TIME-SAVING TIPS FOR NONPROFIT PROFESSIONALS

August 18, 2015 by Spokes For Nonprofits

School starts next week. For working parents, this is always a frenetic time of the year. There are so many demands on our time – both self-imposed (finding time to enjoy the last days of summer vacation with our children) and forced-upon (school registration days, back-to-school nights and hunting for school supplies). And, in a region with so many folks employed by academic institutions, it’s the start of a busy time for lots of folks without kids, too.

So, in the spirit of helping our nonprofit peers meet all the demands that will made of them in the next few weeks, we thought we would share this insightful article from one of our favorite nonprofit folks, Vu Le, a nonprofit executive director, activist, blogger and very funny guy. “21 Creative Time-Saving Tips for Nonprofit Professionals” offers a variety of tongue-in-cheek strategies to help you do more nonprofit work in less time. You may not be able to apply them all (any?), but we promise that you’ll have a good laugh. And, you may even start to consider a few of them seriously the next time you are stuck in traffic due to school pick-up or the return of hoards of college students. Know that you’re not alone. We’ll be microwaving as quickly as we can at Spokes… Get your 21 tips here!

Create Cultural Values, Create Value for Your Nonprofit

August 4, 2015 by Spokes For Nonprofits

Lots of nonprofit organizations tend to “skip” the creation of cultural values for their organization. Are you one of them? If so, you may be missing a valuable opportunity to establish a tool that will help you more effectively identify and recruit board members, staff and volunteers who can best move your mission forward.

Most business management mantras will dictate that having the “right” team members is critical to the success of any organization. But, how do you know if your team members are the “right” ones? How do you evaluate or identify if a prospective team member understands and embodies the key values needed to realize your mission if you haven’t yet defined those values for the organization as a whole?

The value of your values may start with building your nonprofit’s leadership, staff and volunteer teams, but that value grows as it permeates every layer of your organization.

Take strategic planning, for instance. After confirming your vision and mission, it’s important to clarify your organization’s values – the “rules of engagement” for how your team (board members, staff, and volunteers) will treat each other, your donors and, most importantly, the men, women and children you serve. If your organization is fortunate to have a broad team with individuals independently working towards common strategic goals, its important that they share and abide by a core set of values to ensure that they can a) identify and recruit more of the “right” folks, as needed; b) meet minimal expectations for individual performance and c) create consistency in the interactions they each have with your organization’s various external stakeholders.Remember, too, that the work of a nonprofit (perhaps life, in general) rarely progresses in a linear fashion. Unforeseen and unexpected events pop up all the time. Having great policies in place will help you weather the worst case scenarios that may arise from most unforeseen events. But, what about that exceptional event that falls outside all of your policies? What then? Think of your organization’s values as an umbrella insurance policy for the work of your organization. When all other policies fail to provide adequate direction for a specific circumstance, your organizational values serve as an ultimate guide for each of your team members to help them make the very best decision possible.

Values are most valuable when they are regularly reviewed, modified as needed and disseminated throughout every level of your organization. If it’s been a while since your organization has reviewed its corporate values – or if your organization doesn’t have any written values – consider allocating 15 minutes of your next board meeting to have a thoughtful review or discussion about them. Use Spokes’ Core Values Worksheet to help identify what values are most critical for your organization at this point in your history. Starting from scratch? Identify at least three core values as a start. Know that the board is always able to add new values as they may be identified – or rewrite previous ones.

To help you start the conversation about values within your organization, consider sharing this video: http://bigthink.com/videos/culture-at-30000-feet-above-ground from Dr. Frances Frei, Professor, Harvard Business School, and Anne Morriss, Chief Knowledge Officer of Concire Leadership Institute. (The video is directed to for-profit companies in the service industries; please remind your colleagues that every nonprofit is a service organization.)

Spokes and DocuTeam: Get Your Documents Shredded!

June 16, 2015 by Spokes For Nonprofits

SPOKES & DocuTeam: A Dynamic Duo

Working to increase efficiency

by decreasing clutter

Certified by the National Association for Information Destruction, DocuTeam LLC can help properly dispose of your organization’s paperwork. Simply pick up a DocuTeam Bag at the Spokes Hub,fill it with your unneeded documents and take it to DocuTeam (140 Hind Ln, San Luis Obispo). All proceeds go to Spokes to better support our members!

COME GET YOUR DOCUMENTS SHREDDED

$10 For Spokes Members

$15 For Non-Members

*PLUS – When you buy a bag you will receive our Document Retention Policy Article to help you determine what you should be throwing out!

DID YOU KNOW?

The Board of Directors is responsible for designating a member to maintain an annual comprehensive list of all documents both stored and destroyed according to the most recent Document Retention and Destruction Policy. The Spokes Online Resource Library gives members access to more details on this policy, including a reference chart of minimum retention requirements.

REQUIREMENT EXAMPLES

– Contracts should be kept for 4 years after contract term has expired

– Expenses & Purchases Documentation should be kept for 5 years

– Unemployment Insurance Documents should be kept for 4 years

MAKE SURE TO GIVE CAREFUL CONSIDERATION TO APPROPRIATE METHOD OF DOCUMENT DESTRUCTION. Is your paperwork on a hard drive? CD-Rom? Tape cassette? Buy a bag for an easy way to dispose of your paper-based documentation while contributing back to Spokes!

