Find out if your Library qualifies for the Small Employer Health Credit here at the Council of Nonprofits.

Cashing it in!
UBI
With all the money rolling in from sales, you may want to read this about unrelated business income:
http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/income.htm  (remember that you may want to consult an attorney for tax related questions).

I was not sure where to put this small list of grocers and related retailers below who may offer donations to your organization or have fundraising opportunities where you both benefit.  Some offer outright donations and others may make you work for it!  Check these below and let me know if you hear of any others or if any of these change—thanks! 

Bi-Lo
Giant “Cash for Causes” fundraiser (Their site says that 100 families spending $100/week will earn $26,000)
Karns
Save-a-Lot
Sheetz  fundraiser   scrip   sponsor 
Wal-Mart
Wegman’s
Weis

ARTICLES/BOOKS TO READ 

You may want to leave comments at the end of the article or take the discussion to WebJunction!
Edgington, Nell. “The Perils of Nice,” Social Entrepreneurship March 24, 2010

Are you thanking your donors?
Hall, Holly.  “Fund Raising Faux Pas, Charities Fail to Respond to New Donors,” Chronicle of Philanthropy February 23, 2010 

Do you have health insurance?
Perry, Suzanne. “Health Care Bill Offers Tax Credits to Nonprofits,” Chronicle of Philanthropy March 22, 2010

Do you have a pension?  Would your donors share theirs?
Perry, Suzanne. “Senate Agrees to Extend IRA Tax Incentive, Ease Pension Rules,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy March 10, 2010

Wallace, Nichole.  “Facebook Co-Founder Starts Philanthropic Social-Networking Site,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, March 18

“Making a switch: how to change things when change is hard” (webinar)
Sponsored by Network for Good
DATE: April 23^rd 1:00pm
FREE
MORE INFO 

Read the transcript: “Make Sure Your Board Complies with the New Form 990,” hosted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Check out the many FREE recorded webinars on fundraising on the Russ Reid site

WebJunction’s Technology Essentials recorded conference sessions include Fundraising with Stephanie Gerding and more

 Brett. “What Would Homer Simpson Do?  Your Messages and the Emerging Science of Behavioral Economics,” NTEN 
                Explore NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network)—it’s a great resource!

             Heard of Mobile Fundraising?
Feiler, Jesse. “Texting for Charitable Dollars:  The Definitive Guide to Mobile Fundraising,” MobileActive.Org  February 4, 2010 (February 17, 2010).

Jonathan Gudema.  “Planned Giving and Fundraising World in State of Confusion over Estate Tax Repeal,” On Philanthropy January 15, 2010 (February 19, 2010).

Manzi., Steve. “Five Dirty Secrets of Capital Campaigns,” Changing Our World, Inc.   (February 19, 2010) 

“Six Types of Wealthy Donors,” Association of Fundraising Professionals Jan 12, 2010  (February 19, 2010)

 Wilhelm, Ian.  “Buzz Keeps Building for Social Innovation Fund,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy February 18, 2010  (February 18, 2010)

Preston, Caroline.  “Five Trends Help to Create “Nonprofits of the Future,” Chronicles of Philanthropy. November 9, 2009. http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=10105

Cohen, Rick. “Amaze your Friends with these Nonprofit factoids,” Blue Avocado http://www.blueavocado.org/node/460 (November 4, 2009)

Anderson, Katya. “Four Essential Tweaks to Your Appeal in a Recession,” Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog October 26, 2009 http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/site/four_essential_tweaks_to_your_appeals_in_a_recession/

ENDOWMENTS and FOUNDATIONS

Martignetti, Tony “Get Going On Planned Giving” Guidestar November 2009
http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2009/get-going-on-planned-giving.aspx?source=nov09nwsltr

FORUMS/TRAINING

December 8th
“Is Your Story Big Enough? Uncover the emotional spark that turns current and potential supporters into true believers”
Register for any of the free Nonprofit 911 training series provided by  Network for Good  at http://www.fundraising123.org/training

FREE OR SOMEWHAT FREE

Free multimedia–also learn more about public domain:
Dybwab, Barabra. “Website for 26 Places to Find Free Multimedia for your Blog,” http://mashable.com/2009/08/04/free-blog-media/, Aug 24 2009

Free web services through Grassroots.org and Taprootfoundation.org.  Find out more at FundraisingIP:
http://www.fundraisingip.com/fundraising/find-free-web-services-for-your-non-profit/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FundraisingIP+%28FundraisingIP.com+Fundraising+Ideas%

GRANTS and CONTESTS

Chase Community Giving
Can you muster your patrons to vote for your library on Facebook?  Voting deadline for round one is December 11, 2009
Amount: one hundred awards of $ 25,000, five awards of 100,000 plus a one million dollar winner!
More Info: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/

