Where is the leadership? How many have to die? Thousands of youth killed by youth. Youth have been speaking out and seeking relief but find adults not willing to listen and support them. WHO MUST BE SACRIFICED IN DEATH TO MAKE THE ISSUE IMPORTANT?
How many Virginia Tech’s, Northern Illinois and Columbine’ killings have to happen before you pay attention to the crisis? Did the government forget to tell us that there was another battle going on here in this country?

What donor will make an impact? What organizations will make an impact? What will elected officials do about this War in the USA? Which Candidate has the ability to reach this generation and have the biggest impact? What will you do?

Serious issues and Generation O wants to be heard. EMO speaks out through his weekly cartoon: http://mynonprofitwebsite.com/blog/category/emo-cartoon/

In 2004 in the USA:
Total Homicide deaths 16,611
Total Suicide deaths 31,647
Total Injuries due to Firearm deaths 29,036

Ages 1-4 Homicide is 4th likely means of death (354) 2.2 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)
Ages 5-14 Homicide is 4th likely means of death (318) .8 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)
Ages 5-14 Suicide is 5th likely means of death (292) .7 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)
Ages 15-24 Homicide is 2nd likely means of death (4,877) 11.7 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)
Ages 15-24 Suicide is 3rd likely means of death (4,214) 10.1 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)
Ages 25-44 Homicide is 5th likely means of death (4,877) 8.5 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)
Ages 25-44 Suicide is 4th likely means of death (11,403) 13.6 per 100,000 (car accidents is first)

With the billions being spent overseas to keep other countries safer for their citizens, many individuals are at risk here. Should there be a stronger policy on domestic violence? How many people must die before we each make it a priority. I ask, is it time to declare War against the youth dying in our own streets each day?

Protect our Children: Create the support to stop the thousands killed each year by those who kill. Teach our youth and citizens that killing others does not solve the problem or that killing of one self does not solve the problem.

My son and I had a great discussion today about best friends and its meaning not being the same among people. So I ask you to think what is a best friend?

A best friend is not just one person. It is a community of friends who represent your friendships that will be there at various times in your life or the life of the organization. Your best friend is an emotional tie that in one’s mind. It is a moving assignment ultimately assigned to the support that comes from the person you least expect when you need it the most. Your true friends are those that are there when things get tough. However, do not let friends pressure you to make choices that cause trouble for you or your organization. There are those who will call themselves your friend to get you or your organization to do what they want.

CEO’s, CFO’s and COO’s as leaders consider what is best for their organization and its members, its community and its friends. Their leadership style provides for dealing with the various levels of friendship that the organization has with individuals.

How does your organization balance these friendships?

I recently came across thesimpledollar.com. A web site dedicated to making your money saving simple. The sight was set up by Trent Hamm,  who in April 2006 went through a complete financial meltdown.  You can read more about him at (read my “financial biography” here). He addresses your every day concern of throwing yourself head first into trying to figure out every nuance of fixing your financial situation. He uses himself as an example of what he did to get the picture and within eight months had paid off all of his credit card debt, his vehicle, and also established an emergency fund. He says,

“What is The Simple Dollar? http://www.thesimpledollar.com.
The Simple Dollar is an exploration of personal finance from the perspective of a late-twentysomething who just realized that he needs to get a grip on his money. ”

His list of 100 great ways to save money can be found by clicking on this link.

There was a time of slavery
There was a time women could not vote
There was a time of segregation
There are ongoing changes to anti discrimination laws to protect a person’s rights.

Who is left?

The attacking of gay and lesbian individuals as the downfall for families, society, bad behavior, etc. has been such a focus it has accelerated the passing of equal rights for said individuals. While these protections are not universal in nature, it is becoming more and more difficult to be discriminatory to individuals due to sexuality.

The increase in attacks on illegal immigrants has been the most recent scapegoat. It will be harder to stop this area of scapegoating since many of the individuals with the label want to stay hidden. The illegal immigrants have become the perfect tool to use to attack the problems of our society instead of attacking the real causes. It allows for lots of money to be spent, visual stimulus of actions taken and there is always one example of a problem illegal immigrant to show how dangerous the individuals are.

Organizations who serve the populations of immigrants both illegal and legal need to create public service campaigns to better educate US voters and elected officials to the truths.

To let the current message go unchallenged does not serve anyone justice or benefit anyone but those who wish to convey hate and divert us from the real issues.

 pic by mike licht

The aggression within national sports leagues should require a responsive approach by each franchise to their Community to promote nonviolence.

