When I was interviewed to become the Executive Director of United Way of Anchorage, many of the board members and agency executives said they wanted to help nonprofit boards become more diverse. After I was hired I reviewed every recommendation made by United Way volunteers to the member agencies during the fund distribution process. I found that almost every organization was encouraged to recruit a more diverse board. Looking at my own board back then, I realized that it also lacked diversity. It especially lacked involvement of Alaska Natives. In other words, board diversity has been a big issue in this state for a while, and unfortunately almost 20 years later, we seem to have made little progress.   [Read More... ]

• The Foraker Group Benefit Plan receives incentive increases
• Fall class schedule available
• Foraker Partners tell us how we’re doing
• Cordova organization receives free hour of consulting for helping with survey
• Visit the Foraker blog and join the conversation
• Foraker Group website offers help for nonprofits during economic downturn
• Other nonprofit news

Premera Blue Cross has granted The Foraker Group Benefit Plan an increase to the rate incentive it offers from $10 to $30 per employee/per month. This increase applies to all groups enrolling on July 1, 2009 and later. The incentive will automatically be reflected in the quote premium rates and is offered based on the assumption of 100% employee participation in the Health Risk Management (HRM) program (i.e., completing the online Health Risk Assessment).

Groups enrolled in the plan prior to the rate incentive increase will continue to receive the $10 incentive until their renewal date. The $30 will be applied at the time of renewal and open enrollment period.

The rate incentive is one of three now offered to Partner groups. The others are:

• Enhanced HRM services for the first three years of the plan – the approximate value of this incentive is more than $120 per employee per year, and
• A contribution of $250 per employee per year (for the first two years) into their Health Savings Account (HSA). Both incentives are made possible by the support of the Rasmuson Foundation.

For more information, please contact Rebecca Savidis by phone at 907-743-1200, or by email at rsavidis@forakergroup.org.

The schedule of fall classes offered by The Foraker Group has been posted on our calendar. In line with our goal to offer Alaska nonprofits high quality training at affordable prices, we will continue to teach on-site classes primarily in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Mat-Su. This move has allowed us to significantly reduce travel costs. To make up for not being in your community, we now offer a broad range of our courses via distance delivery – about one-third of our fall classes will be offered this way. People who take classes by distance delivery report that generally the process works well for them.

We will come to a community when we hear of significant interest in our classes. We ask that you guarantee a minimum of ten, paid participants before we make our travel arrangements. If you want to explore this option, please call Vicki Lewis at 907-743-1200.

For a full list of Foraker educational opportunities, please go to https://www.forakergroup.org/calendar/index.cfm?fa=catalog_types.

The Foraker Group conducted its fourth on-line survey to measure Partner satisfaction in May 2009. Previous surveys were done in 2004, 2006 and 2007. In addition to measuring responses to benchmark questions, this year we asked people specific questions on sustainability. We've provided  a summary of Partner responses.   [Read More... ]

To encourage participation in this year’s survey, we offered one free hour of consulting to those who took the time to share their opinions with us. In a random drawing, Kristin Smith from the Copper River Watershed Project in Cordova was selected to receive that award.

Thanks, of course, to everyone who completed the survey. We regularly review the results and use them to help improve our service to you. If you have comments or suggestions – don’t wait for the next survey. Call us at 907-743-1200, or toll free at 877-834-5003.

We'll be posting more regularly to the Foraker blog including weekly "articles" about current nonprofit issues that affect Alaska nonprofits as well as news and information about resources and other offerings from The Foraker Group. In recent posts, we've highlighted the Economic Response section of the Foraker site, recommended some podcasts about nonprofit issues, and introduced the new Foraker Facebook Page.

A blog, however, is only made better by the discussion that ensues from each post. So feel free to ask questions, make comments and share additional information with others working with nonprofits across the state. We look forward to interacting with you on our blog.

The board and staff at The Foraker Group understand that these are uncertain times for those working, volunteering and donating to nonprofits in Alaska. We remain committed to strengthening the sector, and to that end we have added a section on our website for you to use as a guide to all of our new and existing services and classes. We also post news, commentaries and perspectives from a variety of sources. We regularly add material to the site and urge you to check often for new information.

DISCLAIMER: The Foraker Group will occasionally list events and information from other sources that may be of interest to our Partners. We do so at our sole discretion and are not formally endorsing any activity included in this enewsletter that is not directly administered by The Foraker Group. Please call the organizer in each listing for details.

Leadership Anchorage seeks Community Service Project proposals

If you have a project that needs a little extra assistance, consider applying for help to Leadership Anchorage. Community service projects provide a way for Leadership Anchorage to give back to the community. These projects should require four to six months to complete, and proposals are due by Sept. 14. LA volunteers supply talented leadership and creativity to Anchorage businesses, government and nonprofits for projects that require extra time, labor or coordination skills to complete. Visit their Facebook Note  for more information, or call Jim MacKenzie at 907-272-5324.