Grant Writing
“What Tone Should I Set in Our Grant Proposal?”  Seeking Grant Money Today . November 8, 2009. http://thegrantplant.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-tone-should-i-set-in-our-grant.html (November 16 2009)  Explore this site for other grant tips

Outback Steakhouse
The restaurant helps out community organizations with food and volunteers.  One library sold tickets to a dinner at Outback and all proceeds were kept by the library.  Outback had supplied the food and volunteer servers!  Get your proposal ready!
More Info: http://www.outback.com/companyinfo/outbackgivesback.aspx

National Museum of the American Indian
Exhibitions and Publications program awards grants of $7,500 to $15,000 to support exhibitions and  installations, publications, and critical writing that interpret and present the work of contemporary Native visual artists to the public and encourage dialogue and critical commentary
More Info: http://www.americanindian.si.edu/icap/

The IRS

Do you ever solicit to out of state donors? Should you be registered? http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7893

MISCELLANEOUS

Combined Federal Campaign (the Federal government’s workplace giving campaign and the world’s largest source of unrestricted funds for non-profits)  Are you listed?
Find the non-profit financial statistics you need at http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/NCCS/V1Pub/index.php

Newstead, Barry, “Nonprofits in Rural America: Overcoming the Resource Gap,” July 15, 2009 http://www.bridgespan.org./rural-funding.aspx (August 20, 2009).

The following GuideStar article states that “Of the 72,000 foundations in the United States, fewer than 50 have endowments of more than $1 billion. The vast majority, more than 90 percent, have endowments of less than $10 million. Most of these organizations are family foundations.”  Read more about applying for these family foundations:
http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2009/applying-for-funding-from-family-foundations.aspx?source=aug09nwsltr (and think about subscribing to GuideStar’s free online articles and services).

Forums/Training

October 6, 7 or 8th, 2009 IRS workshops (see also The IRS below) designed for administrators and volunteers responsible for a small to mid-sized 501(c)3 organization’s tax compliance. Each one-day session will cover the benefits and responsibilities of tax-exempt status; actions that can jeopardize an organization’s exempt status; unrelated business income; employment issues; Form 990, including Form 990-N; and required disclosures, including those imposed by the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Pre-registration is required.  http://www.irsworkshops.eventsdesigner.com/ $45

Fund Raising Events

Silent Auctions:  http://www.fundraisingip.com/fundraising/silent-auction-fundraiser/ Can you add any suggestions/insight to silent auctions?  Email me!
FundraisingIP.com has loads of fundraising ideas!  Share the site with your Friends and get motivated with all the possibilities!

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a transcript of an August 4th discussion on finding a sponsor for your Group’s next event: http://philanthropy.com/live/2009/08/event_sponsor/

The IRS

GuideStar article http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2009/irs-miscellanea-august-2009.aspx discusses Form 990-N Regulations (also known as the ePostcard),
which exempt organizations must file. “The final regulations make no substantive change from the temporary regulations issued November 15, 2007. They went into effect July 23, 2009.”  The GuideStar editor notes that “organizations that are required to file an ePostcard and fail to do so for three consecutive years will automatically lose their tax-exempt status. Revocations will begin in May 2010.
More:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/governance_practices.pdf from IRS Governance and Related Topics – 501(c)(3) Organizations

Libraries in Action

Check out Exeter Community Library’s ad for a live and silent auction on the Auction Zip website: http://www.auctionzip.com/Listings/680539.html

Miscellaneous

What’s your take on removing a donor’s name? Dilemmas faced by those getting a few million less…
http://philanthropy.com/news/?id=9225&pth&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=lefttop

Partnerships / Collaboration

Check out the magazine, The Collaborative Librarian, http://collaborativelibrarianship.org/index.php/jocl

Miscellaneous

WOW!! The Strategic Planning Funding Resource Committee has a website: http://www.accesspa.state.pa.us/funding_resources/
Committee Members include:  Kathy Arnold-Yerger – Municipal Support, Bernice Crouse – Annual Fundraising, Victoria Dick – Commercial, Mary Garm – Endowments and Foundations, Martina Kominiarek – Capital Campaigns, Diana Megdad – Grants, Pam Murphy – Fundraising Events

Please send your Funding Resource finds/suggestions to us and we will share your expertise with the world!  Libraries are THE collaborators and THE original networkers.
TechSoup has an article on choosing a low cost donor management system: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page11928.cfm

Bridgespan has great links to information about managing in tough economic times: http://www.bridgespan.org./LearningCenter/Default.aspx?id=2786 (August 20, 2009)