By: Big Buzz Idea Group Staff This month, we turn to our helpful hive-full of Big Buzz team members for some insider insights and tips that they’ve honed and compiled over years of working with nonprofits. These simple but powerful methodologies have helped numerous clients along the way, so we know they’re tried and true and can work for anyone in the business of running a nonprofit like a business. Prepare For “The Ask” When soliciting new Board Members, Nicole Harris advises to go in prepared for the big meeting: A strong organization will have a solid plan when it...
Name/Title: Allison Herman (she/her), Director of Education What is your organization and mission? Hope For The Day is a nonprofit movement empowering the conversation on proactive suicide prevention and mental health education. How many years do you have in the nonprofit industry? 1.5 years / Before working at Hope For The Day, I spent 10+ years working in marketing and advertising. I’ve also been volunteering in nonprofit organizations since childhood. How do you develop and grow your desired culture within your organization? I’m a big fan of leading with empathy and creating psychological safety for the passionate people who work...
By Melissa Lagowski Big Buzz Idea Group Founder/CEO/Queen Bee With all the tasks that are on your to-do list, how often are you able to take a step back and think strategically about where the association is headed and what you hope to accomplish? Too often, nonprofit leaders are rushed for time, so to meet all the demands on their time, they wash, rinse and repeat yearend planning documents without much consideration. But if you keep doing what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. According to the National Center on Charitable Statistics, more than...
By Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group I was at a networking event and chatting with someone about post-COVID challenges, and he suggested that I should look into the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). He gave me the name and number for an agency that had helped his large company receive hundreds of thousands of dollars back from the CARES Act. The next day, I called that company and learned they wanted to charge me a $10,000 fee just for a review. If I qualified for the program, they would charge a large fee per employee. My heart...
Name/Title: Mari Galloway, CEO & Founding Board Member What is your organization and mission? Cyberjutsu is a 501c3 cybersecurity community for women to grow and build their #cyberjutsutribe. We empower women to network and lead in the cybersecurity space through hands-on workshops, cyber games, professional development, conference participation, leadership and volunteer opportunities, and more. How many years do you have in the nonprofit industry? 10 Your nonprofit community. Your team. Your mission. Your Board of Directors. Your events. Your volunteers. Your sponsors. How do you manage it all day to day? I don’t, lol. Just kidding. But I wonder about...
By Angie Noll Founder Reconciled Solutions We have been sharing strategies related to taking advantage of federal and local Disaster Relief Funding opportunities with our followers since coronavirus changed the world as we know it in early 2020. This month is no different; we have discovered some super powerful opportunities regarding the Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTC) available from the federal government against 2020 and 2021. Here are some little-known, rarely discussed opportunities that we want to highlight that are reaping thousands of dollars of rewards to many of our clients: -The ERTC 2020 credit allows a business owner to...
Name/Title: Carmel DeStefano, Board President Organization: Illinois Theatre Association Mission: The Illinois Theatre Association is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to advocate for the important values that theatre at all levels in the state of Illinois bring to individuals as we work to expand hearts and minds through work both on the stage and off. Our work includes the important mission to inspire, engage, challenge, nurture, educate and empower artists and audiences to enhance the cultural landscape of Illinois, making our state a more conscious and compassionate community. Ultimately, we look to celebrate the essential power of the theatre...
By Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee It was October 1, 1999, when I began my first full-time position in the nonprofit world. I showed up excitedly and ready to dig in and get started. The president of the organization met me at the office, said the organization was looking forward to working with me, handed me the key to the office and walked out the door. Now what? As a staff of one, I was responsible for what would become 24 annual events, 12 newsletters and 8 committees. I remember looking around the office and trying to figure out where to...
By Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Debates continue about the “great resignation” and the fast-rising salary demands that are running rampant in the current hiring climate (also known as wage compression). As nonprofits and associations strive to serve their missions with diminishing resources, many are struggling to find the experienced workers they need at a salary they can afford. Just as frustrating, the labor shortage increases the demands on your existing staff (who are already taxed as a result of the pandemic), which results in higher levels of burnout. So, what is an organization to do? We’ve seen a recent rise...
By Cat Donovan Executive Assistant Employee wellness continues to be a topic circulating at the forefront of nonprofits and associations. The pandemic has escalated workplace pressures and shifted expectations placed on employees by both supervisors and also the employees themselves. For example, working from home has made it much easier for employees to check email at all hours of the day and night. Without the real separation of office and home, employees may be off the clock but essentially still “working” and may feel pressure to constantly check in, fearful that others are doing the same and, thus, they might...
