National Volunteering Conference

Is your non-profit ready to come together with other volunteer groups and help Build the Future? Though early registration has now closed, it's not too late to attend!  You can still register for the 2016 National Volunteering Conference at the National Conference Centre in Canberra, Australia.

This year's 16^th annual event is hosted by Volunteering Australia and Beyond Bank Australia. If you volunteer, contribute to a non-profit's policies or are one of the leaders of a non-profit, you will not want to miss this opportunity to connect and network with others in the field and also learn new skills and get up-to-date on the latest developments and trends occurring in the volunteer sector today.

Don't Miss Out - Register Now

The event is currently scheduled for April 6-8, 2016. Registration under the Standard Fee is just $990, which includes GST. Registration includes conference materials, conference sessions attendance, and lunches as well as morning and afternoon tea on Wednesday and Thursday. Also included with the registration fee is Friday's closing lunch, Wednesday evening's reception and as well as the Gala Dinner on Thursday evening and transport to social events. If you would like, you can purchase also purchase extra tickets to the Gala Dinner for just $200 each.

When you register, you can either pay online, or choose to have an invoice sent to your non-profit for payment. If you choose to be billed, you will have 14 days to make payment, unless it is within 14 days of the conference date, in which case all accounts must be paid in full prior to the conference.

What to Expect

This year's event features addresses by several keynote speakers that will update attendees on the state of volunteering and provide insight into the challenges that all non-profits face today.   These speakers come from a variety of backgrounds that span a diverse range of volunteer organisations and associations, including John Brogden, the Chairman of Lifeline, Austalia’s leading suicide prevention service as well as author Susan J. Ellis, the founder and president of Energize, Inc., which offers training and consulting to help volunteer organisers from around the world to begin or expand their volunteer activities. 

In addition to keynote speeches, each day of the conference features several breakout sessions where attendees will have the opportunity to attend trainings and workshops that are specifically designed to help them learn new skills to empower them to be able to better lead their organisations and increase their ability to meet the needs of their community and their organisation's goals.

You can learn more about this year's specific keynote speakers, breakout sessions and other scheduled conference activities by consulting the 2016 National Volunteering Conference Build the Future Conference Program.

NFP Treasurers' Awards 2016

If you are reading this, there is a good chance you know full well how much time and energy goes into being a treasurer for a volunteer organisation. No one does it for the glory, but instead to offer service and energy to a worthwhile cause or group in their community.

As a token of appreciation for the endless hours and ongoing sacrifices treasurers make to keep organisations 'in business', Our Community and the Commonwealth Bank established the Not-for-Profit Treasurers' Awards.

These awards honour and highlight the work of three treasurers each year who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure “good financial management, good financial governance and good financial outcomes.”

If you or somebody in your team deserves to be recognised for their contribution, be sure to nominate them when the competition opens in February. Consider signing up for the Our Community newsletter, Our Community Matters, to keep up with the initiative.

Celebrating 2015

Well, what a year it has been. It has been choc-o-block full of successes, triumphs and steep learning curves. And dare I say it, we know our charities and ourselves a little bit better than we did at the start.

Were you successful in securing funding for your NFP this year? It is a hard subject to tackle, but when working together with your local community, it can be very rewarding, not to mention beneficial in the long term. Or perhaps you had more luck with one of the available grants valid in your service area?

Many of our treasurers saw an increase in sponsorship which is a great move forward for NFPs and their awareness in the community.

Some of our working volunteer treasurers even had the chance to do some volunteer work outside of their usual treasury role. There are plenty of opportunities for volunteering, particularly around the December period when charities and NFPs are looking for additional hands to help with their Christmas-related projects.

Did you get a chance to look into the Fundraising Management Diploma at all? MTo recap, The Diploma in Fundraising Management is available to both home and international students as a distance learning course and enables participants to develop the knowledge and skills they need to advance in the area of professional fundraising – either working for an NFP or starting their own charity. Perhaps 2016 will finally be the year to take the plunge?

