Photo by: The Seafarer

Well as we can all see, the holiday season is upon us once again. I know for most it seems as though we just started 2009.  But this is the time of year when it seems that it is very important to give back.  Now with Thanksgiving already gone by, it can be a little hard to do much, but the December holidays are still to come.  So let me give a few tips of things that you and your non profit can do.  First, you can hold an office food drive.  Have people bring in non perishable food items and after a certain date bring them to your local food pantry.  You can also collect toys for Toys for Tots or other items for other holiday drives happening this time of year.  Another open is to gather up some of your employees and volunteer your time at a homeless shelter or food pantry.  There are many options out there of things you can do.  The most important thing is that you give something back.  As we, the fortunate, are celebrating the holidays with our families this year, we all need to think about those who are less fortunate an may not be as lucky as we are.  So go out there and give back to your community.

Photo by: vi4kin

Here is a great example of the progress of non profit organizations world wide.  Russia’s President Dmitri A. Medvedev has called for tax incentives and other measures to help Russia’s non profit groups which have come under government pressure as of late.  The President is trying to promote policies that will help to modernize his country.  Now he knows that the policies will not alleviate all the problems but it will sure help with some of them.  He is trying to keep his main goal of supporting non profits in the sector and hoping to get more talented  and philanthropic people to help.To read the entire article, please follow the hyperlink to the New York Times web-page.

Photo by: goodrob13

In the weeks before Thanksgiving Day, Frank Sinisi is one busy retiree. He is standing in front of the walk-in freezer of Pronto, the North Bay Shore nonprofit community organization, for which he has served as unpaid president for the past 6½ years.

Packages of tamales stored there will soon be distributed to needy families, making room for hundreds of frozen turkeys, also for the less fortunate.

Next week, Sinisi, 75, will be among Pronto’s 40 volunteers who will be handing out the turkeys to families  who have registered for a free Thanksgiving dinner, with all the trimmings.

“We already have requests for over 900 turkey dinners,” says Sinisi, a genial man with a twinkling smile.

To read the entire article, please follow the hyperlink to the Newsday web-page.

Photo by: Auntie PA

23-year-old graduate from the University of Virginia who created a non profit to help tackle the AIDS epidemic in Washington D.C. has been named this years Rhodes Scholar.  Tyler Spencer is his name and his scholarship was announced on Sunday.  He says his life was changed when he was on a study abroad trip in Africa.  Seeing the impact of HIV and AIDS on people in a community in Mozambique is what caused him to start the non profit.  He newest Rhodes Scholar says he has big plans for the scholarship he received.To read the entire article, please follow the hyperlink to the Washington Examiner web-page.

Photo by:  keso

There has been talk of News Corp. threatening to leave the google index and Googles problems trying to index out of print books.  But, all of these problems are related to the commercial status.  If they were considered a non profit the majority of these problems they seem to be having would go away.  The interesting thing is that Googles founders once believed that the site should be a non profit search.  But there has been talks about this very idea possibly coming true.  If Google were to take on its status as non profit search engine, it would basically make them unstoppable.To read the entire article, please follow the hyperlink to the ZDNet web-page.

Photo by:  Telstar Logistics

Some of you out there may be wondering about different ways that you can reach out to the college population to help them out and get interested in the non profit sector.  There are several different paths you can choose.
A popular option is to offer a scholarship.  This does not have to be much, only a few hundred dollars.  For college students trying to pay for school any money is a help to them.  If using a scholarship you should set up requirements.  You can have the applicants write and essay about something to do with the nonprofit sector or to come up with a plan to help some area of your nonprofit.  These options are really endless and all that is required is for you to just be a little creative.  You can even contact some colleges in a certain mile radius and see if they can put your scholarship in the list of scholarships that many schools have.  This will help to inform more college age people about nonprofits and get a number of them interested in joining the nonprofit sector after they graduate.

Pic by PBS Hawaii.org

There is a trend that industrialization brings to developing nations that just might surprise you.  First the world had the G-7 and now we have the G-20.

The expansion of nations to create the G-20 has nicely identified those nations to watch the replication of the surprise path to wealth.  Family size gets smaller and families become richer.  The developing nations within the G-20 are creating an opportunity of economic growth that will create conditions for businesses to grow and to lower world poverty by a large margin.  International nonprofits should look towards the G-20 and decide whether their mission should move on to another country or focus now in these developing countries to get the biggest impact for their dollar.

The G-20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States of America

The European Union is represented by the rotating Council presidency and the European Central Bank, it is the 20th member of the G-20.

Oic by Geek & Poke

Nonprofit employees just might turn out the lights of some in congress if they get this wrong.

Half of all Americans already get their health through the government.  It is called Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

Health care reform to be beneficial for most businesses including the nonprofit community needs to accomplish one goal, afforable health care for all.

All other policy issues are a means to distract from the real goal and wastes valuable time.  The Health Care debate has and will continue to provide plenty of learning material on how to redirect a debate, redistribute wealth and create an  ever lastingly impact.

Nonprofits still have time to move the debate in their favor of creating affordable health care for their employees, their business model and allow the nonprofit to continue to concentrate on their mission.

Write your elected Congressional Officials and tell them as an employer how health care costs effect your mission and how you personally have been effected by health care cost.

Photo by: splorpA Schenectady, New York nonprofit has been honored for helping experienced workers transition into new careers.  Umbrella of the Capital District won the Encore Opportunity Award and was awarded at a ceremony in Washington D.C.  They were just one of eight organizations nationwide to be awarded this award.  The awards were bestowed by Civic Ventures and the MetLife Foundation.To read the entire article, please follow the hyperlink to the Times Union web-page.

Photo by: Tony the MisfitSeven venerable non-profits have formed an unusual way of fundraising in response to last years loss of support of the United Way.  These non-profits have formed a joint marketing campaign looking to raise lost funds.  They are working under the name GivePhilly and have a website were donors are able to contribute.  Their website is http://givephilly.org/.  The organizations that make up GivePhilly are the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, The Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America, The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia, Settlement Music School, Travelers Aid of Philadelphia, United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, and the YMCA of Philadelphia.To read the entire article, please follow the hyperlink to the philly.com web-page.