By Jennifer Shen (Partner and Co-Founder, Blue Garnet) How many times have you heard the word “impact” or “outcomes” this week? We’re betting quite a few — we’d even say they’re buzzwords of the year. In fact, at the recent 2015 GHJ Nonprofit Conference, the discussion touched on these themes. We heard, “data is king and exceptional leaders are always looking 3-5 ye [...]

At our recent 2015 Nonprofit Conference we decided to do things a little differently and scheduled two concurrent breakout sessions. I had the pleasure of attending the Messaging and Storytelling for Impact Giving workshop and introducing the presenter, Terrence McNally, a strategic communications consultant and a workshop leader for The Goodman Center, a nonprofit le [...]

By: Ritchie Geisel (Guest blogger, Bienvenidos Children’s Center) Southern California nonprofit social service agencies have faced many challenges in recent years, beginning with funding cuts resulting from the Great Recession and California’s budget crisis — many of which have yet to be restored. In addition, an increasingly onerous regulatory environment, with seemi [...]

With long-term sustainability in mind, Northern California Grantmakers, San Diego Grantmakers and Southern California Grantmakers recently announced the launch of a new joint initiative – The Real Cost Project – to increase the impact of philanthropy across California. “Real cost” is all the necessary investments for a nonprofit organization to deliver on a mission [...]

In the middle of this unusually seasonable California winter, a little heat might be welcome. But we would probably prefer that it come from somewhere besides the California Attorney General. As of Jan. 1, 2016, the AG’s Office finalized amendments to regulations that clarify the specific actions they can undertake in enforcing the state’s charitable regulations. The [...]

Volunteers are an integral part of the nonprofit world. Most nonprofits can’t operate without their volunteers. Not only do they provide their time and skills to help support your cause at no cost, but volunteers are ten times more likely to donate to your organization. The more volunteers and the more donors you get for your organization, the better. This means it [...]

By: Diane Hernandez The record-setting stock market performance and increase in housing prices has enabled the United States economy to grow largely in recent years. This underlying trend, and an increase in a much larger diverse and intellectual population, has given rise to the financial health of philanthropists. Charity Navigator is currently one of the larges [...]

Return on investment (or ROI) is no doubt a key metric (and usually the only metric that matters) to business investors. As an outsider to a company, an investor hands over his surplus cash to the owners of that company in the hopes that he will get something greater in return. A little money and a lot of faith are involved in such transactions. Stock traders do it al [...]

By: Margaret Karren The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) released an Accounting Standards Update (ASU) with the goal of simplifying and improving the not-for-profit reporting of net asset classifications, liquidity information, financial performance and cash flows. Net Asset Classes: Revised net asset classifications to two classes, net assets with donor re [...]

Private foundations enjoy the benefit of being tax exempt but often face more restrictions and scrutiny than public charities. GHJ Principal Lauren Haverlock takes an in-depth look at one of the most rigid restrictions for private foundations – self dealing. Click here to download our latest resource.