Nonprofit organizations are forbidden to participate in any activity that favors or opposes any political candidate, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be involved with politics at all.

While an organization can not intervene on behalf of a political campaign, it may undertake certain types of nonpartisan political activities. Yet even in these situations, organizations still need to tread lightly or risk the wrath of the IRS.

In her book “Good Counsel,” Lesley Rosenthal lists some permissible political events for nonprofit organizations:

• Voter Education and Voter Registration Drives: These are a-OK for nonprofits as long as there are no biased references to individual candidates or political parties. Timing is also an important factor for the permissibility of these events. For example, distributing newsletters on a candidate’s voting record on issues important to the nonprofit would probably constitute intervention during an election year.
• Speeches by Candidates: An organization may invite a political candidate to speak at an event, but only if opposing candidates for the same office are given equal time. The event must not advocate for a certain position.
• Facility Rental: A nonprofit that has space for public gatherings may rent space to a candidate looking to make a space, so long as the organization charges the campaign its customary fees and makes the space available to opposing candidates. In addition, the space must be regularly offered by the organization and not specifically for the candidate.

Contracts can be intimidating things to nonprofits.  Once you put your signature on that piece of paper, it seems like the whole world changes.  Everything you do from that point on must be weighed carefully.  They sure can be a hassle, but contracts are necessary to allow organizations to get the resources they need to carry out their programs.

Every nonprofit program is different, but they all have at least one thing in common: Concern with contract law.  Contracts can provide a lot of legal issues for organizations.  Management always needs to be prepared for any situation.

In her book “Good Counsel,” Lesley Rosenthal lays out the basics of contract law.  She writes that contracts must be written with reasonable specificity so that each party can perform their necessary obligations under the agreement.  These specifics include the parties to the contract, when or over what period of time the exchange of obligations is to occur, and any other details that are determined to be important to the parties.  If none of these details are included the contract may not be considered valid, because it only expresses that an agreement has been reached, rather than a binding agreement.

Once there is an offer and acceptance to an agreement, Rosenthal writes that the parties need to render the agreement in writing and sign the document.  This will make the agreement binding.  Some organizations do confirm their contracts with oral agreements, but it is safer to do it in writing so you have something to refer back to should an issue arise.  Note that “in writing” doesn’t necessarily mean on paper.  Electronic contracts are equally recognized in most places as binding for both parties.

Now that the contract is written, you can put it away and begin living up to your end of the bargain for the life of the agreement.  You will likely never have to look at the contract again unless a problem arises–which is hopefully something you and your management team will be able to avoid.

Office politics: They are a powerful thing in every office and, whether they like it or not, nonprofit managers have to deal with them.

In their book “Make Talent Your Business,” Wendy Axelrod and Jeannie Coyle say managers must first acknowledge the existence of organizational politics.  You can’t tackle a problem, after all, if you don’t believe it exists.  Further, Axelrod and Coyle encourage leaders to show their employees how to navigate the twisted webs of office politics.  They suggest the following tips:

• Clarify and adjust assumptions about organization politics. Yes, people often use political skills for unprincipled self-serving. Employees who can read the dynamics, however, can create and sell effective solutions.
• Help map the bumpy political terrain. Make sure employees get a full view of the landscape, so they know where danger points occur.
• Coach employees to build a portfolio of politically smart approaches. Set a strategy, influence others and adapt familiar skills to political solutions.
• Prepare for and sometimes rehearse the handling of complex situations. Employees will do better after having had the opportunity to fine-tune messages, practice handling questions, listen to opposing views, think through their reactions and adapt an appropriate personal presence.

Donors come and donors go.  But what do you about them when they go?  Do you give up on them or do you try and figure out why they left?

Nonprofits have to deal with lapsed donors everyday, and how they handle them makes all the difference.  It’s easy enough to hang your head and move on to the next one, but that will be doing your nonprofit a disservice.  Instead of giving up, put on your detective hat and find out why they went away.  Getting feedback from donors is always a good way to find out what you can improve.

