COMMON GROUND CONSULTING LLC

Why Overhead Isn’t Evil in the Non-Profit World

I enjoyed this article in Fast Company magazine and agree with many of the assertions Nancy makes. I have had many clients over the years who have been so preoccupied with keeping their overhead rate low, that they failed to make strategic investments in staffing or infrastructure. It is a balancing act to be sure and over time a lower average rate is better, but when change is required, don't be afraid to act after considering the benefits and risks.

By: Nancy Lublin

Overhead is seen as the devil of the not-for-profit world. Here's why that conventional wisdom is wrong.

Every industry has a bogeyman. Farmers fear Mother Nature. Celebrities hate (yet love) the paparazzi. Big pharma worries about hurting babies -- a jury loves nothing more than punitive damages for sick kids. In the not-for-profit world, we worry about babies too, but really, we think about overhead.

The first question many people ask me, truly, is, "How much do you spend on overhead?" That means expenses not directly related to a group's programs, including office rent and the electric bill. Givers want to know that we're not spending much money on this stuff, that most of their donations go to "program-related activity."

The assumption is that when 99% of your expenses go to programs, you are fantastic. Not-for-profits proudly proclaim, "95% of our expenses go to programs fighting poverty!" as if they're a gazillion times more effective than those that spend a pathetic 85%. Web sites that track not-for-profit financials perpetuate the "overhead is evil" myth by lauding groups that curtail it. Perhaps they think overhead is an espresso machine. Or a new jet. Or art on our walls. (Whoops! Then we'd be a bank.)

But low overhead doesn't necessarily mean an organization is awesome at fighting poverty, or that its turnover is low and its people productive. And it certainly doesn't guarantee that the group is spending wisely.

Let's take an example from the for-profit world, which isn't so squeamish about overhead. According to Apple's Q4 2008 report, 78% of its expenses were sales, general, and administrative -- the corporate equivalent of overhead. Seventy-eight percent! Yet nobody flinches. Keep spending, Steve Jobs! Your products rock!

Obviously, not all overhead is good. I know one not-for-profit executive who flies only first class, stays in suites at the W, and has a car service schlep him around New York whenever he's there. This guy has an overhead problem.

Overhead is a beast, a mass of ambiguity and confusion -- like the black-smoke monster on Lost. For instance, is it better to have no staff dedicated to grant writing? Without that person, fund-raising pressure could distract the program people. Worse, we might not land any grants at all.

Here's a case study from my own organization. Last year, we spent nearly $200,000 overhauling our Web site, from the content-management system to the architecture to the design. No one likes such expenses on the books: They smell like overhead. But our site no longer crashes, traffic has doubled, and we even won a Webby Award.

I decided to look at the list of alleged overhead addicts (imagine John Walsh's voice as you read). According to Charity Navigator, five charities that spend the biggest portion of their budgets on admin are:

1. Jobs With Justice, 77.5%

2. Boys Choir of Harlem, 66.3%

3. National Council of Negro Women, 64.0%

4. Fresno Metropolitan Museum, 58.4%

5. Cherokee National Historical Society, 58.2%

No doubt, there's waste on that list. But let's examine No. 4. In 2005, the Fresno museum closed its main facility and launched a three-year, $28 million renovation; it reported on its Web site that, because of the project, "operating expenses ... reflected an increase in administration." Renovations inflate overhead and slash the proportion spent on programs. But they're a legit, even laudable, expense. And the museum continued programming, to a reduced degree, while its building was shuttered.

My point: Stop obsessing about overhead. You can't assess an organization on one statistic. Instead, focus on effectiveness. That's a harder story to tell and a trickier thing to measure. But that effort is what everyone ultimately wants -- a good investment.

Nancy Lublin is CEO of Do Something.

[From Do Something: Good vs. Evil | Fast Company]

Despite Poor Economy, More Americans Do Volunteer Work

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer

More Americans volunteered last year despite the worsening economy, according to a report released Tuesday by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Almost a million more people donated their time to causes in 2008 than in 2007, even though volunteer rates typically drop during economic downturns, according to the survey by CNCS, an independent federal agency that runs AmeriCorps and other programs. In all, 61.8 million people volunteered last year.

"Although things like charitable giving have gone down in 2008, the number of Americans who volunteer went up by almost a million," said Alan D. Solomont, chairman of the board of the national service agency. "What we think this represents is a real indication of America's civic values. People want to volunteer; they want to help their neighbors."

