Voluntary Compliance Program announced by IRS to address worker misclassification

Information for your members: You may have seen that in late September the IRS announced a voluntary compliance program for employers (including nonprofit employers) to enable those who have mistakenly classified workers as independent contractors to make a correction, along with a modest payment, and avoid the usual penalties of noncompliance. This program’s announcement offers an opportunity to remind nonprofits about the risk of misclassification and share information with them about the voluntary compliance program. See the National Council’s website materials on this topic.

Here is the text of the IRS announcement about the voluntary compliance program (from the IRS’s EO Update circulated on October 4):

“The IRS has launched a new program that will enable many employers, including tax-exempt employers, to resolve past worker classification issues and come back into compliance by making a minimal payment covering past payroll tax obligations rather than waiting for an IRS audit. To be eligible for the new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program an applicant must:

Consistently have treated the workers as nonemployees in the past

Filed all required Forms 1099 for the workers for the previous three years

Not currently be under audit by the IRS, Department of Labor or a state agency concerning the classification of these workers.

Full details, including FAQs, will be available on the Employment Tax Pages of IRS.gov and in Announcement 2011-64.”

Comptroller Questions, Nonprofits Respond

Last week NYCON was asked to provide feedback to the Comptroller's Office on how late New York State contracts and payments were affecting real nonprofits in the community. NYCON has already collected almost 250 responses - and more nonprofits are responding every day.
• 66% of nonprofits responding said they currently have a line of credit
• 66% of nonprofits responding said that they had borrowed money because of delayed government contracts and/or payments in the last two years.

Well over 100 comments were also submitted to the Comptroller´s Office. Click here for a sampling of these comments (a full list will be posted soon on the NYCON website.) Still want to add your feedback? Click here for the survey.

Want to know what else you can do? The Comptroller's Office will be holding nonprofit forums around New York State soon. NYCON will inform our members when those forums are scheduled.

Membership Benefits Corner: Special Package Offers on Bylaws, Personnel Policy Reviews and more...
Bylaw & Personnel Policy Reviews
Whether you are a newly created organization or a long standing one, risk management is the keystone for good governance of your organization. Two important tools for protection of your organization from mission killing liability and litigation is the creation and annual review of corporate bylaws and personnel policies. Our attorneys and legal staff will dissect your corporate documents and review same for legal pitfalls, returning same to you with revision comments and "best practice" advice within 30 days.
A Bylaw Review is $500.
A Personnel Policy Review is $700.
A Package price for both is only $1,000.
Interested? Click here and let us know and we´ll have one of our legal staff get back to you to start the process!

Corporate Document Review
Another important element of risk management is the maintenance of the proper form of corporate existence. Our attorneys and legal staff will analyze your Certificate of Incorporation, and any Amendments for consistency between them and your internal corporate documents and Bylaws, returning the same to you with revision comments and "best practice" advice within 15 days.
A Corporate Document Review is $300.00.
Interested? Click here and let us know and we´ll have one of our legal staff get back to you to start the process!

Resources for Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

Through its studies on Volunteering In America, the Corporation for National and Community Service continues to deliver increasingly detailed reports on the trends and habits in volunteering across the country, in order to better understand who is serving in our communities and how, when, and why they serve.

In partnership with HandsOn Network, the Corporation is providing specific resources to support the findings of the Volunteering in Americareports. The resources on this page have been developed to help you increase the capacity of your organization, company, program, or community to effectively engage volunteers of all ages. This page builds on resources developed for previous Volunteering in America reports and includes new and updated resources (as indicated below). Additionally, scroll down the page to learn more about and register for three Ask the Expert webinars facilitated by leading volunteer practitioners and researchers.

Featured Resources

Volunteer Self-Organizing – Resources to help individuals plan and manage projects to bring about positive community change
Recruitment - Strategies to recruit new volunteers, including target populations such as Boomers and students
Retention – Tips for retaining volunteers and plugging “the leaky bucket”
Human Capital Strategies – Innovative techniques for nonprofits during these difficult economic times, including the use of pro bono services, other skilled volunteers, and volunteer leaders
Cost-Effective Volunteering - Practical tips for maximizing resources during an economic downturn
Voluntourism – Resources for understanding the growing trend of combining service and vacations

New York Council of Nonprofits Announces New Publication

Standards for Common Sense: A Practical Guide to Basic Accountability Standards for New York Nonprofits, published by NYCON, was supported by Council Services Plus and the Dyson Foundation. This booklet, available to download for free here, is a practical guide for the average nonprofit seeking a reasonable understanding of what accountability standards are, who is promoting them, what related state laws say, and how to think about the choices presented. NYCON has selected eight of the most basic issues involving governance structure and practice, i.e. board size, board compensation, conflict of interest policies, board member independence, term limits, frequency of meetings, audit requirements and the creation of audit committees. The booklet outlines each issue, compares and discusses the standards set by laws or regulations and five different standards setting bodies - the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the Standards for Excellence Institute, the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.

In this 2nd Edition, NYCON has also added a section on Standards of Financial Accountability. This section explores guidelines for percentage of expenditures on program and fundraising activities along with the level of net assets relative to annual spending. Download your copy now.

2009 Nonprofit Economic Climate Info

In December 2008, Fiscal Management Associates (FMA) and the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) joined together to present a workshop that offered nonprofit leaders concrete tools to lead their organizations in response to the current ecnomic challenges. With the support of The Clark, Robin Hood, and Tiger foundations, the tools and presentation from this program are available online here. The link offers a 90 minute webinar and powerpoint and various tools.

Topics include:

• How the current market environment will affect nonprofits
• Practical scenario planning and modeling: how to develop smart, strategic responses
• Recognizing the hidden opportunities to strengthen your standing
• Revenue and expense considerations
• Cash flow management and managing credit
• Role of the Executive Director and Board in leading the organization through a downturn

The link provides assessment tools and checklists to keep you grounded during crisis periods. Also included is a list of cost reduction strategies.

Employee Compensation Template

In response to the recent request for examples or templates on communicating overall employee compensation, AVRE has offered this example for consideration. If there are any other suggestions, please post them here or e-mail amarietta@ccsnys.org.

Communicating Employee Compensation

We received a request recently from a Binghamton nonprofit asking if anyone would be willing to share examples of communicating to employees their overall compensation packages. Many nonprofit directors are focusing on demonstrating to their employees all the benefits they receive in addition to their salaries, especially with the budget cuts facing many organizations. If you are willing to share your examples or formats, please e-mail amarietta@ccsnys.org.