Life Lessons: Insurance applications are easy grant applications. You should love your broker and vice versa. You should win money for risk management

For the first time in a long time I am sitting in on a few insurance workshops being given by our own Peter Andrew of Council Services Plus (the CCSNYS insurance subsidiary). We're in our New York City office today, it's rainy and cold and windy but we've got about 20 people here intrested in risk management and insurance "secrets" for nonprofits.

Since you probably couldn't get away to the city today I wanted to pass on two things that I think are really easy to understand (ok, maybe three) and implement tomorrow. Many of you know I am like the Racheal Ray of Nonprofit Issues. I want solutions in 30-minutes (preferably less.) So, here we go:

1. How much time would you spend on a $5k or $10k unrestricted grant? Fill out your next insurance application like you're filling out a grant application. Take your time with it. Tell the insurance company what you do to practice good risk management. It could be as easy as noting your policies and procedures, it could be staff training, it could be board training - there are many things you can do to make risk management a part of your nonprofit's daily life. If you are paying $5k, $10k, $25k for insurance and have the opportunity to save 10% to 30%, look at is as an unrestricted grant award!

What to do tomorrow? Take out your last application for General
Liability insurance. See if it looks like your organization spent time on it. What measures did you take to make the case for the risk management you practice? Going forward, every time you update policies, procedures, do training, get
certificates - put copies in the insurance file - so you remember to use them to
help support your proactive risk management the next time your up for renewal.

1. You can't make these lawsuits up/Your broker should be your best friend. (ok - so I'm cheating and putting two together). If you think your nonprofit can't be sued take a look at this. I think #3 resonates with most nonprofits. How many of us do delivery, transportation or Meals on Wheels programs? Your broker needs to know what your risks are and be working to lower your rates and get you the coverage you need. If you only hear from your broker once a year about your insurance renewal - that's not good enough folks. Did you know they are making anywhere from 10% to 17% of the premium amount (generally speaking)? They need to be proactive in researching your needs and educating your staff on any changes or needs in insurance coverages.

What to do tomorrow: Here's a plug - and it's not shameless because I can
safely say it's the best service/advice you're gonna get. If you want to talk to
a broker who knows this stuff and will give you an honest answer about what
you should expect from your current provider, contact Council Services Plus at
(877) 501 - 4CSP or fill out this little form and start getting some answers. Then call your own broker and set up a face to face meeting. Ask them the hard questions. Or call CS Plus in - they'll help you out.

Are you already doing some of this? If risk management is already a top priority at your organization, and you're already spending time on your applications, policies, procedures, training, working on a proactive level with a responsive broker - why not apply for the Nonprofit Risk Management Award - win $2,000 for your efforts?

Hope all is well in your organizations - it's exciting to see what's happening on the NYNED Blog. We know you're 'lurking' out there - remember - feel free to comment or ask questions. Aggressive sharing is good.

Other resources:
http://www.rims.org/
http://www.riskinstitute.org/
http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/

Staff Retention Survey Results to be Discussed on May 14th

The Oneida and Herkimer Nonprofit Executive Directors Group's staff retention survey is now closed and is being collated for discussion at next week's May 14th meeting. The survey results will be presented, and the program will focus on the trends revealed and what nonprofits can learn from this data. The conversation will also focus on next steps for addressing staff retention in the local region.

The May 14th program is set for Herkimer Area Resource Center. This meeting is being generously hosted by HARC, which is located at 350 South Washington Street in Herkimer.
REGISTER NOW FOR MAY 14TH MEETING! If you have any questions, please e-mail or call (607) 436-3124.

Steering Committee Update and Staff Retention Survey

The Steering Committee is working to confirm the location for the May 14th meeting in Herkimer County. Also, the Committee discussed implementing a staff retention survey that was created by Steve Robinson, Director Alternative Dispute Resolution Services at The Peacemaker Program. This survey will provide a climate assessment for each participating nonprofit and the region as a whole.

The Committee will send an e-mail out to all Executive Directors in the Group inviting them to opt in to use the survey. If they agree, a survey link will be e-mailed to them to distribute to their particular staff. Steve has stated that the survey will be anonymous and this needs to be stressed to everyone. He has also suggested giving 5 days to complete the survey. The resulting data will be consolidated with Steve's help. The Committee can also provide the individual data to each participating organization if there is an interest. The individual organizations data will remain anonymous unless they agree to share their individual info. Please feel free to share any thoughts on the survey or this process.

If you are interested in implementing the survey for your organization, please let me know. I will send you an assigned letter code and the survey link for your employees. You can e-mail me at amarietta@ccsnys.org or call (607) 436-3124.

Congrats to the Community Foundation!

The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties Inc. was named a silver award winner for excellence in communications by the 2008 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards Program. Read more here.

Grants Given For Economic Development in Mohawk Valley

The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties recently gave grant funding to help two Mohawk Valley economic-development groups focus on enhancing the quality and size of the work force in the region. Read more here.

Program Generates Ideas for the Future!

The March 12th Group program was attended by 21 nonprofit executive directors. The program opened with a lively networking activity with directors introducing themselves and their organizations to each other. And many found they were doing so for the first time. The Group then split into 5 groups and discussed the five questions posed in the "Cycle of Collaboration" activity facilitated by Randall VanWagoner. The answers identified as most important are listed below for each question. The answers offer insight into the opportunities and areas of focus for the Group.

