What's the Average?
The average American gives about 3.1% of their income (before taxes) to charity, an increase from previous years but still well below the traditional 10% "tithe" for charity recommended by religious institutions.
Who Gives the Most?
The people that give the most actually make the least. Households earning under $10,000 a year -- far below the poverty line -- gave 5.2% of their income to charity. That's a larger percentage of their money than any other income group.
What's the Bottom line?
The average household donates $1,620 each year. That's just three dollars a day. Learn more.
You Make the Difference:
Did you know that individuals give 75% of all the money that charities receive? If we all give our fair share, no one will go hungry and no child will grow up in poverty. Sound idealistic? Everything depends on how we spend our money.
Give 5!
While 3.1% is the average, there is a movement to give more. Independent Sector, a coalition of nearly 800 corporations, foundations, and private voluntary organizations, is encouraging us to "Give 5" -- donate 5% of our income and volunteer 5 hours of our time each week.
It All Adds Up:
The amount of money and time that we alone can give may seem small but together as part of a national -- even global -- giving movement we are able to make dramatic changes in the quality of life on this small planet.
If you care about nonprofits and the work they do, then you're affected by what GuideStar does—even if this is your first visit to www.guidestar.org. You see, we gather and publicize information about nonprofit organizations. Our reach is far and wide. Our database is broad and deep.
GuideStar's mission is to revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.
We encourage nonprofits to share information about their organizations openly and completely. Any nonprofit in our database can update its report with information about its mission, programs, leaders, goals, accomplishments, and needs—for free. We combine the information that nonprofits supply with data from several other sources. You'll find GuideStar data:
If you're new to GuideStar, check out our demo for new users to learn more about finding the nonprofit information you need. Then start searching our site-it's free! You'll get even more information if you complete ourregistration form and log in-also free!
Why are we so passionate about nonprofit information? Because the best possible decisions are made when donors, funders, researchers, educators, professional service providers, governing agencies, and the media use the quality information that we provide. Those decisions affect our world today and will continue to affect it for generations to come.
As mentioned in previous posts, each organization has its own inter workings; with today's tight economy, there are an increasing number of organizations that utilize one person to wear both the artistic and executive hats. But here is a summary of the executive duties of a non-profit organization.
The United Way of King County offers a plethora of non-profit governance resources. Including the following job description for executive directors by Jan Masoaoka:
At a recent gathering of nonprofit CEOs (executive directors) it was amazing how many people didn't have job descriptions - and almost no one had one that had been recently updated. Too often boards only look at the executive director's job description when they're unhappy with their executive or when they're hiring a new one. If you're writing or rewriting a job description, it may be helpful to have one for comparison. I've taken my job description as executive director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services - one of the Board Cafe's co-publishers - and made it a bit more "generic" to serve as a template. Whatever job description you use, test to see that it both provides everyday guidance for the executive director and can serve as an evaluation tool at the end of the year. AND be sure to revisit and revise the job description as the job and the organization change.
Executive Director
The Executive Director is the Chief Executive Officer of ____________. The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors, and is responsible for the organization's consistent achievement of its mission and financial objectives. In program development and administration, the Executive Director will:
Specific committee responsibilities:
Assure that the organization has a long-range strategy which achieves its mission, and toward which it makes consistent and timely progress.
Provide leadership in developing program, organizational and financial plans with the Board of Directors and staff, and carry out plans and policies authorized by the board.
Promote active and broad participation by volunteers in all areas of the organization's work.
Maintain official records and documents, and ensure compliance with federal, state and local regulations.
Maintain a working knowledge of significant developments and trends in the field.
In communications, the Executive Director will:
See that the board is kept fully informed on the condition of the organization and all important factors influencing it.
Publicize the activities of the organization, its programs and goals.
Establish sound working relationships and cooperative arrangements with community groups and organizations.
Represent the programs and point of view of the organization to agencies, organizations, and the general public.
In relations with staff, the Executive Director will:
Be responsible for the recruitment, employment, and release of all personnel, both paid staff and volunteers.
Ensure that job descriptions are developed, that regular performance evaluations are held, and that sound human resource practices are in place.
See that an effective management team, with appropriate provision for succession, is in place.
Encourage staff and volunteer development and education, and assist program staff in relating their specialized work to the total program of the organization.
Maintain a climate that attracts, keeps, and motivates a diverse staff of top quality people.
In budget and finance, the Executive Director will:
Be responsible for developing and maintaining sound financial practices.
Work with the staff, Finance Committee, and the board in preparing a budget; see that the organization operates within budget guidelines.
Ensure that adequate funds are available to permit the organization to carry out its work.
Jointly, with the president and secretary of the board of directors, conduct official correspondence of the organization, and jointly, with designated officers, execute legal documents.
Board of Directors
To do good work, board members or boards need to:
1 . Understand and be committed to the mission statement.
