have collaborated in developing the Learning Center for Nonprofit Organizations at http://www.uwex.edu/li. The Learning Center sponsors satellite series and has an Internet service for learning in their Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership and Management series. The topics include strategic planning, resource development, social entrepreneurship and, with United Way of America, outcome measurements. There is a charge for the courses and Continuing Education Units are available. The nonprofit world is still catching up to the world of technology. More and more, funders are asking for more information and demanding greater accountability. In recent reviews of several nonprofit organizations, I found there is still a lot of confusion about a database and what it is and what it is not. A useful site operated by the New York Foundation of the Arts is the monthly online magazine, Nonprofit ToolKIT, http://nptoolkit.com/. Each month the magazine offers information and helpful suggestions about nonprofit use of technology. The site reviews and assesses fundraising software, which kind of databases lends themselves to fundraising and other resource development. The site has a tutorial on what is a database and how do you know how to pick out the right software. Staying on the technology stage for another site, try TechSoup, http://www.techsoup.org/. You will find a variety of articles on technology at the menu on the left-hand side. TechSoup is self-advertised as the Technology Place for Nonprofits. It is doing its job well. Take a tour of the Technology Planning sections about hardware, software, using the Internet and web building. A valuable resource is the worksheets that include but are not limited to assessing accounting software and assessing the organization's technology needs. There is a Community Center featuring a message board and nonprofit stories. See also http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22944,00.html for the elements of a technology plan. The Public Interest Risk Institute partners with insurance companies and foundations to sponsor the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. The Center maintains a site at http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/. The Center offers books on risk management and a CD-ROM risk assessment tool for $89. The site, however, has a tutorial to the risk management process without cost. The tutorial gives an oversight to risk management techniques. It has sections, with exercises, to assess danger and solutions, about people and good will, property and income, and your agency's risk management program (or lack thereof). If you have not taken risks and vulnerability seriously, try this tool and assess the risks that may be in front of you. You may be surprised. There is an article from 1994 that alerts us all to what can happen in the worksite, http://www.brobeck.com/docs/unthink.htm. The article by Daniel Weisberg offers constructive ideas and cautions in facing a disgruntled employee: what about psychological testing, cover the background, prohibit threats and intimidation, investigate promptly, provide constructive outlets, develop an emergency plan and secure the premises. He tells the personal story when a client of his law firm arrived at the office with two 9-mm Uzi-type automatics and a semiautomatic 45-caliber handgun. The apparently disgruntled client killed eight people, three coworkers of Weisberg, and injured three others. He killed himself when confronted by police. This is heavy stuff and cannot be taken lightly by any not-for-profit. The law in your state may be different than the law stated in the article, which is now over 6 years old. A Canadian site is worth the time for review, http://leadership.gc.ca .I was able to log on even though I am not Canadian, do not work for the Canadian government and I do not live in a Canadian Province. The Canadian government maintains this site. You will have to create a log-in page - simply tell the truth and select "Other" when asked a question you cannot answer. The web site has incredible tools about leadership, including but not limited to Leadership Competency Tool, Valuing Our People, Leader's Self Assessment Questionnaire, Assessing Leadership and Management Talent, Identifying Managers and Leadership and a variety of assessment and training modules. E-mail updates are available. A site that will offer useful forms and discussions for 501 (c) organizations is 501 click at
http://www.501click.com/mt_main.html; take a visit and look around. Be sure to read the fine print of the terms of use agreement before you start printing things out. The ToolKit is worth some time as well. There is free registration for the material. As you read through this material, you will find many references to business planning. I strongly suggest not-for-profit leaders consider developing a business plan for the agency and for projects. Business plans are not easy and simple to do. Developing a grant and coming up with measurable goals is not simple either, but all funders now require them. Having a business plan may also put you a step ahead of your competition (and tomorrow's