The Group finished the meeting with a discussion about next steps. The priority areas that were discussed include: Staff retention/development; Staff compensation/salary survey; Economic impact study; Database of training skills; and Group directory (now linked in the "About" section). A suggestion was made to formalize a mission and vision, and the Steering Committee plans to start this discussion. The Group is also looking to answer the question: What if we weren't here? One idea discussed was to focus on the economic impact by collecting the payroll, budget, and number of staff for each nonprofit.

The Group will be focusing on staff retention and development at the May 14th program. An online climate assessment survey will be created for distribution among the Group, and these results will set the agenda and discussion for the next Program. An announcement about the survey will be made shortly.

What are obstacles to collaborations and partnerships?

• Think we need to compete (going after the same $ and clients)


• Time commitment


• Focus on self preservation (not community need)


• Trust


• Politics (backroom deals)

What are the resource benefits to partnering?

• A joint training or shared space


• Shared training- each agency open in-services to others


• Eliminate duplication of services


• Technology shared resources


• Nonprofit resource center (online/directory)

What is our biggest benefit to the community?

• Willingness to work with City to improve/solve problems (impact quality of life)


• Common good- serving people


• Economic impact, i.e. workforce, save the economy $$ (we are an economic benefit to the community)


• Collaboration


• Help nonprofits strategize efforts, planning and get outside view from each other to help us improve (better SWOTs)

What is a big idea for us to do together?

• Resource pool for one another (directory of services/calendar of events)


• Leadership development


• Leadership succession


• Staff development


• Promote nonprofits’ benefit to the community (what if we didn’t exist?)

What are obstacles we all share?

• Money


• Lack of political influence


• Lack of trust (personal agendas)


• Human resources issues (small or large org- people wearing too many hats)


• Too many 501c3s (there is disagreement on this)


• Negative community self imageTalk-little action or spinning wheels

March 12th Program Feedback

What are some major trends effecting all of us?

• State budget
• Energy costs
• Multiculturalism/demographics
• Workforce
• Health care coverage
• Border/visa issues
• Competition for money (not enough)
• Growing needs (do more with less)
• Board member profile
• Volunteer base
• Cost of visibility
• Recruiting board
• Technology needs
• Multitasking
• Focus on projects (money is more about projects than mission)
• Cusp on change
• Priority to collaborate
• Still have hope and positive outlook

What are obstacles to collaborations and partnerships?

• Think we need to compete (going after the same $ and clients)
• Time commitment
• Focus on self preservation (not community need)
• Trust
• Politics (backroom deals)
• Ignorance of other organizations (finding the right partner)
• Lack of networking/personal connections
• Opposing different organizational philosophies/policies and procedures (different missions and different priorities and funding streams)
• Geographical distances
• Identify overriding (catalysts/challenges) that unite complimentary services
• Knowledge how to make collaboration work
• Media awareness
• Rhythm of the year (finding the right time)
• Transition and habit
• Self-serving
• Access to CEO’s
• Less response from corporate America ($, programs)

What are the resource benefits to partnering?

• A joint training or shared space
• Shared training- each agency open in-services to others
• Eliminate duplication of services
• Technology shared resources
• Nonprofit resource center (online/directory)
• Expertise in serving specific populations (ex- help agency x better serve at risk kids, refugees, mentally ill)
• Together we accomplish more
• Save $
• Combine staff and volunteer efforts
• Highlight nonprofit contribution to community
• Group purchase (discounts)
• Alliance of nonprofits
• Nonprofit resource center
• Strength in numbers (improve visibility)
• Synergies with complimentary programs
• Specialty bank (human resources)
• Homegrown resources
• Shared financial expertise
• Grant writing
• Data sharing

What is our biggest benefit to the community?

• Willingness to work with City to improve/solve problems (impact quality of life)
• Common good- serving people
• Economic impact, i.e. workforce, save the economy $$ (we are an economic benefit to the community)
• Collaboration
• Help nonprofits strategize efforts, planning and get outside view from each other to help us improve (better SWOTs)
• Model of cooperation
• Awareness of who is who
• Sharing knowledge- best practices
• Add quality of life
• Maximize funding and all resources (shared)
• Proactive voice for the area
• Together we can serve more people
• Better meet needs of community
• Lots of different nonprofits filling niche needs
• Info sharing= better collaboration and ED’s

What is a big idea for us to do together?

• Resource pool for one another (directory of services/calendar of events)
• Leadership development
• Leadership succession
• Staff development
• Promote nonprofits’ benefit to the community (what if we didn’t exist?)
• Get $$ together
• Centralized menu of support services
• 211 system (referrals to meet needs and provide info)
• Pool of talent for boards
• Resource to one another at Exec level
• Annual Day of Nations
• PR collaboration
• Center for mediation
• Volunteer pool- centralized volunteer screening, recruiting, opportunities
• We have a promising future ahead working together
• Structured partnerships
• Build a training center

What are obstacles we all share?

• Money
• Lack of political influence
• Lack of trust (personal agendas)
• Human resources issues (small or large org- people wearing too many hats)
• Too many 501c3s (there is disagreement on this)
• Negative community self image
• Talk-little action or spinning wheels
• Fear
• Loss of identity
• Competition
• Changing mission
• Behind closed doors same faces
• Complexity of serving people (the people have complex issues)
• Pay/compensation equity
• Competition for employees (small employee pool)
• Hard to find qualified people
• Changing workforce demographics
• Knowing how to effectively collaborate
• Lack of visibility in community
• Understanding each other
• Monolithic media (locally- 1 newspaper, 1 tv station)
• Industry based-employment opps. (need more corporate support and need more volunteers)
• Aging population is a plus and minus