The biggest increase came among young adults: The number of 16- to 24-year-old volunteers rose 5 percent, from 7.8 million to 8.2 million. The number of applications to AmeriCorps, which puts people to work full time in nonprofit groups for a year, increased 217 percent over the past eight months.

Almost half of nonprofit organizations said they expect to rely more heavily on volunteers in the coming year, according to the study, which included data from the U.S. Census.

The Washington area's volunteer rate ranked ninth. The District, where 29 percent of residents volunteer, ranked 25th among the states. Maryland ranked 26th, and Virginia ranked 27th.

[From Despite Poor Economy, More Americans Do Volunteer Work - washingtonpost.com]

Macedonia's Long Wait for EU Talks Almost Over

I've spent months working in Macedonia over the past several years. This is outstanding news and well-deserved!

SKOPJE (AFP) – Macedonia can finally win European Commission backing within two months to start EU accession talks if it pushes through a last batch of political reforms, the bloc's enlargement chief said Thursday

An official European Union candidate since 2005, Macedonia proved it could carry out reforms when the commission recently gave it the best marks out of five Balkan states for visa-free travel in Europe, said OlliRehn.

"The reforms conducted in the context of visa liberalisation... show that there is the political will and also ability to conduct such reforms that are needed for recommendation in the coming autumn," Rehn said.

"Therefore, there is a real and realistic chance to meet the benchmarks and to get the recommendation," the EU commissioner told a joint media conference with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

"But it really depends on the results delivered in the coming two months and it will be a busy period for the prime minister and for this government and for the civil servants of the country."

Among the reforms the EC required of Macedonia to be given a date to begin EU accession talks were the adoption of laws on its parliament, civil service and political party financing, said Rehn.

"The commission recommendation on the start of negotiations will depend only on the results delivered. We will not shift the goal posts, it will be fair play," the commissioner said.

Rehn said an 18-year dispute between Macedonia and its southern neighbour Greece over the former's official name was not an obstacle for the country's EU adhesion process.

"However, you all know that the actual opening of the accession negotiations will require a unanimity in the EU Council, unanimity of all 27 EU member states" including Greece.

Greece used its status as a NATO member to block Macedonia's entry to the military alliance last year and is threatening to do the same over the country's EU membership.

Skopje and Athens have been at loggerheads over the right to the name Macedonia since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991. A northern Greek province has the same name.

Rehn visited Macedonia as part of a four-nation tour of the Balkans that also took him to Serbia and Montenegro on Wednesday. He next travels to Bosnia.

[From Macedonia's long wait for EU talks almost over: Rehn (AFP)]

Organizational Sustainability

Earlier this year, I gave a keynote presentation in New Orleans to mentoring grantees from the Department of Education. The folks at "My Prevention Community" have organized the videos from the talk on their website. Check it out ...

The Economics of Trust: Sustainability in the Real WorldThe vidoes below are from Craig Bowman's keynote presentation on The Economics of Trust: Sustainability in the Real World and moving people with your message. These video segments will explore the impact of actively building and leveraging quality relationships as a tool for sustainability in our social profit organizations. Presentation Date: 1/28/09
   Click Here to See the Videos  

Kosovo Summer Youth Leadership Academy: Apply Now!

Common Ground is very grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and the U.S. Embassy in Pristina on a SEED Democracy Outreach Project. The Kosovo Summer Youth Leadership Academy (KSYLA) will engage a generation of young people as future social and private-sector leaders, laying the foundation for an inter-ethnic, collaborative, and nationwide leadership pipeline. Common Ground proposed the Academy, which will build the self-confidence and self-efficacy of Kosovo’s future decision-makers—instilling hope in their country’s political and economic security, and nurturing an active and powerful voice in shaping Kosovo’s future.

Kosovo Summer Youth

Leadership Academy

24-31 August 2009

Vermica, Prizren

Application Deadline: 03 August 2009

What’s It About?

The Kosovo Summer Youth Leadership Academy, a program of the Institute for Sustainable Communities and Common Ground Consulting and funded by the U.S. Government, is a unique residential program for high-school-age youth. The Academy's goal is to prepare young people to be effective leaders and agents of change, dedicated to improving the lives of their peers in Kosovo.

The Academy will unleash the power of a core group of young people whose creative and leadership potential has been, until now, untapped by their communities.

