Across Australia there are many high-performing NFP and commercial organisations, often with long, rich heritages. Individually these organisations are evidently doing a lot of things right. Indeed, some successful organisations have looked at their commercial or NFP counterparts for insights that could boost their businesses even further.

One person who can provide informed commentary on the strengths of both sectors is Steven Cole. He has form in multiple sectors, currently sitting on two ASX-listed company boards (one as deputy chairman) as well as chairing the Western Australian not-for-profit Brightwater Care Group and the statutory QEII Medical Centre Trust.

A strategic blend of the strengths of each sector is useful to consider, he says. Organisations should "think creatively and benchmark themselves beyond their own domain to identify areas for potential improvement." Cole lists 10 areas where he believes not-for-profits and for-profits can look to the other for benchmarking benefit.

Key characteristics of successful for-profit organisations:

1. Strategy

Dedicate appropriate time, resources and effort to long-term strategic issues, even if it’s at the expense of today’s charitable outcomes.

2. Board information

Enhance informed decision making by ensuring the timeliness, quality and adequacy of information flow to the board.

3. Consultants

External input from consultants is both necessary and valuable to supplement lean NFP executive teams.

4. Legacy programs

Jettison programs not central to the organisation’s strategic future, even if they fit the mission.

5. Project disciplines

Rigour in project planning, execution and accountability is non-negotiable.

Key characteristics of successful NFP organisations:

1. Stakeholder respect and engagement

Maintain accountability to, and earn support from, a broad and diverse stakeholder group.

2. Strong culture

Develop a strong, unifying and sustaining organisational culture.

3. Recognise the value of different skills sets

Optimise diversity among upper executives and leadership groups.

4. Team buy-in

Develop relationships and co-operative teamwork towards shared organizational goals.

5. Keep a tight rein on the purse strings

Being frugal yet remaining effective.

"In many ways," says Cole, "the commercial corporation’s strengths are ‘hard’ skills, whereas the NFP sector brings with it ‘softer’ skills. Each can be effective. A healthy blend of the two suites of skills can differentiate high performing organisations with sustained effectiveness, irrespective of the sector."

This post first appeared here on Company Directors blog.

Finding success in the nonprofit space often depends on an organization's digital savviness. Especially when trying to reach a demographic that advocates for good causes with their dollars (hint, hint: millennials), navigating online donations and marketing tactics.

Luckily, it seems leading nonprofits are wising up, according to a new report. The 2015 M+R Benchmarks Study, which will be released in full on Wednesday, analyzed how 84 charitable organizations performed online last year. It found that nonprofits raised nearly $413 million online in 2014, with related revenue increasing 13% year-over-year. is essential.

Online, users gave more than 6.4 million gifts; the average one-time gift was $82, while the average monthly gift was $22. Users also took nearly 7.5 million advocacy actions. However, response rates for fundraising and advocacy emails dropped 12% and 18% from 2013, respectively.

On the social side of things, the nonprofits in the study — which include big names such as Greenpeace USA, the American Red Cross, Human Rights Campaign and the International Fund for Animal Welfare — saw 42% growth in Facebook fans and 34% growth in Twitter followers.

This article first appeared on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2015/04/21/online-giving-data-2014/

Cyber attacks on Australian businesses and government increased by 20 per cent last year, according to a defence force intelligence unit.

The Australian Signals Directorate said the most commonly targeted sectors are banking and finance, resources and energy, defence capability and telecommunications.

"It's an arms race - it's a cyber arms race - where sometimes the bad guys will get a little bit ahead and sometimes the good guys will get a little bit ahead," said IT security consultant Wade Alcorn. The Commonwealth Bank, the country's biggest bank, receives millions of cyber attacks daily from organised crime and so-called 'hactivists' - people using hacking to further a social agenda.

According to CBA's chief of information security, Ben Heyes, the number of serious attacks are rapidly on the rise. "We're seeing the tools that are available for executing a cyber attack are becoming more widespread and becoming increasingly more sophisticated and, with that, we're seeing a large increase in the volume of attacks," he observed.

"We have categories of attacks that are designed to disrupt services and there are categories of attacks that are designed to gain access to an organisation's internal environment - to potentially withdraw from that intellectual property or data that's important."

New Cyber Security Centre

The Australian Government is taking the increase in attacks seriously - it opened the Australian Cyber Security Centre last November to co-locate defence intelligence agencies, the Attorney-General and the Australian Federal Police cyber units. This week Canberra will host a major cyber conference - bringing together experts from Australia and abroad.

According to the European Union's Law Enforcement Agency, victims lose more than 250 billion euros each year worldwide as a result of cyber crime - making it more profitable than the global trade in marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined. In February, it was discovered that up to $1 billion had been stolen from 100 banks around the world, including Australia.

