At a time when our sector is confronting massive challenges with workforce shortages and burnout, we all need to ensure we are supporting each other on our teams. The issue is so important to us at the National Council of Nonprofits that we express it as one of our core values, “Honoring the nonprofit workforce.” In that spirit, Heather Iliff, President & CEO of Maryland Nonprofits, shares with us her organization’s inspiring commitment to “Creating a Culture That Cares,” and the step-by-step process that any nonprofit can use to get there.
Earth Day will be observed as a celebration next week. Also observable that day, but not celebrated, will be the damaging effects of climate change bearing down on all nonprofits. That’s why this edition’s second piece, “Climate Change Is Harming Your Nonprofit,” identifies a sampling of climate change challenges all nonprofits are experiencing. It then urges steps all nonprofits can take to align our actions with our values as we advance our missions.
Finally, in keeping with our commitment to provide actionable tips for you, we share “dos and don’ts” for nonprofits to ensure your email communications land not in spam folders, but in inboxes where they belong. We hope you find this month’s issue to be thought-provoking, meaningful, and helpful. If you have questions, comments, kudos, or criticism, don’t hesitate to share them with Managing Editor Amy Silver O’Leary.
Creating a Culture That Cares in Five Nourishing Steps
Nonprofit organizations tend to be experts at caring. We care for people at critical points in their lives, we care for the wellbeing of our communities, we care about making systemic changes through public policy, we care about racial equity, we care about our democracy, and we care about making the world a better place. Ironically, all this caring is often directed “out there” into the wider world to advance our missions, meaning we too frequently miss the importance of creating a culture of caring inside our organizations. Read about the journey Maryland Nonprofits has been taking to embrace a caring work culture, and learn five key ways other nonprofits can do so as well – enabling them to retain and recruit stellar teams that work together in harmony.
Climate Change is Harming Your Nonprofit
(… and what you and all nonprofits can do about it!)
The unsettling juxtaposition of two recent reports makes this urgent truth unavoidable and crystal clear: climate change is threatening the sustainability of all nonprofits. While climate impacts such as megadrought and mega-flooding impose obvious, substantial consequences on everyone in the direct-impact zones of extreme weather events, less obviously, these climate change consequences also impact all nonprofits – and not just those with missions focused on the environment and conservation, and not just those in the hardest hit geographic areas. This article explores how, without changing or expanding our missions, nonprofits can – and must – take action to respond to climate change by aligning our actions with our values.
Making Sure Your Emails Land - and Are Accessible
A nonprofit’s email list contains valuable contact information for donors, board members, community members, event participants, alumni, volunteers, members, advocates, and other stakeholders. Being able to email them reliably, and having confidence that emails will land in their inboxes and not in their spam folders, is crucial to any nonprofit’s engagement strategy. We’ve assembled seven “email dos and don’ts” that can help you make sure your emails are seen and your audiences engaged in advancing your nonprofit’s mission.
Come Work with Us!
Our team is expanding: we’re looking for a Communications Specialist and an experienced Executive Assistant to the President & CEO to join us as we work with nonprofits to champion the public good.
Looking for other nonprofit jobs? Check out the Nonprofit Career Center.
New Resources:
- The Department of Education is overhauling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to provide a path to relief for millions of nonprofit and other public service workers struggling under the weight of student loan debt. To spread the word, our Accessing Public Service Loan Forgiveness webinar was held last week in partnership with the Student Borrower Protection Center.
- Most nonprofits are now required to file their annual tax returns electronically. The Aspen Institute’s Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation has a new brochure covering e-filing, Opening the 990, which provides an overview of e‑filing requirements, process, benefits, and resources. The brochure also includes tips like, “If your organization has a revenue of $100K or less, you may wish to check this list of IRS-approved online providers for a provider that will prepare and transmit your return for free.”
- Venable LLP reports that the Small Business Administration (SBA) is auditing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness applications, including for nonprofit organizations that received loans. Thus far, the audits have focused primarily on loans of $2 million or more, but the SBA may expand its review to smaller loans.
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