The Foraker Group

The 2016 Foraker Group Salary & Benefits Survey© is now available for purchase. We’re pleased that this year we have more organizations represented in this report than at any time in the past. Through this research we are able to provide valuable information to nonprofit leaders to help as they make decisions on compensation. The results in this report include salary data, which is aggregated for the state as a whole and is also broken down by region, budget size, and number of employees. You’ll find tables that summarize a variety of benefits offered by participating organizations. And, for the first time this year, we also report on findings related to gender pay equity in Alaska’s nonprofit sector. You can purchase the survey on our product’s page here. If your organization participated in the survey,… Read more »

It’s back-to-school time, and families all over Alaska are shifting their schedules, settling in to new routines, and preparing for the fall and winter. At Foraker we are getting into our fall routine with the launch of our new training schedule. We are also watching the leaves turn just as fast as we are noticing our fall and winter days filling up with board and staff planning retreats. We anticipate this routine every year, and we are ready. Like most back-to-school conversations, we thought we would share what we did over the summer and what’s in store for the new “school year.” This summer, we went on three different kinds of expeditions. The first was our regular hiking trail. This is the route we have traveled with minor adjustment for… Read more »

Earlier this year, Foraker and the funding partners of the Pre-Development program placed a hold on accepting new projects. We used that time to fulfill a major commitment to complete deferred maintenance that was critical for every domestic violence shelter in Alaska. During this time, too, the funding partners looked at options for moving forward with new construction projects during this time of economic challenge. The good news is that after a close analysis Foraker and the funders have determined that Pre-D still fills a gap in services to the nonprofit sector. We also determined that we were ready for a slight adjustment to the way we operate the program. As a result, we have made two changes in the program structure. First, the Denali Commission, a founding funder of… Read more »

Anchorage, AK – A consortium of five northwest state nonprofit associations has released a comprehensive study on the capacity, strengths, and challenges of the region’s nonprofit sector. The 2016 Northwest Nonprofit Capacity Report: Our Strengths – Our Challenges – Our Resilience was developed using survey data from over 1,000 nonprofits in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The report highlights the progress nonprofits are making in creating a resilient sector. The study specifically focuses on four core areas for building capacity: mission effectiveness, collaboration, public policy, and use of data and evaluation. The data points to some progress that nonprofits have made, but says that progress is limited. According to the report, all stakeholders – including nonprofit organizations, funders, and government – share the responsibility to support and enhance the… Read more »

The 2017 Leadership Summit will be held on April 3 & 4.           More information on training topics and speakers coming soon!… Read more »

You have heard us talk many times about a central theme of the Foraker Nonprofit Sustainability Model – the right people. This topic has many layers to it. It’s about recruiting and engaging the right board members at the right time and equally about the critical partnership between the board and the CEO. Getting either of these wrong can create huge distractions for the organization as it struggles internally with trust and communication instead of focusing its work on the leadership required to deliver mission. These experiences are far too common and, while we offer many tools to help boards and staff get recruitment on the right track, many organizations bypass this help and hope for the best. This is a whole topic worthy of many newsletter articles, but today I… Read more »

Do the new wage and hour rules have you reeling? Or, are you wondering to yourself, “what new rules?”  If so, we have details on the Department of Labor’s new overtime and salary threshold rules. Prepare now for the new rules that goes into effect December 1, 2016. If you are staff responsible for implementing these changes, join this training to learn about the new regulations, explore options and hear what other organizations are doing in response to the changes. If you have exempt employees who make less than $47,476, or you are about to hire your first exempt staff member, or you receive government grants or contracts – this training is for you! There will be several opportunities for you to participate: Upcoming Trainings: August 18 Anchorage The Foraker… Read more »

As we’ve been reporting recently, the new Department of Labor overtime rules will take effect on December 1. The National Council of Nonprofits has been actively engaged in this issue for some months, and we’ve been sharing with you the information they’ve gathered. When the final rules were released in May, the Council surveyed organizations around the country, with a focus on those that receive government grants and contracts, to find out how the rules will affect them. Their findings include: Moral support exists for the new policy, coupled with concern over how to cover increased personnel costs while maintaining current levels of service. Organizations are concerned about the public. A third of respondents report that to comply they will have to reduce staff and service levels, likely leading to greater… Read more »

As we mark our country’s celebration of independence this week, I am ruminating on the strength of our interdependence. Indeed, we see far too many examples these days of people who speak of independence in a way that is dividing us. Some days those voices come with great power, both real and perceived. Independence – and equally interdependence – doesn’t mean that we are all going to agree all the time. When he visited the United States in the mid-1800s, the French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville keenly observed that the success of American democracy was the result of “associations of a thousand kinds.” Today our sector is still incredibly diverse and includes all political parties and every religion, all of which, like many of you, are organized under the federal… Read more »

Christy Cincotta – Anchorage, AK Executive Director, Tyonek Tribal Conservation District Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership Steering Committee Member Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership Steering Committee Member I am a goal-oriented person – I have a “plan” for most things in my life. Even my down time is planned out, usually on paper in the form of a list. Which is why, when I felt uncertain about the future, I spent a lot of time and energy wondering “what’s next” Catalyst created space for me to clarify that I wanted to be exactly where I was, that I wanted to plant roots in Anchorage and to continue working in a place I love and for an organization I really care about.  I have found that in the process of practicing… Read more »