Despite the breach, security experts say the finance industry is the Australian corporate leader in cyber security. "It's fair to say that finance is quite mature, finance has been facing cyber threats for quite a long time now - it's one of the most strongly positioned industries in Australia," said Wade Alcorn.

Find the full article here, originally appeared on ABC News Business website.

This article was directly sourced from Associations Now

Google’s decision to rejigger its search engine to favor mobile-friendly sites simply codifies something that should be obvious by now. Not that it doesn’t make it any less painful for those with massive legacies to convert over. Read on for some mobile web design considerations.

Unfriendly toward mobile-unfriendly

Over the past few years, Google has been putting a lot of energy into pushing website owners to cater to mobile customers, who are becoming an important part of the online ecosystem. And in recent weeks, the search giant has been sending messages to website owners warning them that they were staying mobile-unfriendly at their peril.

Today, the company will start counting mobile-friendliness in its all-important algorithms—and responsive sites, rather than dedicated mobile platforms, are the preferred way to go.

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results,” the company announced back in February. “Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Long story short: Mobile-unfriendly sites might be in trouble unless they redesign or retrofit, pronto.

Whether it’s fair that one company should hold that much power over the internet is an open question, one the European Union appears to be interested in, but let’s admit that site owners probably need the nudge.

This isnt easy stuff

Google is probably doing the right thing by encouraging everyone to design for every audience, but there’s a ton of give and take that comes with this. If you’re retrofitting an old site, it’s not as easy as slapping a new template on there in some cases.

Imagine what The Washington Post or The New York Times have to do with their 150-year-old archives every time they have to rejigger their content. Not fun.

Associations are the same way—all those resource pages, forums, and blog posts are buried in editorial and design decisions that made sense when they were made but now are troublesome at best.

Think responsively

“Responsive design” is a simple phrase that perhaps downplays the complexity and scale that many organizations will face in trying to implement it. 

Know where your current design stands. Mobile-friendly design doesn’t end with the breakpoints. Other issues, including the speed of the page loads and the size of the links on the site, matter as well. Google offers a mobile-friendly test that will let you know how your design is read by its search engines. It’s good to know how much work you’re going to have to do before you do a deep dive.

Put strategy first. Web design is not just about the pixels on the screen—never has been, never will be. Rather, it’s all about the user. So, as you’re doing the research on how to best build and maintain your design in multiple contexts, I recommend checking out the many guides offered up by developer Brad Frost on Github. You’ll notice that he doesn’t dive into the actual tools until about halfway in. There’s a reason for that—if you do responsive the right way, you’ll be rethinking your whole design strategy.

Building fresh? Use a framework. They’re all the rage these days. Launched by a couple of Twitter developers in 2011, the mobile-focused Bootstrap web design framework is a great way to build a design without repeating yourself too much. There are a lot of positives to this approach from a development perspective—for one, you can get off the ground a lot faster—but on the other hand, if you don’t tweak the design too much, it might end up looking pretty cookie-cutter. An alternative worth checking out is Zurb Foundation.

Need to retrofit? Perhaps creating a fresh redesign isn’t an option, or it’s a tough sell to the boss. Retrofitting can be done, but it’s essential to research the pluses and minuses of the approach first. I recommend reading what Sparkbox’s Ben Callahan has to say about this, and know that you may be giving your readers a subpar experience by choosing a more simplistic approach.

For the full article by Ernie Smith please click here: http://associationsnow.com/2015/04/mobile-friendly-design-longer-nice/

For over 165 years, AMP has been helping Australians to realise their dreams. Now, AMP’s Tomorrow Fund wants to bring many more dreams to life by backing Aussie talent, achievement and potential across the nation. 

The fund is an initiative of AMP’s philanthropic arm, the AMP Foundation, which has been supporting change to create a better tomorrow for everyone since 1992.

Who can apply?

Australian citizens and permanent residents of all ages and abilities can apply for an AMP Tomorrow Fund grant. We’re looking for determined people with big dreams who just need some help to bring them to life.

They may be passionate about solving community problems or lifting spirits with their music, art or words. Maybe they have an ingenious invention in mind or show real strength of character on the sports field.

What they share is a desire to make a difference, either by creating something special or inspiring others. These are people who have put in the hard yards and are ready to leap to the next level. The only thing stopping them is a lack of funds.

AMP’s Tomorrow Fund wants to remove the barrier by giving out grants of between $10,000 and $100,000 to help them with costs such as travel, living expenses and research – or whatever it takes to achieve their dream.

If you or someone you know has what it takes to be an AMP Tomorrow Maker, apply by 4pm on 14 May.

How to apply ?

If you fit the bill, apply online using the five-step application form.

You’ll need to provide contact details, explain your goal and how you’ll achieve it, the work you’ve put in and a basic budget. Also tell us about any funding or recognition you’ve received, include online links that explain your story and list two referees.