2. Broadly represent the community.
3. Participate in a working committee structure and have assigned responsibilities.
4. Understand and embrace stewardship and governance roles.
5. Understand their administrative role.
6. Have shared leadership responsibilities.
7. Manage change.
8. Develop annual and multi-year action plans. 9. Be self-critical and willing to engage in self-evaluation.
10. Possess the ability to evaluate, cultivate, train and replace leadership.
11. Financially support the organization and participate in the fund-raising process.
1. Understand and be committed to the mission statement. Since board members are the "sales force" of the arts organization, their full understanding and commitment to the mission of the organization is primary. Board members need to fully understand (and be able to communicate to others) the organization's mission. If they do not understand the mission, they will not be able to sell it to anyone else.
2. Broadly represent the community.
It is vital that an arts organization's board broadly represent the community's demographics, its arts groups and individual artists. Community leaders from education, business, industry, unions, the legal sector, local government, chambers of commerce and funders are excellent recruitment sources.
3. Participate in a working committee structure with assigned responsibilities.
Committees enable the board to work in depth in areas such as planning, finance, resource development, nominating, program and marketing. Board committees are established for many reasons: to assume part of the board's work-load; to develop a special expertise that will enable a board to act in a more informed and responsible manner on an issue; to save time; sustain a tradition; or handle a continuing organizational responsibility. Committee members are assigned responsibilities suited to their personal and professional strengths and interests. This insures success. Success, in turn, insures the board member's personal satisfaction and encourages their continued commitment. An effective committee is clear about its responsibilities and relationship to others and is flexible. To work well, a committee needs clear direction; an annual schedule; a specific statement of its charge; and clear and concise operating procedures.
4. Understand and embrace stewardship and governance roles.
The primary role of the board is to serve as the organization's governing body. The board is charged with establishing policy to be carried out through an administrative staff. Board members have a stewardship role: to speak on behalf of the organization; to promote its programs and services; to represent the organization in social and business and legislative meetings; to help support the organization financially, as well as in an advisory capacity; and to participate in the fund-raising efforts of the organization.
5. Understand their administrative role.
By-laws help clarify the role of the board. They outline the overall structure of the board and the organization. They define how an organization operates, and its parameters and they do this in relation to both the board and the administration. The line of responsibility separating the board (as the governing body) and the administration (as the body that implements policy) is clearly stated in the by-laws. The by-laws are the first area declaring this important division of responsibility. Personnel policies and manuals are the second area defining this division.
6. Have shared leadership responsibilities.
Shared leadership refers to a well-balanced assignment of roles and responsibilities. If the board has a strong committee structure, clearly defined job descriptions for chairs and committee members, as well as defined staff roles, the achievement of shared leadership should naturally follow. Problems can occur when, for example, the executive committee is taking action, where the full board should be taking responsibility, or when the board becomes too involved with the day-to-day activities of the organization and interferes with the jobs of staff members.
7. Manage change.
The capacity to manage change is critical to the health, success and growth of an arts service organization. If an organization is serving its constituency to the fullest extent, change is certain to occur. It is therefore important for the board of directors to recognize that change will inevitably occur within a healthy organization. A strong, flexible board will recognize the roads that lead to advancement and the achievement of the organization's mission and will lead the organization forward along these roads.
8. Develop annual and multi-year action plans.
With a clear and concise mission statement as a starting point, an arts organization is ready to develop both annual and multi-year plans to guide its activities. Input from the staff will provide the board with important criteria for making decisions, as will program evaluations, organizational assessments and audits. A well-written annual and long-range plan will incorporate both programmatic and financial outlooks. Annual and multi-year plans are only as valuable as the action they inspire. During the planning process, the board may take advantage of the expertise of the organization's staff and to provide information on the value and success of programs and services. The board may also wish to call on outside counsel to provide objective information that can help guide the actions of the organization and assist with evaluation processes.
9. Be self-critical and willing to engage in self-evaluation.
The capacity to engage in self-evaluation and the ability to redirect energy and focus when required is essential. One of the primary roles of a planning committee is to provide the board with the opportunity to regularly examine the activities and actions of the organization. Evaluation is needed to determine what modification or change, if any, is necessary.
10. Possess the ability to evaluate, cultivate, train and replace leadership.
The board can provide itself and each trustee with opportunities for evaluation. Evaluation happens in different ways. Through orientations and retreats, for example, the board can evaluate its own operation, as well as provide trustees with self-evaluation tools. Boards should provide training opportunities, internally through regularly scheduled orientations, and externally, through programs, workshops, seminars, lectures, books, articles and newsletters. Boards benefit from having a nominating or board development committee. This important committee is charged with the responsibility for evaluating the performance of the board and determining the type of board expertise needed to carry forth the organization's mission.
11. Financially support the organization and participate in the fund-raising process.
This is one of the most critically important roles of the trustee. Part of the stewardship role is to promote the arts organization to others and offer them the opportunity to assist financially. While each board member should support the organization within their individual means, each trustee in recognition of the honor that service to the organization bestows should stretch within their limits to fulfill their financial obligation.
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