Whatever you will be doing, we hope that next year is, even more, eventful and successful than the last. So from Volunteer Treasurer to you, merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Are Cheques Still Relevant?

After peaking in the mid-80s, cheque use has been steadily declining. According to a report by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), the use of cheques has declined over 70% in the last decade.

With so many voluntarily adopting the use of debit and credit cards, as well as other means of electronic transfer for payment, some have begun to wonder if cheques are destined to share the same fate as Australia's Holey Dollars and one and two cent coins.

Disadvantages of Cheque Payments

Opponents of cheques cite the relative security of electronic transfers, and their speed and ease of use as reasons to stop accepting cheques as a form of payment. Most electronic debits and credits happen instantly, whereas it can take 3 or more days for a physical cheque to clear one's bank. It also costs banks about three and a half times more to process a physical cheque than an electronic transfer. The recipient also often has to go to the time and trouble of physically visiting their bank to deposit the cheque.

Even though less than 5% of all the payments made by individuals and businesses each day are made by cheque, this percentage still amounts to a large number of transactions. Almost one million of the payments that are made each day in Australia are made by cheque. As long as there is a need for cheques, it is unlikely that governing bodies will take legal action that would officially end their use.

Groups Still Clinging to Their Cheques

Even though it's unlikely that there will be an official "hard stop" for accepting cheques as a payment method, time itself may make the question a moot point. Most cheque users tend to be older in age, with less than 7% of those under the age of 30 using them.  As the population naturally ages, cheque use will continue to decline.

While older folks prefer to continue using cheques for nostalgia's sake, insurance proceeds, real estate sales, superannuation payments, and even property settlements are often paid by cheque for legal reasons.  Charities, sporting clubs and other non-profits also often prefer to use cheques since they believe it allows the group's treasurer greater control over the organisation's funds.

Why it's a Good Idea to Expand Payment Methods

While it's unlikely that cheques will be outlawed in the near future, many vendors, suppliers and customers may stop accepting them on their own. This fact alone makes it a good idea for the treasurer and other board members to investigate what steps are needed to start making and accepting electronic payments.

While it's likely that cheque use will still exist for some time to come, expanding the types of payment methods that your non-profit makes and accepts  will give your group greater flexibility with vendors and suppliers as well as decrease the time that it takes for funds to be processed and available for use.  

Fundraising and Sponsorship More Similar Than You Might Think

When it comes to growing your non-profit, sponsorship just may be the answer. Of course, sponsorship is not to be confused with fundraising which is a way of raising cash for your non-profit’s needs. Sponsorship may well be about the cash in the long term but like fundraising, marketing and relationships still play a major part.

At the outset they seem very different – fundraising is about cash – a transaction, whereas a sponsorship is a development of a long term relationship. However from the non-profit’s perspective seeking either, the approach needs to remain the same.

When it comes to finding sponsors or those willing to hand over their hard earned funds to support your organisation, a quality partnership must be established; one built on trust and understanding. What is it they want from you and you from them? Think about why someone would want to sponsor you or why they would give you cash in the first place.

But it goes further than that. You need to look after and respect your partners and funders, thanking them at each opportunity. From your perspective, regardless of how much you need the cash financing or support, it is all about them. And of course, both transactions whether fundraising or sponsorship based will need to be accountable at some point.

Unlike a donation which is money given non-specifically, fundraising or sponsorship offers you the opportunity to tell your side of things, to present yourself and your cause in a good light. This is your story and your opportunity to spread it as wide and as loudly as possibly. Attracting those who listen is important particularly those who respond positively to what you have to say. They are the ones who will speak the loudest about your organisation telling others of a great opportunity should they be interested.

More similar than you might think initially, right? Do you have a preference for your non-profit when it comes to fundraising?

Should You Have Your Own Fundraising Professional on Board?

Many nonprofits simply rely on their existing board members to develop their fundraising goals and strategic marketing plans. It's common for boards to turn the oversight of their fundraising over to the treasurer or even to someone else on the board that may have some experience with finances in their private life. In general this is usually a volunteer board member that works in banking or accounting, or other position that involves marketing.