In their book “Wired and Dangerous,” Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson list some questions you can ask your donors to get a better understanding of how your organization can improve:

• What is one aspect about our organization that you view as “very positive?”
• Complete this sentence: What I like least about what you do is…
• Complete this sentence: What I like most about what you do is…
• What are the first words that come to mind when you think about working with us?
• What area of our organization needs the most improvement?
• Was there ever a time when we left you disappointed?  If so, briefly describe the incident and list ways that we could have handled the situation better (if at all).
• What would you like to see us do that no other organization in our industry is doing?
• What have we not asked that we should have?

The campaign season is starting to heat up as we move closer to the 2012 Presidential elections, and soon the real fun will begin: Lobbying for one candidate over another.  But nonprofits need to be careful about how they participate in this kind of advocacy.

In the most recent edition of The NonProfit Times, we went over how the IRS is increasingly scrutinizing nonprofit organization’s participation in political advocacy.  If an organization is perceived to have overstepped its boundaries, they could be in danger of getting heavily fined.

This campaign season, it will be common for nonprofits to want to post voter guides on their websites to let their supporters make educated decisions on which candidate to support.  In order to help avoid some of the pitfalls of online lobbying, Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum and Lisa M. Hix of Venable LLP offered the following advice:

• Simply linking to candidate-related material alone is not enough to be considered political campaign intervention.
• If you’re unsure about what constitutes intervention, consider the following: Are all candidates equally represented?  Does the website your linking to favor one candidate over another?  Is the link being offered with an exempt purpose (i.e. candidate education)?
• When preparing to post a link, organizations should be very careful.  Any website that contains specific views on legislation, as well as links to a voting legislator’s e-mail, will be treated as a “call to action,” even if that wasn’t the intention.
• Check sites for links added inadvertently or without authorization.

One of the big responsibilities of human resources is to make sure employees are treated fairly and their privacy is protected.  Employees expect what happens in the office to remain there, but today’s technology allows people to easily spread the word out to countless people. 

It’s up to HR to make sure this doesn’t happen so the organization can avoid any legal problems.  But how to do this when the technology makes it so easy?  Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum and Lisa M. Hix of D.C.-based Venable LLP offered some tips on how nonprofits can better handle these sticky situations:

• Employees are going to use their computers for personal use whether you like it or not.  It’s an unavoidable fact of life, so make sure staff is educated on what they can and can’t post.
• You need a clear and reasonable policy that explains expectations on usage. It should reduce any expectation of privacy on the organization’s computers or email, phone/voicemail or Blackberry systems and the data on them.
• Make sure the policy you create addresses permissible use while guarding against potential legal pitfalls.
• Always be prepared.  Organize a team (consisting of legal, executive, marketing, and HR staff) before a crisis happens, not after.
• Want to check out a potential employee’s online interactions?  Get written consent from them first.
• Screen all your candidates the same way.  Don’t treat one different than the other.
• Remember that you can only decide not to hire someone based on online interactions if it’s a non-discriminatory reason.  For example, you can’t just not hire a person because you found out they have different political beliefs than you.

Texting: All the cool kids are doing it.  Is your nonprofit one of them?

Sending text messages to your supporters is a good way to alert them to news or other information.  There aren’t too many people who don’t carry a cell phone with them, so chances are they are going to receive your message instantly.  Before you start sending your group text messages, though, it’s important to listen to some sage advice.

In her book “Social Media For Good,” Heather Mansfield went over some best practices for group text messaging:

• Add a “Subscribe to Receive Text Alerts!” button on your website, blog, newsletters, social media sites, and other materials.  This will help with your visibility.
• On a related note, have your text-to-subscribe keyword and short pitch code to your Twitter background.
• Your text messages should be timely and relevant to current events.  For example, text donations played a large role in raising money for the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
• Mix up your messages by sending both information and call-to-action alerts.  People don’t want to receive too much of the same thing.
• Send periodic text messages to remind supporters that they can text to give or donate online.  But remember not to overload them with these types of messages.
• Speaking of which, you shouldn’t send more than two or three text messages a month.  These things cost money, ya know.
• If you have a mobile website (and you should), link to it in your messages.
• Use a service like bit.ly to track click-through rates from the links in your texts.  This will give you a better idea of the effectiveness of your campaign.

