The dog-eat-dog mentality that is present in today’s business world has every company searching for a unique competitive advantage. What makes you stick out? What do you do better than your competition? And most importantly, why should a customer choose your company over the entirety of substitutes available?

Too often businesses focus on too narrow of a spectrum when trying to answer these questions. The solutions are almost always ideas which attempt to provide their specific product or service more efficiently, or at a higher level of quality. These are not wrong answers, if a company can implement a strategy to gain this sort of competitive advantage then they absolutely should. However, other varieties of competitive advantages do exist. A company that is involved with a nonprofit organization, or is active within a charity gains a huge advantage over a company that does not. This activity has several beneficial effects towards a business. It builds reputation within a community, adds credibility to all business endeavors, and gains respect from each individual customer who experiences these philanthropic events.

One businessman that has utilized this strategy to his advantage is Dr. Darren Flowers located in Anthem, Arizona. He has developed a special for new patients, where he donates the proceeds to a charity of the month, most recently the Red Cross. The low price of $…

Whether you were born into it, fell into it or discovered it along your life’s journey, today’s nonprofit professionals follow an evolutionary path much like that of our species.  Crawling, walking, running and potentially walking on water.  The exact time and place of those changes are never easy to spot, do not take a linear path or they can happen right before your eyes.  The Arizona State University’s Certified Nonprofit Professional credential through the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (formerly American Humanics) is responsible for students who graduate, not crawling but running to their internships and first professional positions in local and national organizations.

Since 1980, the ASU program has provided both academic courses and hands-on experiences for those who aspire to careers in the nonprofit sector.  Graduates spend five semesters learning, growing and practicing alongside faculty, alumni, staff, nonprofit leaders and community partners, enabling them to become more confident and stand a bit taller before they enter the profession.

One of the most significant advances occurs during the Annual Alliance Management / Leadership Institute Campaign, affectionately known as AMI.  If studies are correct and people fear snakes, public speaking and asking for money more than anything else, this campaign has all but the snakes!  Students build off the work of alumni going back to the 1980’s raiseing funds to…

I returned from this Monday's Veteran’s Day Parade with a lingering sense of connection this year. My wife had a luncheon date so I went to the parade alone. To honor the occasion I wore a patriotic ball cap, a t-shirt that said, “Marine Dad,” and I hung my old Army garrison cap over my belt. I’d been watching the parade for an hour or so when a unit of Vietnam War era soldiers marched past. One guy in the unit looked over at me standing in the crowd, pointed at my garrison cap, and gave me a thumbs up. He saw the quarter-sized metal insignia on the cap that identified me as being in the Army Transportation Corps and as a UH-1 helicopter mechanic. That’s all it took. I smiled, nodded my head “yes,” and flashed a thumbs-up back to him. Without a single word we were connected. The affiliation was clear. He marched on and I walked home feeling part of a community I’d left 40 years ago. We had the common experience, like 10 million others, of having served in the military between 1962 and 1975.

Communities are funny things. As an academic I teach the “three conditions” that are required for a community to exist. The first is a common mission or experience. The second is a set of rules or laws that members agree to accept. The third is a system of governance for promulgating the rules, assuring compliance, and effecting change. Every biological community requires these “three conditions” to survive and thrive, but sometimes I am amazed with my lack of…

How Does Limited Liability Affect a Nonprofit?

Limited liability entities are often formed (at least in part) to protect the assets of for-profit business owners from the financial obligations of a particular business.  In the case of a nonprofit, however, the entity is generally not permitted to have owners who are entitled to the profits of the organization. Rather, any profits earned by a nonprofit must be reinvested. So if a nonprofit cannot have owners who are entitled to its profits, why is it beneficial for a nonprofit to be structured as a limited liability entity, and whom does it protect?

While limited liability can protect the personal assets of owners of a for-profit business from creditors of the business, it can also protect the personal assets of both those who manage for-profit businesses and/or those who manage nonprofits from the debts that such businesses or nonprofits may incur. In the case of a nonprofit, this may include the board of directors, officers, members, etc.

Only Two Things In Life Are Certain: Death & Taxes (Well, Maybe Not)

Perhaps one of the most compelling benefits associated with the concepts of nonprofits is the potential for a nonprofit to be recognized as tax-exempt by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which means it is not required to pay federal income taxes on profits that it earns.

Although some people equate the term “nonprofit”…

I recently completed the MNpS program at ASU and have a successful career in association management. Throughout the program, the overwhelming focus was on charities. Yes, 501(c)(3) organizations make up the majority of the nonprofit sector, but there are 29 types of 501(c) organizations. As the Executive Director of the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association, I seemed to be the only inhabitant on the 501(c)(6) island. I found this surprising since nearly every career path in the world has a trade association or individual membership association dedicated the to uniting that industry, distributed among 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)s.

What many people consider nonprofit organizations are 501(c)(3)s and include charitable, religious, scientific or literary organizations. Contributions to these groups are tax deductible, which is not the case in other nonprofit organizations. Some associations fall into this category, but are limited on the amount of lobbying they can do on behalf of their members. 501(c)(4)s are sometimes referred to social welfare leagues and have more freedom in political activities. 501(c)(6)s include business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and professional football leagues. Many trade associations fall into this category.

My point is that associations are a critical piece of the nonprofit sector. Best selling author, Jim Collins referred to associations as “the hidden glue of our…