Latest news, alerts, and events.
Latest news, alerts, and events.
Starting January 1, 2025, Alaska’s minimum wage will rise from $11.73 to $11.91, reflecting an annual adjustment linked to inflation from a ballot initiative passed in 2014. On July 1, 2025, a further increase will raise the minimum wage to $13 per hour, following the approval of Ballot Measure 1 in 2024. Under this same measure, the minimum wage will continue to rise, reaching $14 per hour in 2026 and $15 per hour in 2027.
Additionally, beginning July 1, 2025, employers who do not already have a paid time off policy that meets the elements of the ballot measure will be required to provide paid sick leave. If an employer has 15 or more employees, each employee can accrue up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year. If the employer has fewer than 15 employees, each employee can accrue up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
We plan to host a special briefing webinar with more information on how you can prepare in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for details.
Closing out an old year and entering a new one is that moment when so many of us take stock of what has just passed and what is yet to come. Looking back at 2024 from Foraker’s perspective, I remember it as a year of big projects, big internal shifts, and many expected and unexpected changes. Some of our projects were planned and some not, and per our usual, we ebbed and flowed with each other and made it work. Does this sound like your workplace? I found that time and again, groups we engaged with in 2024 were experiencing a high degree of change similar to what happened during the pandemic but also very different in that the changes were coming more from inside and not as much from outside the organization. Regardless of the source, the level of pandemic uncertainty and stress is still with us, and my hope for 2025 is that it resolves even a little.
For us, there were also other essential ingredients to our big work including the need for external partnerships, the coalescing of our internal team, and a commitment to learning our way forward to an agreed destination but with less understanding of exactly how we would reach each goal. Once again, this showed us that our tolerance for ambiguity and our curiosity serve us well. I wonder what ingredients were part of your experience?
The projects would have been one thing but to do them all amid team change both coming and going was an added layer of complexity. 2024 saw the largest growth in Foraker staff since our finance team formally joined us in 2010. We are still deeply in this mix of human change and job redistribution, and it will likely take the better part of 2025 before we see a complete team as we have envisioned it. (You can read more about our Foraker team changes below.) Not unlike many other nonprofits (maybe you, too), saying goodbye and hello as a team was a relatively unused muscle for us before the pandemic, but now it seems we have “a Foraker way,” and I am thankful for that. Have you developed “a way” to manage employee shifting in your organization? The workforce shortage and changes don’t appear to be ebbing for 2025, so maybe now is the time?
Looking to this year, we are excited to present our latest economic report, Alaska’s Nonprofit Sector: Generating Economic Impact, which we released in December. The report includes new data, and we’ve prepared a toolkit to help you apply it to your work. We are getting ready to release an updated version of The Gender Pay Gap in Alaska’s Nonprofit Sector. This report, too, includes a toolkit for your use. In addition, we will provide resources to help you navigate the real-world implications of Ballot Measure 1 with your employees. And we will keep you briefed as we advance our public policy priorities to strengthen Alaska’s nonprofits, tribes, and the impact we have in every community and with every Alaskan. Stay tuned for these announcements and more.
I hope this is the year you bookmark Alaska Board Match. Our goal is for this resource to be used statewide in both rural and urban Alaska – and we need your help to make it happen. I also hope you are looking at the opportunities in The Alaska Funder’s Directory as you consider your philanthropic leveraging options. And be sure to mark The Foraker Leadership Summit on your calendar. Collaboration and partnership is our theme since we know the only way forward is and will continue to be together.
With our new staffing hires and more consultants being added to the mix in 2025, we are gearing up to be ready and responsive to the needs we have seen and heard from so many of you. We will be focusing more on supporting Tribal Administrators and Tribal Councils in their unique environments, ramping up our efforts to provide more support for a spectrum of HR and belonging requests from compliance to fostering more welcoming spaces. Our goal in all this is not just to help you attract the next workforce but to retain them. To that end, we are working on plans to provide a more robust offering of HR shared services support for small and medium-sized organizations. And we are ramping up our ability to assist you with fundraising support and to meet your financial accounting requests all with an economy of scale and Foraker’s commitment to relationships, quality, and excellence you have grown to trust these last 24 years. The most recent data from our Statewide Capacity Report confirmed that people and money are your biggest challenges, and we want to meet you right where you need assistance to move forward.
