The Foraker Group

To Alaska Nonprofit Leaders: This morning the Governor’s office released its proposed Fiscal Year 2020 budget. All budget documents can be found on the website for the Office of Management and Budget. I encourage you to examine the proposed budget and understand what it can mean to your mission and your organization. I also encourage you to keep three important points in mind: Please know that the work you do matters. Remember that this is a proposal. There is a long road ahead of us before a final budget is approved. The legislature is the only branch of government with the power to appropriate money, which it does through a comprehensive budget bill. When the governor receives this bill, he can veto all or portions of it (the line-item veto),… Read more »

For many years now, we have been documenting the economic impact of the nonprofit sector on our state’s economy. Our latest report, published last year, found that the sector directly employs 44,100 people in Alaska — that’s more than 17% of the state’s jobs. In rural Alaska, the sector contributes 40% of all jobs. This impact caught the attention of Alaska Business and resulted in this feature that highlights our statistics but more importantly tells the story of community benefits from three Foraker Partners — Catholic Social Services, Hope Community Resources, and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Please share this story with your networks and help spread the value of the work we all do. You can read the story here…. Read more »

We are taught to be prepared for disaster. As Alaskans we might understand that notion a little bit better today than we did in November after the earthquake, or again after the government shutdown in December, which was a different kind of disaster. We think we understand what it means to be prepared – that we know the consequences of a disaster. But, in fact, we understand them much differently when they happen to us and around us. There is rarely anything good to say about the disaster itself, but as we explored together in December, how we respond as Alaskans when disaster strikes, and specifically how we respond as nonprofits, is remarkable. After the earthquake I marveled at our sector’s response. And now again, I do the same. The… Read more »

As we continue to move forward from the 7.0 earthquake and the aftershocks we understand that there are many stages to this event.  Thank you to all of you who stepped up to support each other, your team, and the community.  We continue to want to understand the impact on your mission.  Specifically, this survey will focus on the financial loss.  As we did with the last survey, we will share this information with the Disaster Recovery Fund Committee at the Alaska Community Foundation, private funders in Alaska, and the office of Emergency Management at the State who are processing the disaster declaration and the funds associated with that declaration. Click here to participate in the follow up survey.  … Read more »

In partnership with the UAA Economics Department and Rasmuson Foundation, Foraker is co-hosting a series of lectures from leading scholars from around the country that will focus on the latest research in philanthropy. The first lecture will take place on February 4 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm and will feature Anya Samek, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. Her lecture, Do Thank You Calls Increase Charitable Giving?  will share findings from experiments involving nearly 600,000 individual donors and 500,000 thank you calls over a period of 6 years. Save the date for April 22 with Uri Gneezy,  Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics & Professor of Economics and Strategic Management at the University of California San Diego and May 22 with  Jonathan Meer, Professor of Economics at Texas A&M University…. Read more »

So often the end of the year is a time of reflection – looking back in order to look forward. Loving traditions, I don’t have to look any further than November 30 to seize my lessons for 2019. There were so many gems to choose from. I could take with me the stories of courage, determination, and sheer devotion to mission. I could draw strength from the stories of individuals around town leading in selfless acts with compassion – or stories of generosity like those of the Girl Scouts who I’m told ran out of community service badges because so many girls stepped up to lend a helping hand in the days after the initial quake. And with every aftershock in Southcentral Alaska, I am reminded that our sector –… Read more »

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The 2018 Salary & Benefits Report: Benchmarking Nonprofit Compensation in Alaska As nonprofit leaders, it’s essential that we have tools to make informed decisions. One of those tools is our Salary and Benefits Report – which gives us context and a comparative benchmark for compensation in Alaska’s nonprofit sector. Recruiting and retaining a talented workforce is a critical part of the Foraker Nonprofit Sustainability Model, and we are confident this report will help you with that important part of your work. With the participation of the nonprofits who provided their data, along with the generous support of Mutual of America who sponsored this report, we are pleased to provide the only holistic look at compensation specific to Alaska’s nonprofits. How can I use this report? The report includes information from a… Read more »

On December 6, Foraker hosted an informational session for nonprofits hosted by Foraker’s Laurie Wolf and John Tracy, Risq Consulting President Timothy Maudsely, and Alaska Emergency Management team member Alan Cavallo. Listen to the recording here.  … Read more »

Like you many of you in Southcentral Alaska, I have a story to tell about the last few days – a story of incredible fear, deep gratitude, and an unexplainable combination of exhaustion and exhilaration. To say anything more specific is too hard at the moment. But over time, I and others will heal from this terrifying experience. What I can say now is that Alaskans responded in the most magnificent ways. So many of our government entities mobilized in moments. Our nonprofits responded without a pause. And individual Alaskans stepped in and stepped up to help each other. As a life-long Alaskan I knew the incredible power of our community, but until last Friday’s unimaginable test of our strength, I had not seen us all in action at once… Read more »