Youth will participate in experiential learning activities and dialogue sessions designed to increase their understanding of human relations issues and of their own responsibility to create a community based on inclusion, trust, and mutual respect. Specifically, young people will:

• Develop a clear understanding of their unique leadership profile through participation in a set of highly-participatory group and individual activities;

• Develop new skills in public speaking, conflict resolution, goal-setting, time management, and peer education, among others;

• Forge lasting bonds with each other, addressing areas of conflict arising from stereotypes and negative socialization, and forming a cooperative, multi-ethnic network of young leaders.

Who Can Attend?

The program will engage a new generation of highly-motivated young people with skills that enable them to work across political and ethnic divides, building a powerful network of future community, business, and political leaders.

• 16-19 years old, male or female, with some previous leadership or voluntary experience.

• Albanian, Serbian, Bosniak, Gorani, Roma, Turk, Ashkali, or Egyptian.

How to Apply?

Please Click Here to Download the Complete Application: Kosovo Summer Youth Leadership Academy - Application.doc

Teen Pregnancy & Disease Rates Rose Sharply During Bush Years, Agency Finds

In a speech I gave on National HIV Testing Day in 2003, I said this:

"In Fiscal Year 2002, over $100 million in federal funds were provided to states and individual organizations to make abstinence-only-until-marriage this country’s official sex education program.

Since 1996, these programs, which deny teaching young people the health benefits of contraception in helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies (and by the way lesbian and bisexual girls are twice as likely as straight girls to become pregnant) and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, have received over a half-billion in funding yet they have never been shown to be effective. Not a single study.

President Bush’s support for this approach is adultist, paternalistic, moralistic, and simply, purely, political. If I was prone to hyperbole, I would probably talk about him having blood on his hands and imposing a death sentence on America’s youth."

Sometimes, being right isn't enough ...

Click Here to Download the Entire Speech: Testing Day Speech-Jun03

By Chris McGreal
• Aids cases in adolescent boys have nearly doubled

• Fall in gonorrhea infection rate reversed

Teenage pregnancies and syphilis have risen sharply among a generation of American school girls who were urged to avoid sex before marriage under George Bush's evangelically-driven education policy, according to a new report by the US's major public health body.

In a report that will surprise few of Bush's critics on the issue, the Centres for Disease Control says years of falling rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease infections under previous administrations were reversed or stalled in the Bush years. According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of Aids cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.

The CDC says that southern states, where there is often the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion, tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.

In addition, about 16,000 pregnancies were reported among 10- to 14-year-old girls in 2004 and a similar number of young people in the age group reported having a sexually transmitted disease.

"It is disheartening that after years of improvement with respect to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, we now see signs that progress is stalling and many of these trends are going in the wrong direction," said Janet Collins, a CDC director.

Although the CDC does not attribute a cause, groups that support comprehensive sex education have seized on the report as evidence of the failure of religiously-driven policies that shy away from teaching about contraception in favour of emphasising avoiding sexual contact.

Planned Parenthood said the CDC report is "alarming" and confirms that teenagers need "medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education".

But supporters of abstinence-based education said that the new report shows that there is too little not too much emphasis on discouraging sex before marriage.

Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for American Values, which describes itself as a supporter of traditional marriage and "against liberal education and cultural forces", said the abstinence message is overwhelmed by a culture obsessed with sex.

"It is ridiculous to say that a programme we nominally invest in has failed when it fails to overcome the most sexualised culture in world history. Education that emphasises abstinence as the best option for teens makes up a minuscule part of overall sex education in the United States," she said.

"In every other area of public policy - food, drugs, alcohol - we tell children what is the best choice. It seems very bizarre that the sex education establishment rejects the idea that we should talk to kids about what is best for them. We don't take vodka to drivers education because children will drink and drive."

[From US teen pregnancy and syphilis rates rose sharply during George Bush's presidency, Centres for Disease Control finds]

1st Annual Mandela Day

On July 18, 2009, Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday, the world will celebrate the first Mandela Day, an annual celebration of Nelson Mandela's life and a global call to action for people to recognize their individual power to make an imprint and change the world around them.

Here are some ways you can get involved:

• Give 67 minutes.

• Add your imprint to the interactive Handwall.

• Star with legends. Create your own In Your Hands Video.

• Join our social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo,YouTube, Flickr

• Grab & share Mandela Day campaign media

• Donate directly to Mandela Day 2009

• Share Photos & Videos of Mandela Day Events

• Watch or grab & embed Mandela Day TV.
  