collaborator). I have a comprehensive article about Nonprofit Business Planning that is cited at the end of this article. Another role of management that in my opinion receives short shrift is advocacy. Because there is a growing movement to increase the dialogue and the presence of advocacy on the Internet, there is this special section on the subject. Nonprofit organizations have advocacy obligations without violating IRS regulations. NPOs, however, do not talk about it as a management strategy that needs as much planning as fundraising and other elements. There is a slow beginning for online advocacy. A place to start and to consider the possibilities is the site maintained by John McNutt at http://www.geocities.com/john_g_mcnutt/electron.htm. John has compiled an excellent e-link resource on advocacy, ethics, and research on the subject. The Benton Foundation has excellent material on advocacy in this century by and for low-income communities. See http://www.benton.org/Nonprofits/. There are articles on public policy and advocacy along with best practice toolkits on the Internet. There are samples of what others have done to develop advocacy plans in their community and on the World Wide Web. NetAction, the Virtual Activist, has developed a site that includes instructions on creating an Internet activist list through the "Bcc" field, using e-mail for outreach, organizing and advocacy mailing lists and tools for web-based advocacy and outreach. These can be accessed at http://www.netaction.org/training/bcclist.html, http://www.netaction.org/training/part2b.html and http://www.netaction.org/training/part3a.html. Elizabeth J. Reid has edited a vital series of articles from October 2000 entitled "Structuring the Inquiry to Advocacy" at http://www.urban.org/advocacyresearch/structuring.html. A site that keeps advocates up-to-date on advocacy issues is OMBWatch that is promoting government accountability, http://www.urban.org/advocacyresearch/structuring.html. If organizing by technology and the Internet are a strategy you are considering you will find valuable information from the Organizers' Collaborative at http://www.organizenow.net/. Will advocacy for your favorite cause by e-mail really make an impact_ Are there other means that can be used to get your ideas across and read/heard_ TechSoup has an article by Hilary Naylor with some ideas,
http://www.techsoup.org/articlepage.cfm_articleid=184&topicid=5. Tech Rocks has companion pieces at TechSoup: For another view and helpful information about contacting elected officials about public policy and legislation that affect the nonprofit world, see http://www.givevoice.org. There are suggested ways to make contact through fax and e-mail. The use of volunteers in advocacy is addressed at http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/activist.html. This is the Virtual Volunteering Project and features articles about using the Internet for advocacy. They suggest, rightly, that advocacy requires planning and requires buy-in by staff and the volunteers. There are links to other sites that discuss the limits of nonprofits in lobbying and advocacy in public forums. Fenton Communications has created a new report entitled "Now Hear This" concerning advocacy communication campaigns. You can download the report by chapter from http://www.fenton.com/resources/nht_report.asp. One site that will help you locate elected officials includes Senators, http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm. There appears to be a growing availability on the Internet concerning human resources for nonprofits and other businesses for free. One site that has some material and is worth perusing is http://www.about.com/, click on "Small Business", and then click on "Human Resources" under "Popular Related Issues". This site has a forum to ask questions and receive answers or for further discussion with peers. There is also a section on management. This site also has a section entitled Jobs/Career with the latest discussions about resumes and interviewing skills for the applicant; it is useful for employers to know the latest insight to resume building of applicants. The section entitled "Nonprofit Charitable Organizations" has very useful links to other sites on the Net. Hire Diversity.Com attempts to match job seekers with employers. The site,
http://www.hirediversity.com/,
has what it calls "Channels", or buttons for a number of diverse groups: African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Disabled, Hispanics, Mature Workers, Native-Americans, Veterans and Women. Each channel has articles. There is a free weekly newsletter. For a comprehensive list of "Where are nonprofit jobs listed_" for both employers and jobseekers, see my article at
http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/12/10.html. The Federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, http://www.eeoc.gov/, has a "Quick Start" for employers covering facts about the laws on sexual harassment, equal pay, race/color discrimination and discrimination against other protected classes of people and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Monster Dot Com has a web link to all State civil rights' web sites: http://equalopportunity.monster.com/agencies/. Wetfeet.com is a large virtual online job fair, http://www.wetfeet.com/. There are files for employers and job seekers. Under both files there are useful articles, particularly in the job seekers file. Under "Get Advice", click on "Diversity" and on "Interviewing" for some excellent articles. Equal employment and affirmative action issues can also be researched at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, http://www.naacp.org/, and the National Council of La Raza, http://www.nclr.org/, where there are excellent links to other national civil rights organizations. The American Association for Affirmative Action, http://www.affirmativeaction.org/, also has links to other civil rights groups and mediation services. A useful site is http://thomas.loc.gov that allows agencies to keep up with federal legislative initiatives. Type the phrase "affirmative action" in the search request, and follow the leads. There are a number of proprietary sites that are not free but can be useful. One of them is http://www.firstdoor.com/ that has a search engine, a place to ask questions about human resources and benefits, relevant links, a library, a resource center and a community section. The library is divided into eight sections:
