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.

The RI Predatory Lending Reform Coalition will be meeting virtually on Friday, February 13 from 12-1pm. They will be providing updates and plans for the 2026 General Assembly session.

If you would like more information, please email Alan Krinsky at akrinsky@economicprogressri.org.

From Economic Progress Institute:

Thursday, February 5th, from 3pm-4pm, the Revenue for Rhode Islanders coalition will be launching this session’s campaign for a 3% surtax on the top 1% of filers in income. The event will take place at the State House Rotunda. Please see the attached graphic for further details on the kickoff and lobby day.

Additionally, folks can still sign on to the Action Network in support of increasing taxes on the top 1% of Rhode Islanders: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-legislators-hold-a-special-session-to-protect-rhode-islanders-from-the-obbba?source=direct_link&

From the blog post:

Nonprofit work is complex, including juggling fundraising, donor engagement, volunteer coordination, and program delivery. Arts and culture nonprofits have the added complexity of a leadership team including an artistic director in addition to executive and board. This often leaves little time for leadership alignment and strategic decision making.

For time-strapped nonprofit professionals, dashboards can be a big help. They consolidate information from multiple systems, highlight trends, and simplify reporting.

In our experience, nonprofits tracking data in real-time digital dashboards have an easier time communicating important information with their internal and external stakeholders, including board, staff, funders, customers, clients, and more. Explore the many benefits, including real-life examples of how they could help your organization save time and increase revenues.

What are dashboards?

A dashboard is a visual tool that organizes and displays key data in one place, making it easier to monitor performance and make decisions.

Key features include:

Data visualization — Charts, graphs, and tables that turn raw numbers into clear insights.

Real-time updates — Many dashboards pull live data from your systems, so you always see the latest information.

Customization — You can choose which metrics matter most — such as tickets, donations, program outcomes, or financial health.

Integration — Dashboards often connect to multiple sources (CRM, accounting software, ticketing systems) to consolidate data.

How arts and culture organizations can benefit from using dashboards

Dashboards allow nonprofits to:

Get consistent agreement on metrics (both quantitative and qualitative) that matter.

Structure and focus board discussion — all parties get familiar with “what success looks like.”

Visualize and simplify complex and large amounts of information. Create a top-down, bottom-up data-driven culture.

Many nonprofits don’t know where to start with data. There are multiple systems, innumerable KPIs they want to track, funding restrictions, etc. Starting with an artistic, executive or board dashboard sets the tone and can scale into a holistic digital transformation effort.

Continue reading full article

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