Most sports have various degrees of aggression.  “Being rough” is appropriate to the opponents but where is the training on drawing the line?  How to turn off the aggression is never taught.  There is only positive reinforcement for being aggressive.  What is the lasting message being programmed into the individual?  What is the capacity of a youth to know the distinction?  What is the capacity of an adult to know the distinction? Mix messages do not help to resolve conflict within a person on whether to fight or flight.  The instinctive nature of an individual depends upon the training that an individual has received to allow them to adapt to a situation and act accordingly.  If aggression is all that the person has been trained to be rewarded for, then it is more likely the person will act in this manner with the expectation that they will gain more positive reinforcement.

Each individual needs to possess the skills to know when and how to listen, follow instruction, be observant, be attentive and act in most circumstances as qualities of human interaction.

Organizations and public policy makers need to demand more accountability of the professional and college sport franchises to provide the financial support in their community to adequately address the problem of aggression.

The degree to which the USA is dependent upon outside financial support, the more likely that its independence is influenced by other countries. Two of the largest influences come from China imports and the purchase of foreign oil. The USA has the ability today to change its dependence upon oil and China imports.

Similarly, organizations depend upon outside financial support for their organizations. Due to the fact that the federal or state government may place restrictions or requirements on an organization receiving its funding, some choose not to accept government funding. However, unless self-supporting, the more that an organization is dependent on annual fund raising, the more the influence on what it does by outside influences.

Strategic Planning is a key component to utilize in implementing your annual giving campaign for your organization’s mission. Your brand and message should be evaluated annually and adapted to reach the organization, its supporters and the community it serves.

According to the Los Angelos Times it was reported that two women with Downs Syndrome wearing suicide vests were used to bomb two popular pet markets in Iraq. The bombs were denoted remotely.

This act of brutality against these two individuals must strengthen the resolve across all religions that there is a line none of us should cross in war.

International organizations and government agencies must reach out to better protect individuals who are disabled in Iraq, since it is now clear that their lives are at risk and they have an inability to seek safety.

The Supreme Court has clearly stated that an organization cannot ignore discrimination laws if it accepts public funding, which bans said discrimination. While organizations have the right under the first amendment to set their membership rules, the Court has also ruled that a government cannot pick and choose whom must abide by discrimination rules and receive its funds or in kind support. The support has ranged from the use of buildings to receiving grants.

The most visibly effected organization in the practice of discrimination and the use of government support has been the Boy Scouts.

On the scouting web site http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?s=mc&c=fs is the mission statement: “The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.”

Scout Oath
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law

A Scout is:
Trustworthy
Loyal
Helpful
Friendly
Courteous
Kind
Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean
Reverent

The scout’s message of preparing young people to make ethical and moral choices is delivered through individual adults. These adults include individuals who have been divorced, battered their wives, have substance abuse problems, abuse their children, etc. The leadership of the Scouts who are focused on attacking gays as morally wrong while continuing to not assess an adult on other criteria that directly effect the scout’s well being is why bad things happen.

History has shown that those who attack and create a scapegoat are most likely hiding their own personal shortcomings.  Organizations who wish to discriminate against either an employee or a volunteer need to be prepared to show specifically what harm the specific individual has caused. You cannot discriminate on an assumption.

Keeping control of your organization’s costs by having independent contractors could cost your organization a lot more if not done right.

The safest way to know whether your organization should consider having the individual(s) as employees can be resolved by filling out an SS-8 IRS form.  The forms are on line and the questions clear to understand.

Basically the questions are do you control where, when and how the person does they duties.  If you say yes to all three, then hands down they are your employees.  It gets more difficult to answer when the work for an individual is intermittent and/or temporary.  The focus still is on control.  The individual working for more than one entity, or who is compensated based on a specific product outcome, or is the individual who bears all responsibility of other hires they make and is free from direction and control of the hiring organization, is more likely not an employee.

One of the hardest areas of designation is fee for service arrangements with individuals who are paid a percentage of the fees being charged for each person seen.  If the person is practicing under the license of an organization, the individual is more likely considered to be under the control and supervision of the organization.

Help your employee to understand that if they got a loan that they cannot afford, agreeing to a repayment plan or deferring the missed payments is not going to help them in the long run.  If the loan terms were predatory today, they are still going to be predatory later.  Publicize to employees the programs that can help them understand their options.  They might come to find out that demanding new terms may work in their favor.  They might come to find out that  seven years of a bad credit history was worth the foreclosure.  Rents are getting cheap at the moment.

Whatever the outcome for your employee, your organization can stand to benefit in reducing your employees’ stresses by letting them know what types of housing support you might be able to offer.  Retention of a good employee is worth the effort of having a housing agenda within your organization.