Each section includes a law summary, best practices and case studies. Charges range from $10 for a single use to $90 for a full year. FirstDoor offers a 30-day free trial and you can ask question and have full access to the library, resource center and community section during that period. CareerCity has an interesting and useful section on Human Resources at http://careercity.com. One section offers free sample letters: Offer Letter, Rejection Letter without an interview, Rejection Letter after an Interview, Resume Received Letter without a job opening, Resume Received and will be considered, Post-interview Letter still being considered. Another section has articles on managing change, coaching, conflict resolution, managing difficult employees, leadership and motivation. There are good tips and "Streetwise Advice" worth reading - all free. Another worthy site is located at http://www.employeehandbooks911.com/. This company, Employeehandbook 911, claims it can customize human resource programs for any company. It advertises documents including Employees Handbooks, Management "How to" Guides and Personnel Forms Packages. The customization choices include type of company, number of employees and state. The material can be pricey, but you may find what you need. Auxillium West offers human resources software at http://www.auxillium.com/. The site has an online reference guide, HR manual that features a number of useful articles on HR issues. There is a demo of its Virtual HR Department at the site. There are hyperlinks to the Cornell University School of Industrial Relations and US Department of Labor required forms. The National Center for Nonprofit Boards( http://www.ncnb.org) and CompassPoint ( http://www.compasspoint.org/ ) co-publish an electronic newsletter for members of Boards of Directors of nonprofit organizations. Contact the web site of CompassPoint to be included for the Board Café, as the newsletter is called. The newsletter has useful articles on Board relationships and funding possibilities. One article recently addressed a Board-Staff "Contract" for financial accountability. The National Center for Nonprofit Boards ( http://www.ncnb.org/) provides books, consulting services and other assistance to Boards of Directors. There is a very useful section with links to other sites involving Boards. Go to the "Bookstore" and click on "Free Publications" for a free download about "Beyond Collaboration: Strategic Restructuring of Nonprofit Organizations". A new movement among nonprofit organizations is the development of job descriptions for Board members. The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, http://www.mncn.org/, has a sample of such a document. When you get to the Home Page, click on "Management, Legal & Fund Raising Resources". Scroll down that page. Other excellent articles, among others, at that page are -
These articles reflect Minnesota law and your State may not have the same statutory authority and responsibilities. Nevertheless these articles can be useful. The Management Center of Northern California maintains a useful Board assessment tool at http://www.tmcenter.org/toolintro.html. The Assessment Tool is an effective and free process of answering the questions about how your agency is doing, is it doing it efficiently and is it being successful. The tool is in 8 parts with 80 items in the online questionnaire. The topics of measurement include Administration, Leadership, Board of Directors, Community Relations and Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Planning, Program, and Plant and Equipment. There is a registration process asking questions about your organization, but the only ones you need to answer are your name, the name of your organization and your e-mail address. It is useful to let them know from a pulldown menu what your agency handles. The tool is in modules so you do not have to do all of them at the same time nor do you have to do all of them, only those that interest you. You can select to receive a free newsletter, TMC E-Notes. About.com has many sites about human interest. One subject is nonprofit organizations at http://nonprofit.about.com. On the left column there are a number of links about Boards and other topics. The journey from link to link may show you a gem that interests you and your Board. It seems there are surprises everywhere I have looked. One place for a surprise is the Alliance Resource Center, http://www.allianceonline.org/. I hit a lot of their links before finding the stuff I was interested in. Click on FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). There you will find good articles on Board Development, Financial Management, Strategic Management, Strategic Planning, Fund Raising and Risk Management. The Alliance also has a free electronic newsletter, The Pulse. A consulting firm from Tallahassee Fl, Non Profit Resource Center maintains free material for boards, http://www.nonprofitcenter.org/. At the Home Page, click on "NCRC References on the Internet" and "Incoming President's Planning Workbook". Both sections have articles and board planning forms. The Nonprofit Resource Center, not to be confused with the Non Profit Resource Center mentioned above, is located at
