Planting a Tree That Provides Shade for Future Public Safety Needs

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Remember how you felt when you learned a grateful patient, victim, volunteer or community member remembered you in their will? Their legacy of support for public service lives on through your work. You were able to strengthen your department's operations with their incredible gift.  

Ever wonder how much more good you could do if more people were aware of their opportunity to forever impact your mission? LEAVE A LEGACY Iowa ^® shares your interest in this approach. 

In many cases, charitable estate bequests will remain the knowledge of the donor and his or her professional advisors until after his or her passing. Professional advisors play critical roles in helping donors balance charitable intent with family, business and other needs and desires of the client.

In a few cases, professional advisors may contact your department to work with you on bequest language and ensure any restrictions a donor may place on a gift are honored. If this happens, be sure to honor and recognize or respect the anonymity of the donor exactly as he or she desires.

You may be inspired by the video public service announcement from LEAVE A LEGACY Iowa^® here.  

LEAVE A LEGACY^® is a collaborative effort of people in the nonprofit community and professional advisors in Iowa and border communities. The project's volunteers include charitable development officers, directors of charities, attorneys, financial planners, accountants and others.

  
Your department can become a partner in LEAVE A LEGACY Iowa^® for as little as $150 a year. Your partnership investment includes being listed as an option among a strong statewide network of those most involved in estate planning. For more details on becoming a partner, click here.   

Blessed be the continued legacy of those who keep their favorite nonprofits nonprofits moving forward through their estate planning gifts. 

A Thanksgiving Lamp Oil Challenge

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Note: These remarks were adapted from remarks I gave at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Eastern Iowa Chapter National Philanthropy Day event on Thursday, November 18 in Cedar Rapids. For the full program and details on the inspiring event honorees, click here. 

It’s truly poetic that nationwide National Philanthropy Day events and the United States Thanksgiving holiday happen so close together.  

This Thanksgiving, I offer deep & abiding gratitude for all that you do. You continually train and interrupt your own lives to spring into action when someone else has their time of greatest need when they make a 911 call.

Mother Theresa once said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil into it.” It is my hope that this Thanksgiving gives you a little inspirational oil to keep doing the amazing work you are doing.

Whether you're at home with your family, on duty at the station or out on a call, you might wonder how to keep the holiday magic, the attitude of gratitude going. Is there a way to all of us offer a little more lamp oil for our journeys, if you will?

In that vein, I offer a challenge for all of us. Take some time to reflect on the loved and admired ones  in your life who have inspired your own journey of giving to the Fire Service and everything you do. Who taught you by example the impact and joy of reaching out to the world around you? 

Between now and the end of this month, chose at least one of those who have inspired you to focus your gratitude. Pick up the phone. Write a note. If you can, schedule a visit.

Make sure your loved and admired one knows how they have inspired you. Remind them they are an important part of the legacy of passing on the infinite goodness and potential that exists in our world. 

In some cases, this reflection, as many of our honorees mentioned, may bring an opportunity to again appreciate those loved and admired who have gone on before us. I pray that in those cases, you feel only gratitude for how their legacy lives on in your life.

If it works for you to try the Thanksgiving Lamp Oil challenge, would love to hear more about how it works for you through the comments below. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Think Forward & Backup: Disaster Planning for Your Electronic Records

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You and your department practice dozens of potential emergency scenarios you might face when the 911 call comes during your regular training. Have you applied the same level of preparedness to your disaster planning for your department's electronic records?

If you're blessed with a detail-orientated volunteer, you probably have a spreadsheet that includes the basic history of the donors who have written you checks at your fundraising meal or through your direct mail campaign for years. What valuable information for your ongoing fundraising efforts!

In addition to fundraising records, the call reports, training materials and everything used electronically in your operations should be backed up off-site in the event of a computer crash or disaster at your department.

Services keep your data secure and ensure your information is available for restoration whenever you might need it. The two most widely used online backup services are:

1. Carbonite

2. Mozy

There are options available from each serve for single and multiple computer/computer server backups.  There are unlimited backup and size limited options. A brief installation and setup process is required. Free trials are available. You may hear offer codes in various forms of advertising to enter when purchasing the service online. 

When setting up the service, if you receive a prompt about letting the online service manage your encryption key for you, this is a good option to select. If you have videos as part of your electronic records, you may need to manually select these for backup in addition to the process that automatically takes place when you activate the service. An always-on Internet connection is required.

Any stories about backing up or lost records at your department you'd like to share? Please comment below.

Two Upcoming Resource Events Regarding Nonprofit Status

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The Internal Revenue Service is offering two upcoming seminars that may be of benefit to your department or association if you are currently a 501 (c) (3), have applied to become one or are considering doing so:

1. A Starting Off Right webinar designed for new and potential 501 (c) (3) organizations is scheduled for Thursday, November 18 at 1 p.m. Central time. This webinar will cover:

• Doing what you said you would – meeting your organization’s “operational test”
• Five ways to avoid jeopardizing your 501(c)(3) status.
• Annual filing requirements for exempt organizations
• What records should your organization maintain?
• Tools you can use for tax compliance as your organization grows

To register for this webinar, visit the link below:

http://www.visualwebcaster.com/IRS/72679/reg.asp?id=72679

2. An Organizational Records phone conference repeated several times on Wednesday, December 1 will cover:

• Why books and records are necessary
• How the IRS defines books and records
• What specific types of records are needed and
• How books and records should be maintained 

You may setup a free teleconference profile using this link or contact  nationalphoneforum@irs.gov if you have any problems registering.

FlashPoint offers project management services to help complete your IRS 501 c 3 application and assist you with any questions that come up after submission. Contact us today for a customized quote.

A Tool for Your Management Belt: 365 Volunteer Ideas

• Does your department have as many volunteers as you need? 
• Do you have an ideal response level to each call? 
• Are all of your volunteers passionate, energized and positive at all times?
• Does trying to positively impact volunteers seem like too much of an afterthought? 

If any of the above don't happen to be 100% true for you, 365 Ideas for Recruiting, Retaining, Motivating and Rewarding Your Volunteers by Sunny Fader (Amazon Affiliate link) may be a worthwhile investment for your department as you look towards 2011. 

 

This book is available in print and Kindle editions. 

Volunteers are amazing human beings who give freely of their valuable time. Fire department volunteers are a special breed who sacrifice sleep and train relentlessly to be there for others and their community during their times of emergency. Volunteer management can also feel like shoveling fog into a bucket sometimes. 

If new ideas, suggestions and approaches seem in short supply for making your volunteers' experience even better, I recommend adding this book your management tool belt. 

 What's working well for volunteer management in your department? Share your thoughts below.