What comes to mind when you hear Diagnostic Survey?  How about Certification Rubric? It’s possible you may have already stopped reading this blog because they sound like WAY too much to do and you do not really understand the benefits.

Well, let me assure you that it is a lot of work, but when preparing these components for certification with the Service Enterprise Initiative (SEI), the benefits your organization will reap far outweigh the time spent. SEI is a national program, offered in Phoenix by the ASU Lodestar Center, that provides training and certification to selected nonprofits that are committed to implementing exemplary volunteer management practices to achieve their missions. 

Our organization, the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education/Arizona Bar Foundation, is 40 years old, and we have always believed in volunteers and how much we need them in order to fulfill our mission.  We have trainings, we have orientations, we have recognition… We thought we would just sail through the process. NOT!

What we came to realize more deeply is that it’s not all about me as the Director of Volunteers. We had to take off our rose-colored glasses and see that it’s all about each and every one of our staff, how they work with…

For nonprofit organizations to effectively serve their missions and be sustainable, they must invest in some of their most vital resources: their staff. Unfortunately, the data shows that 81 percent of organizations are without a retention program.

The 2017 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey results show that organizations’ top three greatest talent challenges are hiring qualified staff within limited budget constraints, maintaining salary budgets against market pressures, and finding qualified staff. However, when comparing costs associated with staff turnover, versus costs of investing resources into staff, studies show that turnover is a greater expense for organizations. Costs of productivity, errors, the impact on remaining staff and hiring costs must be taken in to consideration. Challenges recruiting qualified staff only intensify the need to retain them. 

Coleman Selden and Sowa state in 'Human Service Organizations Management Leadership & Governance' that studies examining turnover show that effective HR practices, from recruitment and…

Strong infrastructure in nonprofits is incredibly important to the health and success of every organization. For organizations that rely largely on the generosity of private donors, foundation and grants, the dance between operating and program costs becomes complicated and intricate. A poll of the general public done by Grey Matter Research and Consulting found that 61 percent of adults surveyed felt that charities should only spend between 10 and 29 cents of every dollar on overhead. That number is alarmingly low. In order to continue to operate at maximum efficiency and attract top talent to the industry, nonprofits must create a plan of action for educating donors and appealing to their intrinsic motivations to gain more support for infrastructure.

First, let’s talk about the ins and outs of infrastructure. In addition to being a bit hard to pronounce, infrastructure involves facilities, staff, training, software, auditing, education, consulting and other such business operations. These essential components to the daily lives of nonprofits help to make up a sizeable portion of the American economy, communities and ecosystems. The hope of a growing organization with a strong infrastructure would be…

Social Service nonprofit organizations have long been relied upon to provide services to those in need in the United States. Federal, state and local governments increasingly depend on Social Service nonprofit organizations and, because of that dependency, have been willing to help fund them.

The U.S. government funding accounts for approximately one-third of the annual revenue received by nonprofit organizations, primarily through grants and contracts. The largest portion of these grants and contracts, according to an Urban Institute 2013 study, is received by Social Service organizations.

However, the government funding to Social Service organizations is not without challenges. 

Challenges due to the government-nonprofit dependency include:

1. Government Funding as the Primary Source of Revenue – When the government becomes the primary source of revenue for Social Service nonprofit organizations, any fluctuations in that funding can have an impact on the ability of the organizations to serve those in need.  
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At 17 years old, a young girl is transitioning from child to young adult and living with her father. Her mother lives out of state. In discovering her identity, independence and values, she struggles to fully grow within the restrictions put in place by her father. She and her father get into arguments often, some that include threats to kick her out of the house. One day, she decides to leave.

This is a real story from a young woman who came into Safe Place. I had the pleasure and honor to serve my second Public Allies term at UMOM New Day Centers as the Safe Place outreach and education assistant. With a mission to prevent and end homelessness with innovative strategies and housing solutions that meet the unique needs of each family and individual, UMOM’s Safe Place program served 114 homeless and runaway youth in 2017.

My journey with UMOM originally began in my 2016 term when I was matched to serve in the Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development. Tumbleweed programs, including Safe Place, luckily transitioned under UMOM once Tumbleweed filed for bankruptcy. 

I ended my first Public Allies term at the beginning of the transition, and I began my second term during the ending of the transitioning period. Throughout the organization’s changes, I worked in three different programs, serving in three different positions and I learned that although change can be frustrating,…