http://not-for-profit.org. There is a Mini-Primer on NPOs and links to Federal pages and some State nonprofit laws. The navigation bar at the top has links to other locations on topics including insurance and accountability. Ginsler and Associates, consultants from Canada, have free material at their site, http://www.ginsler.com, including downloads on a Board orientation manual and a paper on working together, an analysis about collaboration in the United States and Canada. There is a free nonprofit library online sponsored by the Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits out of Minneapolis-St. Paul MN, http://www.mapnp.org/. On the left hand side of the Home Page there is a listing of what they offer - click on the "Free Management Library". The library has 72 categories and 675 topics easily laid out for use and study. The categories include, as examples, business planning, ethics and social responsibility, employee wellness, human resources management, leadership development and many more. The Internet Nonprofit Center, http://www.nonprofits.org/, provides information for and about nonprofit organizations. It too has a useful library of articles. There is a free weekly e-newsletter available. The search menu includes, for example, articles on Board-staff relations, conflict of interest, systems and standards, accounting, risk management and so on. The Argus Clearinghouse, http://www.clearinghouse.net/, is a virtual library that leads you to other libraries and offers ratings or ranking of Internet sites. The keyword system is easy to use. Categories in the library include arts and humanities, communication, computers and information technology, education and more. The social sciences and social issues will lead to links (and ratings of those links) to funding sources. The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Utica New York maintains a current virtual library of material and web sites of and for nonprofit organizations. There are nearly 600 links. The directory topics range from Board and Trustees Resources, Children, Youth and Families, and Computers and Information Technology to Social Entrpreneurship and Volunteerism. The Association offers brief descriptions of each site and ranks some by the designation "Best Bet". You will find this virtual library at http://www.ucp-utica.org/uwlinks/directory.html.
The Internet Public Library maintains a large assortment of material. There is a section on nonprofit organization resources that can be found at http://www.ipl.org/, click on "Collections". When you get to the collection center, click on "Business and Economy", and on that page scroll down to "Nonprofit Organizations" and click on that. Born from Hands-Across-America several decades ago, Handsnet has been a leader in keeping track of news about community-based information and nonprofit organization's activities. This web site, http://www.handsnet.org/, features news. There is a membership cost for some of its services, one of which, Web Clipper, is very useful. You can secure a 30 day free subscription. Organizations are invited to list their websites to Handsnet's site. Raffa and Associates, P.C. from Washington DC feature key issues for nonprofits at a site labeled "Interactive Knowledge for Nonprofits Worldwide". Topics and links to articles cover business (accounting), education (training, conferences), legal issues, fringe benefits, strategic planning, governance and others. The site is http://www.iknow.org/. This could have been listed under Management or Human Resources because there are many helpful documents on those subjects, but it looks like a virtual library to me. Census data for applications can be found at http://www.census.gov/. The 2000 census data are available on this web site. Another location that may have data and studies to support your program and seeking funds is the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization. Take a peek at http://www.urban.org/. A number of web sites listed above have free newsletters. At the risk of being redundant, I will include them here along with other e-mail and e-zines that you may want to receive and review. Those listed are all at no cost. The Foundation Center has several e-mail subscriptions available: the RFP Bulletin, Job Corner Alert, News from The Foundation Center, News from the New York Library (or other Center libraries). Subscribe to one or all at http://fdncenter.org/newsletters. You can subscribe to the Donordigital online information about fundraising, membership development, advocacy and other topics at http://www.topica.com/lists/donordigital. Monster Dot Com is a massive job market. It has an e-mail Human Relations newsletter available, http://hr.monster.com/articles. Monster has a large body of literature aimed at potential employees, and there are gems for employers. You can subscribe to newsletters on technology, human resources, equal opportunity, overseas jobs and others. PNN Alert can be requested at http://pnnonline.org/. As with many excellent sites, the Philanthropy News Network Online will certify by e-mail that you in fact want to be on the subscription list. A newspaper is also available. Michael Gilbert and the Gilbert Center have a weekly newsletter about nonprofit happenings. You can subscribe at http://www.gilbert.org/news. The Nonprofit Guru, Peter F. Drucker, and the Drucker Foundation have a weekly newsletter with the innovation of the week. See http://pfdf.org and add your e-mail address in the box on the left side of the Home Page. There are also excellent articles on the site; it is worth your time. The newsletter, Board Café, can be sought at http://www.compasspoint.org/. "Board Café" has excellent articles about boards of directors. CompassPoint also