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What are the “next big things” in fundraising? With charitable giving expected to fall, demand for services rising, and “donor inequality” increasing, many nonprofits are looking for something new. Crowdfunding has been around for a while, as has peer-to-peer fundraising (“P2P”). Examples of P2P fundraising include run-a-thons, bike-a-thons, swim-a-thons, play-canasta-thons…which can be fun, but also can take a lot of work and aren’t as unusual as they once were. But wait!

There have been a lot of changes in the accounting practices for nonprofits over the past couple of years. It’s not really surprising, because it has been 25 years since the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has made major updates to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for nonprofits.

Feeling empowered is a fundamental human need. It elevates our role in relation to the world around us, and enables us to overcome life’s challenges. At ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer we persistently strive to end prostate cancer by encouraging our team members to practice independent decision-making.

It is always interesting to read the Nonprofit Finance Fund State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey. For those who work in the sector the findings usually are not terribly surprising, but they do provide important validation and documentation of what we already know. But this time, some of the data is alarming. 

Today’s mobile and remote workforce offers tremendous flexibility for nonprofit workers, but also creates challenges for nonprofit employers.

Even state officials who regulate charitable assets and charitable organizations realize that the current system of inconsistent state-by-state registration for fundraising is too cumbersome, imposing costly burdens and confusing complexities. Many of them stepped forward four years ago with a vision of a “single portal” website charitable nonprofits could use to register in multiple, or even all, states. As their plans move closer to reality (launch is slated for late 2018), we are certainly among its strongest supporters.

I may be biased, but I think fiscal sponsorship can be a tremendous solution to a number of different issues for some nonprofits. It’s a flexible arrangement that can take several different forms and thus can serve organizations at different stages of the nonprofit lifecycle. Fiscal sponsorship can help both the sponsored organization and the sponsor address a variety of goals.

Q & A with Rick Cole, Supervising Project Manager, FASB.

Nonprofits need to be aware of changes to accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) because those standards will play a significant role in how the nonprofit prepares its financial statements and how people view the nonprofit’s financial health through its financial statements.

Even the most profound advocacy message is irrelevant if no one reads it. And many of the great works of thought and art have profound and memorable openings. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident,” is the hook that impels readers – from King George III of England to town criers across the new nation to read the Declaration of Independence. Who doesn’t remember, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …”? (A Tale of Two Cities, C. Dickens) Or, “I am an invisible man.” (Invisible Man, R. Ellison)