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Employers and Employees: A Two-way Street of Accountability

Want a Unique Way of Showing Accountability? Try Scorecards.

Nonprofits Using Social Media to Engage and Share, Says Sage North America Survey

Accounting for Accountability

Employers and Employees: A Two-way Street of Accountability
Erin Teter & Heather Burton

Your employees (and in some cases, volunteers) are the life blood of your organization. They implement your programs, manage the books, raise the money, champion your cause, and are the public face for you and your mission. And just as you hold your employees accountable, your employees hold you accountable as their employer. Are you doing all you can to build a happy, engaged workforce?

In some cases, your employees will tell you what they expect out of you as an employer. However, in many cases the largest and most common risk comes from those with no avenue for expression. How do you discover what is going on in your organization? How do you work to remedy or solve those issues? And why is it critical to our organization to even understand those expectations?

Uncovering Expectations
Discovery is easy, just ask! This doesn’t require a three-day off-site with a facilitator. Depending on your relationship with your staff and the size of your organization, multiple feedback avenues can be implemented. It’s best to have more than one method of collecting feedback from employees as this encourages participation and provides you with a more comprehensive view of the expectations employees have of your organization.

The easiest method is to have the conversation. Sounds basic, but many make assumptions without ever asking the employees what it is they expect. These can vary from one-on-one conversations to focus group meetings around specific topics.

Is confidence and/or trust a concern? If so, place an employee suggestion box in the office. Let employees know that their suggestions are welcomed and can remain anonymous.

Surveys are another great way to obtain employee feedback. Free and affordable tools like Zoomerang.com and SurveyMonkey.com allow employees to remain anonymous while getting you the feedback you need.

The important thing to remember is that no matter what the collection mechanism, it is important to gather the feedback from your employees rather than making assumptions.

Ok, now what?
Once you obtain the feedback, execute immediately. This starts with communicating the results of the survey, focus groups, etc. in a way that preserves confidentiality but highlights common themes. As you know, it is critical to always create a plan of action based on the survey feedback. Failure to respond to the feedback you receive is a common mistake organizations make. By creating an action plan you create an atmosphere of accountability.

When it comes to creating the action plan, I recommend that you tackle the easy suggestions first. This will provide you with a few quick wins and build credibility with employees. Then begin work on the more difficult, long-term issues.

The most important step and hardest step is the final one–follow-up. A solid plan needs to be put in place as to how and when a progress report will be communicated to all employees. If they don’t know what is being done, they will assume nothing is being done. When action has been taken, it is important to circle back with the employees to make sure the action is meeting their needs. The follow-up process can include the same avenues as you took in the beginning of the process through one-on-one conversations, focus groups, and employee surveys. All you have to do is ask; it can be as simple as a conversation in the hallway (depending on the sensitivity of the subject). This will help determine if the expectation is now being met or if tweaking needs to happen.

The Benefits of Being an Accountable Employer

Here are some facts:

• Happy employees are productive employees. Studies have proven that happy people are more productive, take fewer sick days, and get along with others better. Happy employees are better equipped to handle workplace relationships, stress, and change, according to the latest national Gallup Management Journal survey. Companies that understand this, and help employees improve their well-being, can boost their productivity.
• Happy employees will stay with you. Rather than looking for a new job, they will be looking to grow with your organization. According to the American Management Association, the cost of hiring and training a new employee can vary from 25% to 200% of annual compensation.
• Happy employees lead to donor loyalty. They treat your donors (and clients) well because they are engaged in the organization and want to succeed.

In this New Year, resolve to listen to your employees and close any gaps with employee expectations. Taking the time to discover, discuss and resolve employee issues or concerns will reap rewards for your organization for years to come.

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Want a unique way of showing accountability? Try scorecards.
Joyce Ethridge

Accountability. Donors and boards expect it; volunteers and employees need to believe in it.