has a newsletter entitled "Food for Thought" worth reviewing; it is aimed at the San Francisco/The Bay Area, always has a recipe, and has useful information for the rest of us. Grant Help has an e-mail letter about grants. Subscribe at http://granthelp.clarityconnect.com/. Workingforchange issues a biweekly newsletter, http://www.workingforchange.com/. Innonet, at http://www.innonet.org/, has a quarterly newsletter regarding evaluation resources and updates to the site. The Nonprofit Times is a free newspaper for nonprofit agencies eligible to receive it. Sign up at http://www.nptimes.com/ and see if you are eligible. The NonProfitXpress has a web site with the latest new from the nonprofit world and a free e-mail service, http://npxpress.com/. While the focus of this site is global, there is a separate section about North Carolina. A free membership is required. Check in with CD Publications, publisher of the Federal Assistance Monitor, which has free e-mail on housing and community development, grant seeking and fundraising, senior issues and business and legal issues. The site is http://www.cdpublications.com/. Click on "Grant and Funding Newsletters", and then click at the bottom of the page for free e-mail which will take you to a registration page. At the upper right corner of http://www.advantagehiring.com/ is a box to place your e-mail address for a free electronic newsletter. Hirediversity.Com has a free publication. Check at the upper banner for the subscription page, http://www.hirediversity.com/. The Canadian government site, http://leadership.gc.ca, has electronic updates. AllBusiness.Com issues a newsletter and makes on-site material available: human resources, computers and technology, Internet, broadband technology, technology use and privacy, e-commerce and more. The site has a significant file of sample forms that can be downloaded. There is a sample short form business plan. AllBusiness is for profit making companies, however there is helpful material here for not-for-profit groups as well. See them at http://www.allbusiness.com/. Jon Harrison of Michigan State University has an extensive list of newsletters at http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants. Look at Part Two and click on "Newsletters and Current Awareness Services". Please be aware that some of these newsletters may not be free, some sites may have dried up and some require an initial e-mail rather than reaching a web site. Frank Evangelista has an interesting site at http://granthelp.clarityconnect.com. There is an electronic newsletter available. He has more than that, however. His "school" on grant writing is very well done and simple to follow. He also has a link to http://www.jointogether.org/ that features current RFPs that involve violence or gun control. The Management Center has a free newsletter available when you register to use its free Assessment Tool, http://www.tmcenter.org/toolintro.html. Be forewarned - TMC will follow up the use of its free Assessment Tool with an e-mail to you advertising its wares and consultants. You may, of course, ignore the e-mail letter The National Center for Nonprofit Boards maintains a mailing list, http://www.ncnb.org/. Look on the left hand side where to click to be added to the mailing list. The Alliance Center publishes The Pulse, a free electronic newsletter. Subscribe at the Home Page, http://www.allianceonline.org/. A free e-mail service concerning advocacy is offered from the Internet Advocacy Newsletter. Send a blank e-mail message to to be added to the mailing list. The New York Foundation of the Arts maintains an online e-zine called the Nonprofit ToolKIT with useful material about technology and database software at http://nptoolkit.com. There is useful information on using technology effectively through a subscription service from Dot Org. Send a blank e-mail message to . If you are in need of information about creating a technology plan, setting standards, information on Local Access Networks (LAN), backing up data and creating an effective website, make a stop at E-Riders, http://www.eriders.org/resources.html. In June 2001 the Nonprofit Quarterly began a new newsletter. The newsletter refers to the Quarterly that is a hard copy publication and gives brief book reviews and reviews of other articles in the Quarterly. If you want to subscribe to the newsletter or the Quarterly, visit http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/. The nonprofit and non-government arena in America and abroad has developed a number of useful listservs and forums. The following list will give you a feel for the variety and may whet your appetite to participate. The only warning that I have is take a careful look at where you want to participate. If it meets your mission, then great. If it is for personal use, then fine. But you could end up with my situation in life as a listserv/forum junky. I am the junky, not the listservs and forums. I have learned an incredible amount of new and useful information from many people that I know only through this service. If this listserv business is new to you and you would like a better idea of what they do, take a read through the TechSoup article at http://www.techsoup.org/articlepage.cfm_ArticleId=147&topicid=5 by Susan Tenby. She discusses the e-mail lists, the types of lists, their functions and some links to other articles. There is etiquette concerning the use of listservs, called netiquette. Two locations that give helpful discussions about behavior and manners on a listserv so that maximum benefits can be attained from the listservs are found at http://www.dtcc.edu/cs/rfc1855.html and