• Watch the Mandela Day Concert live online

Learn more at: http://mandeladay.com

Job Opening: Flat World Knowledge

A friend I've known for close to 20 years started one of my favorite new companies in the last couple of years: Flat World Knowledge. It is an amazing business created to preserve the best of the old - books by leading experts, rigorously reviewed and developed to the highest standards. Then they flip it all on its head.

Their books are free online. They offer convenient, low-cost choices for students – softcovers for under $30, audio books and chapters, self-print options, and more. The books are open for instructors to modify and make their own (for their own course - not for anybody else's). And the books are the hub of a social learning network where students learn from the book and each other.

Flat World Knowledge. Because great minds are evenly distributed. Great textbooks are not. Until Now.

They're looking for a smart, creative and experienced internet marketing professional to run a dynamic and evolving marketing organization in a truly disruptive business. You will be part of a fast-moving, entrepreneurial team looking to change an industry through a new approach to dynamic publishing of textbooks and related materials. Check out the attached job description.

VPMarketingFlatWorldFinal.doc

Job Openings: Corporate Accountability International

Corporate Accountability International is a non-profit organization that has been running winning campaigns to challenge corporate abuse for the past 30 years-- including the Nestle Boycott in the 70s to their campaign targeting GE and nuclear weapons industry in the 80s.I have several good friends working at CAI and they asked me to pass along a couple of job openings. Let me know if you're applying.

Today their campaigns challenge the dangerous practices of some of the world’s most powerful industries. Think Outside the Bottle exposes the truth behind bottled water marketing and defends the human right to water in the face of increasing corporate control. Value [the] Meal challenges the fast food industry to stop driving an epidemic of diet-related disease, and their campaign Challenging Big Tobacco is blocking industry interference in health policies that protect our kids.

They are in the middle of a major expansion - working to build the organization to be able to run more and better campaigns, and they are hiring talented, experienced staff for several key positions.

The job descriptions are attached, and are also on their website, www.stopcorporateabuse.org.   

The Press Secretary is responsible for coordinating Corporate Accountability International’s media outreach and overseeing the effective operation of this program. The Press Secretary regularly communicates with and cultivates relationships with targeted journalists, ensures the organization of Corporate Accountability International’s media coverage, and trains staff and activists in working with the media. The Press Secretary develops Corporate Accountability International’s media outreach plan, working with the Communications Director.

The International Organizer will lead organizing on our Campaign Challenging Big Tobacco by: cultivating NGO and government allies to advance the global tobacco treaty and protect it from tobacco industry interference, producing action alerts and other materials, and organizing at international meetings and conferences. This staff leader will also develop and implement organizing projects related to international policies on water and food and strengthen relationships with the World Health Organization, other United Nations bodies and NGOs working on corporate accountability issues in these arenas.

Press Secretary.doc

International Organizer.doc

President Obama Nominates Aaron Williams to be 18th Peace Corps Director

The National Peace Corps Association announced that President Obama has nominated Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic, 1967 – 1970) as the next Peace Corps Director. Williams served on ISC's board of directors until June 2009. Common Ground and ISC collaborate frequently on projects and have always appreciated Aaron's leadership.

"Aaron Williams, as an RPCV who served in the Dominican Republic and a life-long development practitioner and consummate partnership builder, will bring an invaluable set of skills and experiences to the Directorship of the Peace Corps,” says National Peace Corps Association President Kevin Quigley.

“Aaron also understands deeply that the Peace Corps community is a valued ally in assisting the agency achieve its mission of making a more peaceful and prosperous world. Once he is confirmed by the Senate and takes up his position, we will be closer to a bolder Peace Corps, one that that fulfills more of the agency's promise."

As the Director of the Peace Corps, Williams will provide the executive direction for the Peace Corps and oversee the implementation of The Peace Corps Act. Additional Director responsibilities include briefing President Obama on Peace Corps goals and accomplishments, working in agreement with the Peace Corps National Advisory Council and consulting with Secretary of State Clinton and various U.S. Government officials. Williams will also be representing the Peace Corps before Congress.

Williams currently serves on the board of the National Peace Corps Association and is the Vice President for International Business Development with RTI International"

[Read More ISC | President Obama Nominates Recent ISC Board Member Aaron Williams to be 18th Peace Corps Director]