The New 990

If you get our emails, you should know about the "Alert Workshop" were doing on September 16 about the new IRS Form 990. Eric Fraint of Your Part Time Controller will be doing a presentation & distributing a really great set of handouts all about the new reporting requirements of the form.

If you haven't been reading up on the new form, suffice it to say that it has some major differences from the old one, and will ask you for considerable amounts of new information. It may even push your organization to adopt new policies relating to conflicts of interest, document preservation, salaries, and even the protection of "whistleblowers." and more. Just last week the IRS published new, clarified instructions for the form--here's a Chronicle of Philanthropy story about it.

To register for this Alert Workshop, click here. Seating is limited, and it's booking up fast!

SurveyMonkey on yr Back

I have loved SurveyMonkey since I first saw it. A cheap, easy-to-use online survey system that made getting feedback on programs easy. Where I used to work, we started using it for all sorts of functions--planning events, scheduling meetings--to the point where it became a verb. To S'monkey.

It's so easy and so effective, though, that it can breed laziness about surveys. See Seth Godin's blog post from this week. This blog is eminently worthy of an rss feed, by the way, if you have any interest in marketing or the public image of your organization.

I've just started using Google Reader for keeping up on my blogs. It's the kind of tool that you're not sure you need until you start using it, at which point it becomes indispensable.

Tools for Financial Management

One of our biggest & best loved programs, Tools for Financial Management, is gearing up for its fifth class starting September 24. It's a nine-part class that takes place from September to December, and gives you pretty much everything you need to know to understand nonprofit finances. It's an excellent class that is always very highly rated by the people who take it. It's taught by people from Your Part Time Controller & takes place here at the Phiadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage. (we have to use Temple's center city classrooms for two classes early on, but you'll see that on the flyer.)

There's more info & registration material here.

Presents from Gateshead

A group of us just returned from an Arts Marketing Association conference in Gateshead, England, where much was learned about how arts marketing works in Europe, and in Britain specifically. General conclusion--there's a lot of great, audience-centric thinking happening... partly exemplified by this great white paper/prolegomena/manifesto from a consulting firm called Morris Hargreaves McIntyre called Insight required.

Make sure you catch the "seven pillars" diagnostic!

Another Cautionary Tale

A newly-found story from the L.A. Times from a newly found blog called Nonprofit Board Crisis

LA Times: Self Help Graphics' Struggle Somewhat Self-inflicted