According to John Maxwell’s book, 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, effective leaders know they must have focus to succeed. The keys are priorities and concentration. A leader who knows his priorities but lacks concentration knows what to do but never gets it done. If he has concentration but no priorities, he has excellence without progress. But when he harnesses both he has the potential to achieve great things.
Focus 70% on strengths – identify 3-4 things you do well and spend 70% of your time on those things.
Focus 25% on new things – what do you need to get to the next level in your main area of strength?
Focus 5% on areas of weakness -Identify 3-4 things your job requires but you don’t do well, delegate. How do you focus?

A 403(b) plan is a retirement plan offered by schools, hospitals, churches, charities, and certain other tax-exempt organizations.  403(b) plans works very similarly to 401(k) plans and on November 16, 2007, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation published revisions to the Form 5500 annual return/report for plan year 2009.

How do these revisions affect your non-profit org?

These revisions include making the reporting rules for those 403(b) plans on par with 401(k) plans.  This means that beginning in 2009, 403(b) plan will be subject to the same reporting and audit requirements that currently exist for section 401(k) plans including the completion of the Form 5500 as a small or large pension plan and for large 403(b) plans includes the engagement of an independent qualified public accountant to conduct an independent audit of the plan.

Do you have a 403(b) plan? Be prepared to file.

Courage, in the face of fear, forges into new territory with conviction of principle, inspiring bravery in others. The willingness to risk is a trait of every great leader. The willingness to risk changes the future. The willingness to risk for what is better changes the future for the better.

Auction rate securities (ARS) are often similar to bonds in that they can have a maturity date well into the future. They may be classified in your investment portfolio under cash equivalents or fixed income, and may be listed as ARS, AUC, a type of student loan or some other description. They are often treated as cash equivalents by the investor because they are sold through auctions every 7, 14, 28 or 35 days, thus making them very liquid.

However, earlier this year, liquidity issues in the global credit markets resulted in the failure of ARS auctions.

This loss of liquidity does not mean that the investment is worthless; however, the investor may be forced to wait until the security matures, which could be 20 to 30 years, before the investments can be liquidated. Therefore, these investments are no longer considered cash equivalents and will be reclassified as long-term investments for financial statement purposes. More importantly, investors need to realize that funds that they once thought were easily convertible to cash may be unavailable for the long-term. 

All may not be lost!

Recent developments with these securities are showing that some brokerage firms are offering to redeem the ARS. We suggest that you contact your investment advisor to determine if your portfolio contains any of these securities and to determine the course of action, if any, you should consider.

The redesigned Form 990 asks a number of new questions about policies and procedures. One of the policy questions asks if the organization has a written whistleblower policy?

Question…What is a whistleblower?

According to www.dictionary.com - a person who informs on another or makes public disclosure of corruption or wrongdoing. One famous whistleblower is Jeffrey Wigand, who exposed the Big Tobacco scandal, revealing that executives of the companies knew that cigarettes were addictive and approved the addition of carcinogenic ingredients to the cigarettes. Wigand’s story was the basis for the 1999 movie The Insider.

So why is the IRS interested in tax-exempt organizations having a whistleblower policy? This type of corporate policy encourages staff and volunteers to come forward with credible information on illegal practices or violations of adopted policies of the organization. The policy specifies that the organization will protect the individual from retaliation, and identifies the staff, board members or outside parties to whom such information can be reported.

Does your organization have a whistleblower policy? Google for various “free samples” or call me.

Yesterday I heard a popular televangelist preach on campaign issues, highlighting republican and democratic issues. At one point, the sermon bordered on political endorsement. How much is too much? How much can a minister say without crossing the line? In what settings?

As we near November 4th, churches and other non-profits have been bombarded with media scrutiny.This candidate, that candidate. This platform, that platform. In fact, late night television routinely speaks out and pokes fun of the platforms. On November 1, 2008, Senator John McCain was on Saturday Night Live, with Tina Fey posing as his running mate, Governor Palin. How much is too much? It’s almost a comedy.

The IRS doesn’t view political involvement as a “comedy”. In fact, all 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made by or on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax.

What does directly or indirectly participating in or intervening in mean? Directly or indirectly endorsing or opposing a candidate for public office is defined as “vote for Candidate XX”, or “don’t vote for Candidate XX”. The following is an example of intervention provided by publication 1828 Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations

Example: Minister D is the minister of Church M, a section 501(c)(3) organization. During regular services of Church M shortly before the election, Minister D preached on a number of issues, including the importance of voting in the upcoming election, and concluded by stating, “It is important that you all do your duty in the election and vote for Candidate W.” Because Minister D’s remarks indicating support for Candidate W were made during an official church service, they constitute political campaign intervention by to Church M.

Churches and ministers have liberties, but the line cannot be crossed without the possible risk of losing the organization’s tax-exemption.

For my information, see Publication 1828 at www.irs.gov.