I wonder what is on your 2025 list? Will you look inward with your team more or look out and explore possibilities? Will you pick one thing or five to go deeper or wider? Will you focus on collaboration and working better together? While we don’t know exactly what is to come, we do know that change is our constant companion and adaptation is our best tool if we use it from a place of deep connection to who we are and the values that are our DNA. I wish this for you – that deep connection and unwavering commitment to purpose and values, and to use it as a gift to know how to adapt.
In that same way, I like to pick a word to set my course for each year that both reminds me of our core and lights the way forward. Knowing that 2025 will hold more change for us as we continue to deepen our work, expand our team, and grow into possibilities, I am picking the words “steady on” as a singular thought. I am centering this idea to hold our goals, to keep us moving forward, to keep us together, and to plant and plan for the future. May your own word for the year hold you “steady on” as we navigate our way together into the new year.
Meet our team who are ready to meet you in your work
2024 brought both a reorganization of some team members and the addition of new staff, which allowed us to grow strategically and remain resilient and responsive to Alaska’s nonprofits and tribes.
New staff team members:
The team you know with new roles:
Our team is made up of remarkable people with interesting lives and backgrounds – get to know more about them here. We also added several new consultants in 2024. Read more about these wonderful team members here. We look forward to sharing more updates in 2025 as the staff and consulting team continue to grow.
We are ready to work with you. Happy New Year.
Laurie
2024 brought both a reorganization of some team members and the addition of new staff, which allowed us to grow strategically and remain resilient and responsive to Alaska’s nonprofits and tribes.
New staff team members:
The team you know with new roles:
Our team is made up of remarkable people with interesting lives and backgrounds – get to know more about them here. We also added several new consultants in 2024. Read more about these wonderful team members here. We look forward to sharing more updates in 2025 as the staff and consulting team continue to grow.
Over the last few months, we’ve shared information about the new Federal Minimum Salary Changes for Alaska Employers that was set to take effect on January 1, 2025.
However, on November 15, 2024, a federal judge in Texas struck down the U.S. Labor Department’s overtime rule. The decision applies to the higher salary level test that went into effect on July 1 and also blocks the next change set for January 1, 2025. The district judge also invalidated the automatic increases scheduled for every three years.
Based on this decision, the Alaska salary threshold for exempt-level positions remains at $48,796.80 per year, or $938.40 per week.
We will keep you updated and share additional information as it becomes available.
This holiday season we are celebrating with the gift of turning data into action. There is a data point for almost every wish on your holiday list but there is always an elusive – if not magical – data point that is just out of reach. Of course, no holiday gift is worth it unless you can use it again and again, right? So, the good news is this data has a nice shelf life and should carry you through your strategic planning, the Halls of Congress, and our state Capitol for a long time. We hope you use these truths to raise your voice and sing a joyous song about the essential work taking place (often in the background of the tinsel and sparkly light kind of things you hear about more often). Alaska can be its own beacon bright in how we partner with all three sectors (nonprofit, for-profit, and government) to make Alaska’s economy work for ALL the people and places that surround us. Be joyous friends and may this data and new knowledge light the way to a happy new year.
You can read the full report here.
The background:
Every three years, we partner with the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development to collect, dive into, and uncover the truths about the economic impact on the state of Alaska’s nonprofits (and now separately Alaska’s tribes). (Note that historically Alaska’s 229 federally recognized tribes have mostly held dual status as federally recognized nonprofits. This is no longer the case, so we are shifting the report to match).