Remember: Embezzlers Don’t Want You To Know What They Are Doing

April 14, 2015 by Spokes For Nonprofits

Screen Shot 2015-04-14 at 9.25.12 AM — Click to download this 5-page Accounting Controls Checklist

Far too often, nonprofit board members assume that their organization’s finances are safe because large sums of money haven’t gone missing. What they don’t know is that embezzlers rarely steal large sums of money. They don’t want anyone to know that they are stealing money so they do their best to stay “under the radar” in their illegal behavior. In fact, most embezzlement occurs in increments of $100 – $300 and are recorded as payments to fake vendors. Sometimes, the embezzlers even create fake invoices to justify the fake payments, further deluding board members who try to track funds carefully.

And, did you know that there is actually a group of criminals who prey on athletic clubs and programs? Many of these entirely volunteer-run organizations have minimal accounting controls making it easy to manipulate financial data and steal funds. In fact, just last month, another athletic program fell victim to an individual who stole up to $700,000 from their organization and a local business, both located in Paso Robles, CA. Read the story below.

Protect your organization – and your own liability as a board member – by ensuring that your organization is using proper accounting controls. Following is a list of several recommended controls any organization can implement to help prevent financial misappropriation. Employ as many as you can, check references and backgrounds on bookkeepers (volunteer, contracted and salaried) and remain diligent in monitoring your organization’s financial reports and accounts. If you need more assistance in protecting your organization, know that Spokes is always here to help!

Bookkeeper suspected of embezzling from Paso Robles business

By Matt Fountain

[email protected]

March 23, 2015

A Paso Robles bookkeeper was arrested last week on suspicion of embezzling at least $700,000 from a local manufacturing business over a period of six years and possibly embezzling money from the North County youth sports nonprofit where she was treasurer for about seven years.

Police say they are still investigating whether the nonprofit suffered any losses.

Denna Carol Serda, 56, was arrested following an investigation that included a Feb. 5 search of her Paso Robles home and a subsequent review of her personal bank accounts, according to Paso Robles police Sgt. Tod Rehner.

As a result of their investigation, detectives secured an arrest warrant for Serda, who turned herself in to the Paso Robles Police Department on Friday.

She was booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail on Friday on suspicion of felony grand theft exceeding $950 as well as forgery, and the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office is considering filing additional criminal enhancements for taking property exceeding $50,000, aggravated white-collar crime exceeding $100,000 and the denial of probation for a crime exceeding $100,000.

Rehner would not identify the nonprofit or the private company Monday, but The Tribune has learned they are Make-It Manufacturing of Paso Robles and the Paso Robles Youth Sports Council. Serda is no longer with either entity.

The Police Department said in a news release that Serda is suspected of embezzling more than $700,000 from her for-profit employer between 2008 and 2014. Officers believe Serda also forged more than 450 financial documents in order to embezzle those funds.

Detectives are compiling additional financial documents from the Paso Robles Youth Sports Council; that investigation remained ongoing Monday afternoon.

Greg Powell, president of Make-It Manufacturing, confirmed Monday that Serda was hired as his company’s bookkeeper in 2008.

Powell said he was served with a summons by the Internal Revenue Service, which stated that Serda and her husband, Steven Serda, were being audited for suspicious income. When he met with auditors, Powell said, he was presented with a document on his company’s letterhead approving an employee loan to Denna Serda with his signature at the bottom, which he said was forged.

Before hiring her, Powell said, he knew Serda for years through family and friends, as well as through local youth sports.

He said that he brought the matter to his insurance agent, who is also involved in the Paso Robles Youth Sports Council, for which Serda was treasurer.

“He literally went white,” Powell said. They then contacted police, he said.

Marc Dart, current president of the sports council, said Monday that Serda was one of the founding organizers of the 501(3)(c) and served as its treasurer from 2007 until January 2015.

The nonprofit consists of representatives from local sports organizations, elected board members and liaisons from the city and the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District to advise and petition the city and school district on matters related to youth sports.

Serda’s husband previously served as the sports council’s president beginning in 2006.

Dart confirmed that the organization’s board became aware of concerns about Serda from her employer and asked to discuss it with her. She came in accompanied by her husband, Dart said, and both promptly resigned in January.

Dart added that the organization has gathered financial records and is cooperating with detectives and the District Attorney’s Office.

According to court records, Denna Serda was convicted in 2003 in San Luis Obispo Superior Court for grand theft of more than $400 in property. She served 30 days in County Jail and three years of formal probation and was ordered to pay about $720 in restitution and $700 in other fines.

She remained in County Jail on Monday evening in lieu of $1.2 million bail.

All public phone numbers listed for Steven Serda in Paso Robles were disconnected as of Monday afternoon.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Cunningham said Monday that prosecutors had not yet filed charges against Denna Serda; Cunningham was not able to comment on the possibility of criminal charges against her husband.

Nonprofit Success Story: Dunes Center

March 18, 2015 by Spokes For Nonprofits

Dunes Center Receives More Grant Dollars! Spokes helps!

Executive Director Doug Jenzen, Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center, shares his success story.

The Goal

“One of my goals was to revamp our educational programming, and I needed a little bit of inspiration on how to obtain funding to do so.”

Action Taken

“I attended the workshop [Designing Programs for Better Grant Proposals] last year shortly after I was hired by the Dunes Center and during the time in which the organization was in the middle of a complete restructuring.”

A Valuable Lesson

“The most valuable lesson I learned from the workshop is that you need to make a case (or an argument) for why the funding agency you’re applying to should fund your organization’s program. I look at it like I’m writing a thesis statement for a paper similar to what was required in college.”

Successful Results

The Dunes Center has received every grant (at least partially) that Doug has written since he attended the workshop.
By extension, the Dunes Center has been able to double the size of their educational programming to serve 8,000 elementary school children in 2013 and begin including the arts in their regular STEM programming.

Learn more about the Dunes Center on their website.