As with most endeavours, board members will find that they can likely improve the results of their fundraising efforts if they enlist the services and experience of a professional. Just as you wouldn't turn to an amateur if you were facing a serious illness and would likely seek out the services of a professionally trained physician, nonprofit boards can benefit from having a fundraising professional on board.

A fundraising professional can help give direction and provide insight to the board when creating a fundraising campaign as well as be able to design one that will increase the amount of funds that are raised. This is critically important for most nonprofits given the fact that fundraising is often a nonprofit's greatest source of funding. Being able to have a reliable professional to turn to can not only improve your nonprofit's ability to achieve its service level goals; it can also increase your ability to continue daily operating in a sustainable manner.  

Because of their training and experience, a fundraising professional is able to help unify your nonprofit's approach to fundraising. They also usually take on the responsibility of doing the hard work that is necessary to keep up with communications that build and strengthen relationships. This helps nonprofits to be able to keep their current donors involved and emotionally connected to the nonprofit's goals while seeking out new donors in ways that are the most cost effective.

Increasing the amount of monies that your nonprofit receives from fundraising is about more than simply asking for more money from your existing network of donors. The most successful fundraising campaigns are usually part of a multi-year fundraising strategy. A professional fundraiser is especially beneficial when it comes time to develop these long range fundraising plans for your nonprofit's organisation as their experience enables them to be able to provide realistic targets for your fundraising goals and likely costs from year to year. This allows your nonprofit to be able to take swift action should circumstances and needs change.

In short, while your nonprofit will likely have to pay to hire a fundraising professional, this cost will probably be more than offset by the increase in the amount of donations that you normally receive while reducing your fundraising costs by providing plans that result in greater focus and less waste during the actual fundraising process. 

The Importance Of Reconciling Your Accounts

With most cheque account transactions and credit card statements now being available anytime online, you might be tempted to skip the monthly chore of reconciling your organisation's accounts. Even if you use cloud accounting apps and no longer have to wait to receive a paper statement in the mail to check your balances, there are several reasons why regularly reconciling your accounts is still a good idea.

Eliminates errors by serving as a double check of your data entry. Even the best accounting software can develop a glitch and possibly miss transactions. Reconciling your accounts allows you to catch errors and enter any missed transactions that your software might have missed when doing the books. Other errors that you can catch with reconciliation include entries with incorrect amounts or entries made to incorrect accounts. If you misplaced a receipt and a transaction didn't get entered into your records, reconciling your accounts regularly allows you to catch this type of error as well while you still have a chance to search for the missing receipt or perhaps return to the supplier and ask for a duplicate.

Allows you to pick up on overpayments or underpayments to suppliers and others. Regular account reconciliation allows you to stay on top of your transactions. When reconciling your account it's not unusual to have some outstanding cheques, but if one has remained uncashed for a period of time, it's always a good idea to follow up and find out if the cheque was lost, or if there is another issue.

Reduces potential for losses due to fraud or oversight. Regularly reconciling your accounts ensures that everyone that handles the accounts and issues cheques is only using the charity's funds to pay for authorised transactions. It also helps you to quickly catch any errors made by your group's bank or other financial institution.

Ensures financial statements are accurate so that data used to calculate required reports or taxes and fees is accurate. If you have missing or incorrect transactions, then the financial statements that are prepared from these records are incorrect as well. Any taxes or other fees that would be based on these statements would also be incorrect. Regular reconciliation of your accounts will catch these mistakes early in the year and allow you to take corrective action long before required reports and forms are due.

Allows you to have a better grasp of your performance. While some may prefer to look at a statement or other report to get a picture of their charity's financial stability, regularly reconciling your accounts can also give you an instant snapshot and up close view on your income, expenses and cash flow. Staying on top of this information allows you to help your charity, club or NFP to take corrective action should you spot a potential shortfall in income or increase in expenses.

While taking the time to regularly reconcile your organisation's accounts is not the most exciting or easy task that you have as a treasurer, it certainly has several benefits for your charity that will make it well worth the time and effort.