Cornerstone Content
Can We Pay Our Fundraiser a Commission?
It is NOT appropriate for a nonprofit to compensate a fundraising professional based on a percentage of the money raised. See Standard #21 of the AFP Code of Ethical Principles...
The Three Committee Structure – Why and How
Many nonprofit organizations have too many board committees. Worse, they rarely get much accomplished. A typical nonprofit has several committees, Finance, Personnel, Development, and of course (my lease favorite) the...
Internal Controls 101
I work with a lot of emerging and small nonprofit organizations. One of the first things I try to teach nonprofit leaders is the importance of internal controls. In this...
Why You Need Directors & Officers Insurance
A lot of the people I meet with are surprised when I tell them to talk with an insurance agent when they start a nonprofit. For some reason, there’s this...
What Does “Nonprofit” Really Mean Anyway?
Time to bust a MAJOR nonprofit myths. Ready? Nonprofit is a tax status, NOT a business plan. Ok, but what does that really mean? Just because you started a nonprofit...
I Just Started a Nonprofit… Do I Need Nonprofit Insurance? Part 2
Looking for part one? Read it here! So you’ve started a nonprofit, you have everything in place, and you even saw my conversation with Tom Wertish about D&O insurance. All...
Nonprofit Tax Status: What Does it Really Mean Anyway?
Time to bust some MAJOR nonprofit myths. Ready? Because it is more than just nonprofit tax status? (more…)
Do you really know what lawyers do?
What do lawyers do for nonprofits? A lot of my clients came to me for the reasons you’d expect – something got hosed up, they received a scary lawyer-letter, they...
Should Your Minnesota Nonprofit Carry Workers Comp
I know, I know, a lot of Minnesota nonprofits don’t have workers comp. Say you don’t have any employees, only 1099 contractors. Or, everything is run by volunteers. Or, the...