The highlights:
Alaska nonprofits play a central role in the state’s economy
Alaska’s nonprofit sector represents various organizations that provide public service and impact the lives of nearly everyone living in and visiting the state. Although most Alaskans do not think of nonprofits as an economic powerhouse, they play a critical role in the state’s economy as employers and revenue generators. Alaska’s lack of a county government system means that nonprofits provide services traditionally filled by the government to keep our people and our places safe, healthy, and vibrant. No industry in Alaska can prosper without the nonprofit sector, and every dollar invested in the sector, regardless of the source, results in lower government costs in the long run. We provide both a financial and social return on investment by leveraging public and private resources. We are part of the healthcare, utilities, fisheries, and oil and gas industries and provide essential services such as firefighting, early childcare, housing, and food security — just to name a few. We are Alaska’s safety net.
Every Alaskan is a nonprofit beneficiary because nonprofits are woven into the fabric of our communities. While no sector can create a thriving economy alone, when financial decisions are made, organizational and public policies are created, or programs are developed, we urge everyone to remember that each decision will impact the health of the nonprofit sector and, thereby, the well-being of every Alaskan. We should all be ready every day to partner with each sector of our economy — that is how Alaska works at its best.
The 2024 Economic Report dives into five themes:
Look around, and you will see that no matter where you live or how you move through your day, Alaska’s nonprofits and tribes are providing essential services like medical care, housing, and utilities. They also bring us joy and purpose through art, religious and cultural expression, education, and recreation. They ensure our quality of life, sustain our way of life, and attract and develop employees for our state. Let’s celebrate nonprofits and tribes for caring for our people, our pets, and our planet. Together, we foster healthier and more prosperous communities.
Nonprofits are a significant source of Alaska jobs. Because nonprofits are not considered a single industry, we often lose sight of the scale of their impact. When the state tracks jobs, it classifies them by industries – oil and gas, tourism, health care – not by the sector where the work originates – nonprofit, government, or private. All three sectors are integrated, and a vibrant nonprofit community helps generate revenue and jobs directly and indirectly in all the state’s industries. When nonprofits generate revenue and spend money on supplies, services, or payroll, it circulates through the state creating more jobs and a stronger economy. We create and sustain jobs for Alaskans and their families.
Nonprofits raise and leverage a variety of funds to meet their missions. The blend of earned income, private philanthropy, and public funding enables nonprofit organizations to maximize community impact. Nonprofits are focused on the judicious use of every dollar as they navigate an increased demand for services and a more complex set of challenges every day. At the same time, local, state, and federal policies and investments have a profound impact on the return on those philanthropic and earned income investments. Each source of revenue leverages another. This is a public/nonprofit partnership that must continue.
The once-in-a-generation influx of federal funds coming to Alaska creates significant economic impacts. Nonprofits continue to work alongside governments to ensure that this short-term federal funding is maximized in each community. Simultaneously, many nonprofits and tribes face a workforce shortage while building internal systems to manage compliance. Strategic partnerships with nonprofits and tribes are essential to maximize the benefit of temporary revenue.
The economic engine of philanthropy from foundations, corporations, and individuals, coupled with volunteerism, has a powerful influence on the quality of life, infrastructure, and jobs across Alaska. Nonprofits can raise and celebrate these investments and use them to strengthen missions. Nonprofits themselves, like public, private, and community foundations, civic and social groups, and congregations, invest in other nonprofits every day. They are joined by volunteers and individual donors who express their commitment to the community, both through nonprofits and to each other – each act driven by a desire to make their community stronger. Alaska’s philanthropy is a cause for celebration we can all feel proud to be part of.
The Gift of Action:
Every one of us has a role to play and a voice to be heard. Let’s all resolve to do our part to make our economy work for Alaska.
Community leaders and policymakers
Your decisions have a significant impact on how Alaskans live, prosper, care for their families, and find value in their lives. You set the priorities that will strengthen our state. We call on you to:
By taking action, you will nurture vibrant communities and help Alaskans enjoy healthy, productive lives.
Nonprofit board members, staff, or volunteers
You perform the work every day that strengthens our state. We call on you to:
It is time to work together and turn our data into action. We are ready and standing by your side.
Join us on December 17 at 10:00 am to hear more about the data and how you can use it.
With gratitude to all of you and may truth and data bring light into every conversation in this season and beyond.
Laurie