Contracts are only as good as the language in them that specifies expectations, with a timetable.

The more generic the terms of the contract, the more likely there will be two unhappy parties.  The more generic the terms, the more difficult it is to enforce or to perceive grievances.

Contracts are only as good as their oversite.  If over time a practice is allowed and the contract receives positive reviews or is renewed as is, it becomes by default the expected service of the contract.  Thus, making it much harder to reestablish previous conditions at the same price.  In keeping a contract, it is critical to communicate changes in writing in order to continue to forge lasting relationships.  It matters how long you have funding and when you want to make changes.  Make sure the funder and the organization are on the same page.

Do not let the passing of time create the opportunity for not knowing the original intent.  Keep in tune with the purpose of the funding.  Communicate results with funding sources.

Say What You Mean!!!

Mean What You Say!!!

Insurance companies calculate the likelihood that an organization will file a claim.  They calculate how likely it is that an individual will file a claim. 

Federal and state authorities are responsible for certifying the safety of a bridge.  When a bridge is considered not sound, they weigh the likelihood of its failure.

The FDA calculates the acceptable risk to any individual, if the greater public would benefit over a few. 

Whether going to the beach, going boating, driving a car, traveling via a plane, taking a shower, sitting in the sun, skiing, eating foods, etc.; each action requires a level of risk.

Death and injury are never positive outcomes.  The human body is not invincible.  Even sitting still in one location and being frozen in fear of risk is unhealthy.  Each individual’s genetic make up, environmental conditions, and actions they take create the level of risk for any activity. 

So what can a person do?

Make yourself aware by being an informed consumer.

So what should an organization do?

Decide how to run the organization at a level of acceptable risks.  Plan ahead by creating a Risk Management Plan.  Having a plan lessens the likelihood that critical steps are not missed. 

Risk Management for your organization is not about predicting.  It is about having an ability to respond in an appropriate manner.  It is about appropriately training your staff on how to respond.  Your plan provides staff the base tool on which to be trained.

To the degree staff learn an organization’s risk management plan, they will learn valuable skills for helping their family members.

Risk is everywhere and should not paralyze an organization or individual. Be proactive, create your plan and review it with staff. 

Virginia releases a public service Ad showing a boy and a man walking together holding hands to encourage people to use their instinct to determine whether it is appropriate. Its purpose is to report possible child abuse.

America’s Most Wanted advocates never hiring a male baby sitter. I disagree strongly with their advice, especially since the most important advice should be regarding how to protect the child from any person who might do him/her harm. So am I to assume this advice means that all children in households run by single females should not let a man into their life? What manner would be appropriate to introduce positive males into the child’s life?

This is just the latest attack on men being loving parents or figures in a child’s life. How many men can raise their hand to state that they are aware of at least one child for whom they were the only positive support for a child with abusive parents?

What a screwed up system where so much money is spent on the abuse by strangers when the majority of abuse is by a parent or relative. We should be teaching what positive relationships are, regardless of whether the person is male or female.

It has been proven over and over that positive life long connections go a long way in the development of a person.

The number of children in state custody across the country due to abuse and neglect by a family parent or family member is in the hundreds of thousands. Where is the advertisement to stop that abuse? There should be an emphasis to all children where they can expect to find safety. There should be an emphasis on what are positive interactions with any adult. For instance, if a five year old is walking across a busy street with their school friend’s parent who is male, it is safe to hold the person’s hand. I certainly think I would be placing a child at risk if I refused to hold their hand crossing a busy intersection. Have you ever seen a car turn into people walking? Let’s get real and focus on the big problem. Stop giving lip service to teaching our children how to be safe. Too many parents and institutions fail to do so and focus only on what to do with those caught. Well, most of those caught that are out of jail have more oversight than those causing the most abuse and neglect. I have to laugh at the lack of safety measures implemented due to the abuse cases that have happened over the past 10 years among the faith-based organizations. That’s right, there were not any accountable to the public.

There is no prerequisite requirement to have a biological child. However, to adopt there are required trainings to better prepare individuals as parents whether one is a parent already or not. Therefore, who is more likely to abuse or neglect a child?

Doctors and teachers are mandated reporters of abuse, so use the same information to educate the public more about the signs of abuse. Educate children about the appropriate interactions adults should have with them.

The wage and household budget examples below have been created for your organization to better understand the pressures an employee will have in considering the salary that your organization offers for a position.

SAMPLE WAGE CHART

The pressure to earn a living wage gets harder each year for employees and is mostly dependent on the housing costs of an employee.

Sample Employee Household Budgets
(What does an empoyee’s salary buy per month?)

What is your organization doing to address the housing or living wage problem for your employees? Check out this post for more information.

The definition of disabled does not mean unable to be a productive employee.  In fact, a disability is not necessarily a barrier to accomplishing a job at all. It is fear by the employer and the individuals who would supervise a person with a disability.

Ever had to use crutches, worn a patch over your eye, had muscle strains, had surgery, had the flu, or had a cold?  While these physical problems were all temporary, they still caused an individual to adapt their life style to continue to work. Many individuals with permanent disabilities have adapted to continue to be a valued employee.

Those who have disabilities which interfere with reaching the highest level of productivity still bring lots of value to the employer.  I once had five employees who called in sick so often that when there they took early retirement I only needed 1.5 FTE’s to replace them. The important aspect to consider when employing an individual is the consistency of the employee to be able to be productive at an acceptable level based on the agreed upon pay scale.

To maximize an organization’s ability to reach the various disabled populations, post your jobs at Rehabilitation Centers, Independent Living Centers, Disabled Veterans Organizations, State Disability Agencies and Advocacy Agencies. 