You can fill in your application over time and make changes up until you press ‘submit’.

Check out the sample application and tips and advice page.

Be sure to apply by 4pm on 14 May!

The majority of charities and not-for-profits use a standard reporting period of 1 July to 30 June, so as we are now in the last quarter of the 2014–15 financial year, now is a good time to remind charities about the importance of good record keeping. 

Not only will keeping good records help when it comes to completing the Annual Information Statement, but charities are required to keep both financial and operational records as a requirement of registration with the ACNC. Good record keeping is also an important part of running a successful organisation.

The ACNC provides detailed guidance about record keeping to help charities understand their obligations.

A Not for Profit campaign has seen Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey’s email inundated with thousands of complaints as the sector prepares itself for cuts of around $1 billion to Australia’s foreign aid.

The Campaign for Australian Aid, a coalition of Not for Profits supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has called on people to “interrupt Joe Hockey”.

The online blitz leads people to a web page featuring a caricature of Hockey writing the Budget and asks them to interrupt him by sending him an email.  

Campaign member World Vision Australia emailed its supporters, asking them to take part.

“[Joe Hockey’s] writing this year's budget right now. Last year, the Government announced massive cuts to Australian Aid over the next four years. Joe Hockey is expected to announce the first cut, of $1 billion, on Budget night (12 May). If he goes ahead with the cuts, it will be the biggest cut in Australian aid history and make us the least generous we've ever been,” World Vision Australia said.

- See full article at: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2015/04/not-profits-%E2%80%98interrupt%E2%80%99-joe-hockey#sthash.2sl4bSHj.dpuf

With just eight weeks to go until ACE 2015, now is the time to make time for your professional development.

Putting aside time for professional development can be difficult, though when we consider the flow-on effects to our members, colleagues and stakeholders, we remember the benefits far outweigh the perceived inconvenience. After all, professional development forms strategy, has the power to focus teams, enables problem solving and supports collaborative learning.

If you are still not convinced, take a moment to discover the key professional development sessions below that will be covered at the not-for-profit run, 2015 AuSAE Conference and Exhibition (ACE) this June 18-19.

Then when you are ready, registration is only one click away.

Tony Hsieh knows the value of knowledge sharing. The Zappos CEO could have kept his industry-changing standards for customer service, employee engagement, and corporate culture to himself, but he chose to share them — and even wrote a book on his philosophy.

Why would Hsieh reveal his billion-dollar company’s secrets to success? Because he understands that sharing knowledge is good for business.

Whether you’re running a multibillion-dollar retail company or a small startup, you might be tempted to hoard your exclusive knowledge or trade secret as your “competitive advantage.” But in B2B and B2C environments and even in not-for-profits, sales and growth happen on shared grounds of trust. And the best way to build that, both internally and externally, is by sharing your knowledge at every level.

Giving away your insights benefits you and your company

CEOs don’t earn their positions by being shy about their intelligence. Business leaders promote their ideas and demonstrate their knowledge to get ahead. But why stop sharing once you’ve reached that executive spot? Your network wants to hear what you have to say, so capitalize on that influence and organize your thoughts using resources like spreadsheets or a knowledge-management template. It’ll make you a stronger leader and help grow your company.

Knowledge sharing strengthens your business, both internally and externally, by:

1. Creating a sounding board. All feedback is invaluable, no matter how insightful it is. By sharing your ideas with employees, peers, and customers, you’ll hear other viewpoints and critical takes, which will challenge your thinking and make you a more informed and well-rounded leader.

2. Empowering your employees. You want your team to be innovative and proactive, and consistently educating them can boost their motivation and set them up for success. Whether you share articles you’ve published or approach your staff directly, every interaction sets the tone for what’s important to your business. Knowledge sharing also encourages interdepartmental collaboration, eliminating unnecessary barriers to making real progress.

3. Training your audience. How much smoother would customer interactions be if you could eliminate the most common misunderstandings or problems before you start working together? By publishing content, speaking at conferences, or just chatting on the phone, you set clients’ expectations for the relationship and instill “good habits” before there’s any room for miscommunication. The more you educate prospects on how your company operates, the more comfortable they’ll feel working with you. When you prepare them for potential challenges, they’ll become better customers in the long run.

4. Positioning you as a thought leader. By offering up your insights and experiences, you establish authority in your industry and gain exposure for your company. This is an important aspect of your company’s marketing plan, especially as credible, valuable content becomes increasingly important in growing a successful business.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is known for his innovative, customer-centric strategies and has written and publicly discussed his approach. Like Hsieh, Bezos transformed his industry by sharing what works for his company. Their wild successes and active discussions about what they do differently not only makes them respected thought leaders, but also rallies their employees around a shared vision.