One way of establishing accountability is through transparency, or providing detailed information about programs, outcomes, and finances to the public. "Experts stress that the antidote for donor distrust is financial transparency. Popular charity watch Web sites, including Guidestar.org, CharityNavigator.org, and Give.org, reflect the need to earn donor trust through increased accountability," according to Sage Nonprofit Solutions Special Report: Legislation, Enforcement, Fraud, and Donor Skepticism white paper.

But it's not just donors. Board members, volunteers, and even employees can benefit from transparency. It builds trust and enables open communication and goal-setting.

Set and attain goals. Sage Nonprofit Solutions helps foster transparency, teamwork, and goal attainment through the use of scorecards. A goal is chosen, such as the number of leads generated or the number of projects completed monthly or quarterly. And then results are presented periodically using a smiley face, a frowning face, or a neutral face to depict at a glance whether the goal is being achieved.

Krista Endsley, Sr. Vice President and GM, Sage Nonprofit Solutions, explains, "It's a simple but effective concept. Anything you want to focus on, you can develop a scorecard for. And everyone can tell instantly where we are in achieving that goal. Everybody understands a smiling face or a frowning face."

Foster teamwork and understanding
Bridget Brandt, Customer Marketing Manager, Sage Nonprofit Solutions, says, "It sounds ridiculous, but it works. Our teams love it—it creates a lot of teamwork."

For instance, if the goal is to generate 30 leads every month, then a scorecard might be issued mid-month depicting success or failure in achieving the midpoint of the goal. If you need a certain number of volunteer hours filled each month, you could develop a scorecard showing volunteer hours worked or promised. This either lets volunteers know they are doing a great job in filling hours, or motivates more volunteers to step up and help. Or both.

The scorecards are based on a Franklin Covey exercise, Endsley says. "Each manager has a scorecard which typically ties to growth. The managers print the scorecards and post them on a bulletin board. If a goal is lagging behind, other teams might pitch in to help achieve the goal.

"It gives us necessary transparency across the business. People want to know how their actions impact the business. It also helps employees understand the reasoning for our decision-making. It’s really changed our business here."

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Nonprofits Using Social Media to Engage and Share, Says Sage North America Survey
Organizations Cite Lack of Time and Resources as Reasons for Not Fully Adopting Social Media

Sage North America announced the results of its recently conducted social media survey for nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada. One of the most interesting findings: 91% of respondents raise funds online, but only 58% of those nonprofits using social media cite fundraising as a goal for using it. Sharing our story building a community, public relations, and donor engagement/retention–not raising funds–were listed as the nonprofits’ top reasons for engaging in social media.

“Nonprofit organizations are already using social media channels to participate in conversations with their constituents, but we’re finding that the majority of them are still trying to balance using social media as a vehicle for fundraising with their internal time and resource capacity to take advantage of it,” said Krista Endsley, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Sage Nonprofit Solutions. “It seems that social media still hasn’t become part of nonprofit organizations’ everyday activities, perhaps simply because the organizations don’t think they have enough expertise or time to do so.”

While online donations are growing, organizations are still trying to unite their social media strategies effectively with their fundraising campaigns.

“The most successful nonprofits are capitalizing on social media, not by simply tweeting a link to their donation form, but by using it as part of an integrated campaign,” said Endsley. “Multiple touches with constituents are what result in donations. Social media is helping nonprofits engage in more ‘touches’ with more donors and, ultimately, raise more funds.”

Other findings from Sage’s social media survey for nonprofit organizations include:

• 88% of survey respondents are using some form of social media; more than half of them have been using social media for less than a year
• 45% of survey respondents that haven’t adopted social media are unsure of the relevance and advantages to their organization; other respondents cited lack of time and resources and lack of understanding and expertise as reasons for not participating in social media
• The most popular type of social media used is general social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, followed by blogging and microblogging; and YouTube is also widely used
• 70% recognize social media as either very or somewhat important to their organization, while only 9% are very satisfied
• 20% of respondents spend more than five hours per week using social media

Sage’s social media survey, sent via e-mail to The Chronicle of Philanthropy newspaper subscribers with development titles from organizations with annual operating budgets (AOBs) of more than $500K, received a 17% response rate. Topics addressed in the survey included types of social media; specific social media tools; types of social media activities; social media goals and success; reasons for not participating in social media; and acceptance of online donations

For complete survey results, click here.