For more tips like this, check our Management Tips page.

Of all the nonprofit buzz words out there, branding reigns supreme.  You would be hard pressed to find an organization that isn’t trying to increase awareness of their brand.

It’s all well and good to talk about branding, but a nonprofit won’t find much success if they don’t follow some essential elements.  One of these is something called the brand promise, which is discussed in the book “Be Your Own Brand” by David McNally and Karl D. Speak.  A brand promise is a short yet inspiring statement that will provide the focus an organization needs to apply its distinctive qualities toward making a difference.  McNally and Speak offered the following suggestions for crafting a brand promise:

• Remember to keep it short.  Anything more than five to eight words is too much.
• Tone is key.  It should have a direct and action-oriented voice to get people excited and inspired.
• Let people know, directly or indirectly, how your brand will pay off for them. 
• On a related note, show how the brand provides value to others.
• Don’t be afraid of revisions.  There’s nothing wrong with fine-tuning until it is just right.  After many iterations, your brand promise should keep everyone motivated and focused on your organization’s brand strengths.
• Test it with your friends and family.  They are the ones who will be the best judge of how it reads.  You will know you have a success based on their reactions.

Facebook, Facebook, Facebook.  It’s what all the cool kids are talking about these days.  Anybody who’s anybody has one.

In all seriousness, having a social media presence is pretty important these days, especially for nonprofits.  Not only can you find new supporters you might not have otherwise reached, it also is a place where your followers can converse, and get the latest updates on your mission.  Since Facebook is the big kahuna of social networking sites, it’s important that it provides maximum engagement for your supporters.  One of the best ways to do this is to write great status updates.  In her book Social Media For Good, Heather Mansfield provides five ideas for status updates:

• Success Stories: Supporters like to know that the dollars they are contributing are going towards successful causes.  Fill them in on how their contributions are helping to fund successful programs.
• Photos: We live in a visual culture.  Post photos directly to Facebook of your organization’s latest events or just show people what your office looks like.
• Videos: Videos are also an effective visual tool for your Facebook.  Try sharing a new one at least two or three times a month.
• Breaking News: The great thing about social media is it allows you to communicate with your followers instantly.  When something big happens, take advantage of this by letting people know.  The news can be summarized in a few sentences for your status update.
• Call To Action: Have a fundraising campaign coming up?  Use your Facebook status to get your followers to participate.  You can also do this for petitions or other special events.

If you were ever thinking of starting your own nonprofit, take a step back: It’s not as easy as it sounds.

In a piece written for The Huffington Post, Marty Zwilling, a start-up expert, explains the complications of starting your own nonprofit.  He explains that although most people looking to create a start-up company see nonprofits as the easy route to success, there’s a lot that goes into the process.  This includes a healthy business model, which was recently outlined in an article on The NonProfit Times website.  A nonprofit still has to make money on everything it sells in order to maintain its operating expenses.  This is true even if it relies totally on donations.

All this is not to say that you shouldn’t try to make your own nonprofit.  You just need to be aware of some of the challenges that come with it.  Zwelling listed five reasons creating a start-up nonprofit can be a challenge.  Here are a few I found most compelling:

• You know that 501(c) form you have to fill out to become tax-exempt?  It requires a lot more than just filling out a form, and it can take a long time to be approved.  The form has to be accompanied with a $850 fee, and it can take as long as two years to completely finish.
• Start-ups require willing investors, and it can be a challenge to get them interested in a nonprofit since it will be hard to guarantee an excellent return on investment.
• Private start-up companies don’t have to disclose their salaries or spending practices to anyone other than the IRS.  Nonprofits, on the otherhand, undergo trememndous public scrutiny.

Make sure to read the rest of Zwelling’s points on The Huffington Post.