http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html. CharityChannel has over 45,000 nonprofit leaders participating in 50 forums covering such topics as accountability, advancement, advocacy, boards, charity law, human resources, cybergrants, and consultants through technology and volunteers. The Channel also has book reviews. There are several ways to participate. You can join one or more forums and receive all postings and/or you can subscribe to a weekly digest of discussions. Head for the site at http://charitychannel.com/. There is no charge. The discussions are moderated; that is to say that all e-mail is reviewed before it is posted to the listserv group. The Nonprofit address, http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit, has a variety of features and allows an unmoderated process of questions, answers and helpful discussion about nonprofit issues. There are times I find postings both on this listserv and in a forum from CharityChannel. TechSoup features material about nonprofits and technology. The discussions take place at the Message Board. There is a registration process that is free. Check out the spot at http://www.techsoup.org/index.cfm. Helpful articles from opening a new box with a new computer to the latest on web sites for nonprofits can be found here. Stan Hutton who maintains the nonprofit pages on About.com has a nonprofit message board and a registration process. You can access this at http://nonprofit.about.com/, which is the home page for a lot of excellent material, cited above. You can get to the message board. Click on "Discussion Groups" on the left-hand banner and follow the leads. It is unfortunate, but I guess the economy of having About.com relies on them, but I rarely go to the site without having to deal with pop-up pages in my face. Nevertheless the material at Stan Hutton's home is excellent. There are similar forums available on About.com on human resources, management and others. If you comment or post a question, an e-mail service will keep you apprised of further responses. The site at Cool Board allows for posting a message or statement on topics including social sciences, law and other interests, not necessarily related to nonprofits. There is a log showing how many responses have been made to the initial posting. See the site at http://www.coolboard.com/index.cfm. The Foundation Center hosts a Learning Center where visitors can post comments and questions. This URL will take you to the conditions controlling the site, http://members4.boardhost.com/learninglab/#condition. Scroll up from there to see the discussions. There has been significant dialogue about the faith-based initiative. For organizations that work in low income housing, homelessness and community development, I suggest signing on with
for update e-mail and discussions via e-mail. Sonny Covington moderates the mail and does a superb job. Send an e-mail to the HUD-CofC address at Yahoo. If your NPO is looking to create a web discussion forum, take a look at http://www.ezboard.com/ and http://www.yourbbs.com/, both of which can be very helpful. Café UTNE specializes in working with nonprofits, http://café.utne.com/. The two best Listserv setups are found at http://groups.yahoo.com/ and http://www.topica.com/ but there are others. Other Articles on the Internet The author has other articles on the Internet that may be useful to nonprofit leaders: Recruiting and Interviewing Prospective Employees http://www.advantagehiring.com/community/articles/griesmann_1200.shtml http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/12/10.html Nonprofits and Workplace Violence CAVEATS The services and the sites that are contained in this article may have information, facts and opinions from a variety of individuals and organizations. These services and sites are provided on an "As Is" basis. The services and sites may include bulletin boards, chat rooms and other user and member created pages which allow the reader and others to post information, provide feedback and interact in real-time. The reader uses the services and the sites entirely at the reader's own risk. The author has made an attempt to review the sites listed in this article but there are linkages at those sites that he has not reviewed. Readers link to web sites at her/his own risk. Neither sites nor companies listed in this article have paid or offered payment to the author for the inclusion in this article. Many of the sites have User Agreements that should be reviewed. The speed at which sites become obsolete is only exceeded by the speed of light. As I researched the web, many sites were deadends or had not changed since 1996. In fact, by the time you read this, several sites may no longer be in existence. Sites also alter the web design so that the instructions I have noted may no longer be accurate. You will have to look around for the links you want if that is true. The author is an attorney in New Jersey. The purpose of this article is not to provide legal advice to anyone in any state or country. The information contained in this article is for information purposes only. End of lawyer-speak - almost. (c) Copyrighted and all rights reserved by Donald A. Griesmann 2001. However, not-for-profit organizations, community-based organizations, educators and government agencies may reproduce this document without my permission. Just give me credit for it. For-profit persons and businesses are asked to request my permission to reproduce this article in writing in advance. I ask that any one intending to make money reproducing this article receive my permission in writing in advance and be prepared to include me in the process. |
|
