All posts created by nancy.wolanski@unitedwayri.org

Please be sure to read and follow the Community Guidelines for all posts in all Alliance for Nonprofit Impact Forums.

ALLIANCE ANNOUNCEMENTS FORUM

Alliance staff will post announcements here about Alliance programs, services and other information that may be of interest to our members.

Information may also be posted in the Alliance HQ Blog.

You may respond to posts with questions, but we ask that you don't post your own announcements here.

If your organization has news it would like to share, you can post to the Member News Forum in the Alliance Community category. If you would like to share information about an event you are hosting, you can submit it directly to the AllianceHQ community calendar.

Please be sure to read and follow the Community Guidelines for all posts in all Alliance for Nonprofit Impact Forums.

FEEDBACK FORUM

The Feedback Forum is a place to submit suggestions you have for new Alliance programs and services, feedback that you have on existing programs and services, and questions you have about the Alliance, membership benefits, or programs and services.

If you have feedback or questions about 401Gives or Give4GoodRI, please post that information in the appropriate forum in the Alliance Platforms category.

Alliance staff will respond to most of your questions or concerns offline, and then delete your post, unless the response might be of general interest.

Please be sure to read and follow the Community Guidelines for all posts in all Alliance for Nonprofit Impact Member Forums.

NONPROFIT FREECYCLE FORUM

Offers of free goods and services

In this Forum, please post any free goods or services you can share with other nonprofits. For instance, you might have a box of file folders you aren't going to use, meeting space that is available for free, etc.

Please only post offers that have been approved by your organization's leadership, and post only what the organization has in its possession.

Alliance staff will post here when we hear about free goods and services (ie, a business is moving and wants to donate their office furniture, etc.).

If you learn of free goods or services being offered by an external organization or person, please send the information to Alliance@unitedwayri.org instead of posting to this Forum. The Alliance staff will verify the offer, and determine whether it should be posted here.

Needs for free goods and services

You can also post in this Forum if you are looking for free goods or services. Please note: If you are looking for content resources (ie, a template for a Board orientation, a sample remote work policy, etc.), please post in the appropriate Learning Community Forum, not in Nonprofit Freecycle.

Fee-based products and services

If you have products, services or resources that are available for a fee (ie, if you have meeting space that can be rented, or want to share the cost of bringing in a speaker), please post them in the Alliance Marketplace Forum, not in Nonprofit Freecycle.

Please be sure to read and follow the Community Guidelines for all posts in all Alliance for Nonprofit Impact Forums.

FREE AND LOW-COST MEETING SPACE FORUM

This is a Forum to learn about free and low-cost meeting space available to nonprofits.

Please include a link to the website, so that Alliance members can do their due diligence.

If your organization makes your facility available for free or at a nominal cost, please post here.

If you rent your facility as a revenue source, please post in the Alliance Marketplace Forum.

Executive Summary

Nonprofits play a critical social role in improving education, alleviating poverty, providing economic opportunities, supporting the health care system, and sustaining the arts. Their health is vital to our nation. So, when they face financial distress, it creates hardship for some of the most vulnerable and fragile segments of society. It also means that hardworking staff may lose paychecks or pensions and that trustees may be exposed to personal liability.

Our analysis shows just how fragile the nation’s nonprofits really are:

• 7-8% are technically insolvent with liabilities exceeding assets

• 30% face potential liquidity issues with minimal cash reserves and/or short-term assets less than short-term liabilities

• 30% have lost money over the last three years

• ~50% have less than one month of operating reserves

The scale of the problem is vast. In fact, just restoring currently insolvent nonprofits to solvency would require an injection of $40 to $50 billion dollars. Changes to the federal tax code may exacerbate the issue, by changing charitable donations and/or by increasing the likelihood of future pressure on federal budgets for human services.

Risk management can reduce the likelihood of financial distress. It should be an important part of every trustee’s duties of care, loyalty, and obedience. In this report, we offer a set of recommendations for organizations serious about adopting robust, “best in class” processes to manage risk: scenario planning, benchmarking, and environmental scans.

However, risk management by individual organizations is only part of the solution. Funders – both government and philanthropic – must also change their policies and practices for nonprofits to be financially healthy and stable in the long-term. We suggest some ways they might do this, including changing the nature of funding and creating sectorwide infrastructure.

In this report, we provide some context setting with a brief overview of the size and scale of the US nonprofit sector and why its financial health matters. We look at the financial vital signs of the sector, analyzing key financial metrics segmented by size, sub-sector, and geography1. We describe practical steps that trustees and their organizations can take to strengthen their financial position. Finally, we offer some long-term ideas for how funders and the rest of the ecosystem can actively reduce the risks of financial distress in the nonprofit sector. We conclude with an appendix of tables summarizing key financial health indicators for the sector.

Read report

Comer Family Foundation

Since 1992, the Comer Family Foundation has offered a grantmaking program to support syringe services and community-based harm reduction programs that improve the health and wellness of people who use drugs. These programs provide free safer use supplies, education, and community wraparound services to reduce opioid overdose and the transmission of HIV and viral hepatitis.

https://www.comerfamilyfoundation.org/syringe-service-program

CreativeGround is a project of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA.) It is the dynamic regional directory that celebrates the vital work of New England's creative people and places. CreativeGround is a community-generated and free tool that supports a region-wide creative network.

Check it out

Go to rimonthly.com/things-to-do/ and select Create an Event at the bottom of the page.

Cardi's Furniture & Mattresses Community Room in South Attleboro, MA

"Located on the lower level of the South Attleboro showroom, the Community Room is available to local charitable organizations and non-profit groups, free of charge! From meetings and seminars to small plays or recitals, Cardi's Furniture & Mattresses lives in the spirit of giving back to our community.

For your convenience, the room is equipped with the following:

Seating for up to 100 guests Three 55" Flat Screen HDTV's Five 6’ Folding Tables (Rectangle) and Two 30" Tables (Square) Blu-Ray DVD Player VGA & HDMI hook-ups Easy access to loading dock Cardi's Furniture & Mattresses Community Room is also available to local, non-competing businesses to use for team training & meetings. Some of the past users include Garage Headquarters, local Police and Fire Departments, Department of Homeland Security, the Providence School Department, RI Comic Con and many others.

Cardi's Furniture & Mattresses Community Room cannot be used for “business opportunity” presentations or any sort of programming where an attendee would be presented with a recruitment option, a for-profit business opportunity, or attendance fee is required and / or products are sold.

The Community Room may be reserved Monday - Saturday 11am-7pm and Sunday 12pm-5pm, depending on availability."

More information

The United Way of Rhode Island provides free meeting space for RI nonprofits.

There is a conference room, which seats about 60 auditorium style, or about 30-35 with tables in a U shape.

The Godley Room can accommodate about 12 people around a conference table. (It was previously larger, but has been split for half to be used for staff space.)

Use of the space is dependent on availability of the room, as well as a United Way staff "host" to be in the building during the community use. This is not an issue during regular business hours, but can impact the ability to use the space after hours or on the weekend.