Have an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Affirmative Action Plan. An organization will only be successful in hiring the disabled if they have plans that focus on achieving parity.

State government entities and advocacy groups can direct your organization to the best resources for your job postings.

If candidates with disabilities are not interviewing with your organization, evaluate why not. How committed to parity is your organization?

The slight panic that Massachusetts businesses experienced recently in their attempt to comply with Health Care Reform should be seen as an opportunity to review employee benefits and improve employee retention.  As usual in a government mandate, there are lots of mixed messages and much waiting until the last moment to act.  It is time to use this year to make an effort to improve your organization’s ability to retain employees.  It only costs your organization more money and time each time there is turn over. 

An employee as an individual or in relation to their family situation compels them to be concerned whether their employee benefits are meeting their immediate needs.  The main areas are salary and health benefits.  Depending on situations and priorities, dental and vision may be included in their concern for health benefits.

However, I advise you to view all levels of benefits that support an employee and their family.  A distracted employee is an inefficient employee or an accident waiting to happen.  The rush to meet the benefit requirements should be turned to your advantage now.  Review what the employee needs and concerns are.  Develop your policies to at least show your organization has listened and is trying to help.

 Distractions to the Employee:

Is the employee spending more than 50% of their salary on housing?  For each percent above 33% an employee pays for housing the more likely the employee stress level will increase on whether the job is adequately covering their living expenses.

• How much is it costing me to get to work?
• How much a month is my student loan?
• How long does it take me to get to work?
• If I need a part time job to support my life style or support my family does my primary job interfere with it?
• What are the prospects of advancement at my current employer?
• Can I afford to get sick?  What happens if my child gets sick?
• Is the employee thinking “they’re not paying me enough”?

Depending on the housing costs of an employee, the pressure to earn a living wage gets harder each year. 

What has your organization done this year to address the housing or living wage problem for your employees?    Eventually all organizations will be effected by these two issues one way or another.

I was working late the day before vacation and lost track of time and missed the commuter train by 5 minutes.  Lucky I have the subway and a cab as an alternative. 

I got on the subway and a college student had just come from watching a baseball game on television at a local bar.  He was unable to get a ticket to the game but wanted to be part of the moment.   He had recently studied in France and was pretty amazed at the difference in culture.  He found that the French were so much aware of the whole world and much more accepting of different opinions.  As an American, it made him realize how narrow-minded most Americans are. 

This lead to several other college students who had just come back from studying abroad and thought it was amazing that Europeans were much more open to sexuality and real down on violence.  Their news, movies and television played very little violence.  They thought it was funny that they had learned as children that Europe was so strict with their religion that many early settlers came to the USA.  However, today religious beliefs are less controlling in Europe than in the USA. 

For most of my career I have had college students work for me.  I have found them to be much more willing to debate an issue, to challenge the status quo, to make a difference, and to question authority.

Similar conversations with older adults are more limited.  The conversation almost always ends in “why rock the boat”, “I am afraid of how it will reflect on me and my organization or business”.  The adult is more willing to accept how things are today, that they cannot make a difference.

Are the youth of today better off being prepared by receiving an international perspective?  Seeing the rest of the world and its views on sexuality, violence, war, economics, etc. may lessen the negative adult influence that seems to be harmful in creating positive change in the USA.  

Having youth, college students or young adults as part of the nonprofit organization could be just what the organization needs to keep it healthy and vibrant in the future.  To come up with those solutions which we adults are afraid to try. 

Who out there has ever been in foster care or is adopted? 

Did you know that for every placement, a child has been in their likelihood of success in education decreases?

Decreasing the chances of success with each new placement.  Decreasing life long connections.

Giving children a chance to prepare for the future is a great opportunity for mentors to give these children a better path towards success.  The phrase that should not be repeated is, “ Wow, all you’ve been through and you still made it”.  It should not be the exception that these children succeed.  It should not be the exception that you succeeded.

So what are you going to do about it? 

As part of corporate giving, including those from nonprofits giving back to their communities, give in proportion to the children in the state where your company operates.  Make a difference in the lives of these children.

Check out AFC Mentoring at http://www.afcmentoring.org.  An organization connecting foster and adoptive children to mentors. 

There has been a lot of change going on in the nonprofit world with consolidations. Many people think that consolidation is all related to money and a reduction of funds and donors available to nonprofits. However, I wish to point out that there is another major reason.

Most nonprofits are started by someone who has a passion for something they believe in and they feel that the current array of nonprofits are not doing their cause justice. Thus, they create an organization, some organizations being more successful then others.

The evolution of nonprofits has now entered the 30-50 business evolution models. Who will succeed the leadership? Nonprofits are not family businesses and the boards are not usually activist board members with a mission. Therefore, an exit strategy is to join two organizations. It is an easy way to feel that the organization will live on after the leader has gone. This is no different than the for profit business world.

It is also no different when one nonprofit runs into trouble and is merged with another nonprofit. The winning nonprofit is usually the one who saw it coming and started to prepare early an option to save the other organization, or someone connected two individuals to start the conversation.

When a nonprofit falls completely on its face, abruptly closes and both government and other providers have to scramble to meet the needs of people being served by the organization, it means the present leadership and board were not willing to listen or to reach for help. How many of you kind of inherited the leadership role you play? A Board’s fiduciary responsibility is to make sure that your leadership is what the organization needs.

It is important that all organizations have a clear plan to transition leadership and know when current leadership should go. Throughout the country, many colleges and universities have implemented programs specifically to train individuals in the nonprofit field and nonprofit management. Take advantage of hiring from these schools and having the individuals be mentored to lead for tomorrow.

If you are afraid they will take your job, then you need to reevaluate what your organization needs. It might not be you.