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Accounting for Accountability
Kristal Alcazar

As you are most likely keenly aware, today’s economic climate demands that your organization’s thermostat be set to a constant temperature of ACCOUNTABLE. Keeping your recipients warm, and those to whom you are held accountable cool, has become a challenging balancing act, especially when the weather outside demands that your organization operate in a glass house. 

Transparency and accountability are now tantamount to a non-profit organization’s ability to stay in “business”. Restrictions on the use of government grants continue to expand, while federal regulations continue to constrict; the donor community’s caution and private foundations’ and corporations’ demand for quantifiable data are both rising steadily. It’s getting hot out there under a sun of intense inquiry and scrutiny and, ironically, keeping your cool means seeking full exposure.

So how does this challenging climate relate to your organization’s use of Sage MIP Fund Accounting software? Well, we believe that our software “Helps Those Who Do Good Things Do Them Even Better”. Since doing good things now requires absolute accountability and transparency, we hold ourselves accountable for providing you with the tools and resources that can broaden and deepen your understanding of the software while simultaneously increasing your awareness of the breadth of its capabilities. You own a powerful piece of software and we want you to know how to use it to your advantage; we want it to help you account for your accountability!

1. The first of these tools is formal Training. Our training department offers a wide spectrum of training options that include Realtime, Custom, and Classroom settings. You can choose from courses covering single modules, training bundles, and you can even become certified! To learn more, please visit the training web site at www.sageu.com.
2. A second tool available to you is the Sage MIP Fund Accounting Knowledgebase.  It can be found online at www.sagesoftwareonline.com. Once registered (takes about 1 minute), you will have access to hundreds of articles written by our Support team, including installation guides and related documents, known issues, general information, and perhaps most valuable to our purposes here, a plethora of “How To” guides. 
3. Third, is the Sage MIP Fund Accounting Forum. By subscribing to our customer forum, you can interact with other Sage MIP Fund Accounting users to share solutions and ideas. The forum can improve your overall experience and effectiveness using the software. You may choose to receive all messages as e-mail or to check messages on-demand from the forum’s Web portal. To subscribe, visit www.sagenonprofit.com/npsforums.
4. Fourth, embedded in the software itself are resources and tools at your fingertips! 
   1. Every screen in the software has a navy blue “Help” button at the lower right. The beauty of this help button is that it is screen specific; it displays definitions, explanations, and tips specific to the function of that particular screen.
   2. The “Help” menu at the upper right of the screen in the software will reveal several very helpful tools including Contents and Index, Product Guides, What’s New, and Sage MIP on the Web. Two additional items, Obtaining Customer Support and Sage Live Connect are resources that will be addressed in #5 below. 
   3. If you use the Navigator, select “Help and Support” at the bottom left.  This will call up a screen that is a virtual smorgasbord of links to tools and resources both in the software and online (most of which were mentioned above). The categories include: What’s New, The Solution Center (including a link to our webcasts and demos Web site-some live, some recorded, all free), Maintenance, and Contact Sage Software.
5. And finally, the fifth element! Our Sage MIP Fund Accounting Support team. Dedicated to assisting you with technical and application issues, we are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central Time, Monday-Friday. Customers with Premium Maintenance and Support Agreements have access to personal analysts and can get support until 11 p.m. CT. For a list of what is included in the scope of a support call, please see the following:  http://support.sagesoftwareonline.com/NPS-SupportedTopics.pdf.   Analysts have additional resources and tools available to them which make their services even  more efficient for you:
1. Sage Live Connect, which you can find on the Help and Support screen with the Navigator or beneath the Help menu if you do not use the Navigator. This tool allows analysts to remotely access your system and assist you in real time.
2. If you would rather not use the telephone to call in your support case, you may choose to simply log your support case online and have your issue addressed while you are accomplishing other tasks. This can be done on the Knowledgebase at www.sagesoftwareonline.com. Simply select “Support” and then choose “Create a Support Case Online.”

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