By imparting your knowledge in relatable, actionable ways, you can get both employees and potential customers to buy in to your message. Knowledge sharing excites and inspires employees to work hard for your company and makes prospects more comfortable and educated throughout the purchase process.

Don’t hold your knowledge hostage to make your company more exclusive. Consumers want approachable, socially conscious brands, and sharing your wisdom will help you earn their trust — and dollars.

Don Broekelmann is executive vice president at Influence & Co., a content marketing firm based in Columbia, Mo. Broekelmann works with Influence & Co.’s brand partners to develop content marketing plans to create authentic engagement with specific customer segments.

This article first appeared on Smart Blogs.

Organisation: Ngala

Industry: Not-for-Profit, Parenting Services

Location: Western Australia

Number of locations: 18 Branches

System: 11 Offices

“The software did the job required and we liked the range of reports on offer, so when our needs had grown and it was time to bring the payroll back in-house, the obvious choice was to stick with Meridian.” 

- Suzanne Higgins, Ngala, Chief FInancial Officer

Challenge

Much of Ngala’s funding is project-based and comes from State and Federal government grants. Across all three entities, the largest portion of expenditure for each program is usually the payroll.

“Payroll is around 80 per cent of our funding. Because it is part of every program and because it accounts for such a large percentage of the budget, we need to know at any time how much it is costing us, and we need to make sure it is accurate,” Chief Financial Officer, Suzanne Higgins explains. For some years, Ngala’s payroll management has been made easier with the help of Sage MicrOpay Meridian, a comprehensive and advanced payroll system developed to meet the needs of Australian employers.

“Years ago we outsourced payroll to a company that used Meridian,” Suzanne says. “The software did the job required and we liked the range of reports on offer, so when our needs had grown and it was time to bring the payroll back in-house, the obvious choice was to stick with Meridian. The system had the benefit of familiarity and staying with the same solution was also going to make it much easier for us to transfer historical data back into the in-house system.”

In particular, Suzanne liked the easy access to information, the range of data and the greater control over all aspects of payroll that Meridian offered. What’s more, the price was affordable and thanks to a Lotterywest grant Ngala could afford to bring payroll back in-house.

Another important factor that helped to confirm her decision was the ready availability of Meridian skills, especially through Sage MicrOpay’s own nationwide payroll staff recruitment service. “This was helpful because it meant we could get the payroll up and running while we looked for a Payroll Officer. But it was also good to know we had a software system where we could always get well-versed staff if we needed them. This gave us confidence,” she notes.

Solution

Shortly after the decision to deploy Meridian, Suzanne recruited Lorena Garcia as the Payroll Officer. Over the course of the past 18 months, Lorena has been testing the boundaries of the payroll system.

“It’s very user friendly software, laid out in basic terms with easy to follow procedures. You can generate reports on any of the data that is entered into the system, from personnel to wages. We regularly review costing reports, leave liability reports, increment reports and pay rate changes, among other things,” Lorena says. She points out the ability to email payslips ensures staff receive the information quickly and is saving Ngala administrative time and money.

In another time-saving measure, earlier this year Lorena began working with the Meridian add-on, Meridian Express Super. This has automated payment of many of the organisation’s superannuation co-contributions and has reduced the time required for processing super payments by an estimated four working days per quarter.

“The support network from Meridian is also really good,” she adds. “The helpline is responsive, and there are regular seminars and workshops that are very informative and useful.” She gives the example of Meridian’s end of financial year workshops, which bring everyone up to date on system changes, legislative requirements and provide practical advice to prepare for end of year.

Room to Grow

Suzanne estimates that staff numbers have increased by at least 50 during the time Ngala has been using Meridian and it’s a trend that she expects will continue. “Our growth areas are in child care and community services. We hope to continue to expand our services and to employ more people. We are confident that the Meridian system will grow along with us.”

As a not-for-profit organisation, money is always hard to come by but Suzanne doesn’t let this limit her vision. She’s hopeful that one day Ngala will get the funding to explore some of Meridian’s other add-ons, such as HR. “I would love to eventually get this. There is so much opportunity for more efficiency if we can have employee timesheets and leave requests going through the system, rather than waiting for them to send paperwork in,” she concludes.

About Sage MicrOpay

Sage MicrOpay is a leading supplier of HR and payroll software and services. For over 25 years, Sage MicrOpay has provided solutions for thousands of Australian organisations of all sizes in various industries.

Our systems are fully featured, easy to learn and use, while facilitating flexible HR and payroll management. As well as being packed with productivity enabling functionality our software is designed to streamline the payroll process and ease the talent management burden.

Our offerings include e-HR, employee/manager self service, timesheet management, executive reporting and payroll.

Please find Sage MircOpay's listing in the AuSAE Supplier Directory here.