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Spring is in the air. Many of us are doing some spring cleaning at home, but when was the last time your nonprofit did some technological spring cleaning? Just as we purge our closets of styles (or sizes!) we haven’t worn in years, it may be time to start purging email list(s) of subscribers who haven’t interacted with your organization in years.

The last few weeks have been filled with headlines about the state of individual giving to nonprofits in 2018. Depending on what you read, overall giving statistics show either new record highs or portend disaster. And, whether those indicators are positive or negative, it’s all because of the changes to the tax law – unless it isn’t. So, what’s the real story and what does it mean for your nonprofit?

The mere words “tax policy” may put some people to sleep, but small changes quickly add up to big impact on nonprofits’ bottom lines. Changes to income taxes can significantly influence charitable giving, leading to more or less. Changes to sales and property taxes can impact an organization’s sustainability for years to come. Nonprofit missions – and therefore nonprofit leaders – all have a stake in the outcomes of tax policy debates, as well as the responsibility to influence the decisions through individual and collective advocacy.

Ever since passage of the 2017 federal tax law, with its potential threats to charitable giving among middle-income households (and even among very wealthy households, due to the doubling of the estate tax exemption), nonprofits have asked us—again and again—“What should we do? How can we continue to raise money successfully under the new tax law?”

A recent survey conducted by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) indicates that 56 percent of U.S. adults with employer-sponsored health benefits say that whether or not they like their health coverage is a key factor in deciding to stay at their current job. Another 46 percent say health insurance was either the deciding factor or a positive influence in choosing their current job.

Every leader has a secret struggle, even (and maybe especially) highly successful leaders. Underneath the outwardly projected success are a thousand balls they are juggling at any given moment – a handful of challenges on their team, at least one HR issue, and a host of decisions they need to make that do not yet have a direct or determined course of action. Research among leaders in 21 countries showed that role conflict, ambiguity, and overload were constant themes in their leadership.

State charity regulators and the nation’s 1.5 million charitable and philanthropic organizations share a common goal: protecting the public’s trust in the charitable sector.

How can we accomplish this shared goal? We can work together continuously to communicate information “internally” with each other and provide education “externally” for donors and the public about our respective organizations’ activities and the sector we mutually serve.

Editor’s Note: Many state associations of nonprofits develop leading or “best practices” for nonprofits that reflect the specific legal obligations in their state. In the following piece, one state association shares a mini-case study that reveals some of the background and philosophy of how it shares this resource with the nonprofit community it serves.