News for Social Entrepreneurs

Plugin Directory Refreshed

Matt Mullenweg — Sat, 19 May 2012 18:56:27 +0000

Been hanging out with a few WordPress.org hackers — Scott, Nacin, and Otto — the last few days in a BBQ-fueled haze of hacking to make plugin directory better. There are over 19,000 plugins listed and they’re really the heart and soul of WordPress for many people, so they deserve a little tender loving care. Here’s a quick before and after snapshot you can zoom in on to see a visual overview of some of the changes:

Our first focus was around improving the discussion and support around plugins.

You’ll now notice that threads about a plugin are pulled directly into a “support” tab on the plugin page — each plugin has its own forum. We’ve made authors much more prominent and with bigger Gravatars and better placement, so you can get a sense of who made the plugin you’re using. And finally to show how active and well-supported a plugin is, you can see ”16 of 75 support threads in the last two weeks have been resolved.” Finally, if you’re logged in you get access to the new “favorites” feature that lets you mark the plugins you use the most so you can share them on your profile page and find them quickly later. We soft-launched favorites a few days ago and there have already been 2,000 saved!

If you’re a plugin author, we’ve started with a short threshold (2 weeks) for the resolved stats so it’s easy to catch up and stay on top of it. (It’ll eventually go to two months.) You also now have the ability to set stickies on your plugin forum to put FAQs or important information at the top, and of course any person you put as a committer on the plugin will have moderation access. People on the forum tag will see your custom header and links to the other resources attached to your plugin.

We’ve tightened up the styling a bit on the forums and plugin pages, though still some cleanups to do there. Some older improvements you might have missed, but are still useful for users and developers alike:

“Plugin headers” or those cool graphics you see at the top of plugin pages have really taken off, there are over 1,600 active now.
You can now subscribe to get an email whenever a commit is made to a plugin repository even if it isn’t yours. There is no better way to follow the development of your favorite plugins. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh changesets in the morning.
Behind the scenes, we’ve dramatically ramped up proactive scanning of the entire repository to help authors fix security and other problems they might not even know about yet. The quality level of the repo has gone way, way up.

All of this will continue to evolve as we get feedback and see usage, but we’re happy to have been able to make some key improvements in just a few days while hanging out in Memphis. (This is why WordCamps usually have BBQ — it imparts magical coding powers.)

When Non-Cash Gifts Are Worth Cash

History — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:20:00 +0000

When you give a friend money as a birthday gift it's appreciated, but there's always the thought that you could have been a little more creative. That's not really the case with nonprofits; money is one of the best gifts you can give.

But that doesn't mean it's the only gift.

Non-cash gifts, such as computer equipment or office supplies, can be very useful for nonprofits. Yet even though these items are not money, they still have cash value in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). IF that value is great enough, an organization might be required to substantiate the gift to the IRS.

In their book “Conducting a Successful Major Gifts and Planned Giving Program,” Kent E. Dove, Alan M. Spears, and Thomas W. Herbert explained that the need to file federal form 8283 also depends on the status of the taxpayer. They explained four instances that qualify, as well as which part of the form must be completed:

Non-cash gifts valued at $500 or less. The donor only has to complete federal Form 8283 for this type of gift if the person has made a series of gifts in a given year, each of which is valued at $500 or less but with a total value exceeding $500;
Non-cash gifts valued between $501 and $5,000. Gifts in this range must be reported on Part A of IRS Form 8283, which is then attached to the donor’s federal income tax return;
Non-cash gifts valued at more than $5,000. If the amount claimed as a charitable income tax deduction is in excess of this amount, the IRS requires the donor to complete Part B of Form 8283; and,
Gifts of non-publicly traded stock. If the donor makes this type of gift, Part B of Form 8283 must be completed. This is true regardless of the value of the stock. A qualified appraisal is required if the value of the stock exceeds $10,000.

So remember: Just because your organization is getting a donation of something other than cash doesn't mean that there is no accounting work to be done.

Five Ways to Organize Your Office–Stylishly

Entrepreneur: Startup — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

How to make your office project a professional image for your business, and a look at products to help you do it.

The Roles Of The Employee Conduct Policy

History — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000

Nonprofit employees that thoroughly look through the Human Resources handbook they receive when hired probably know all about the organization's employee conduct policy. These guidelines are set so that people know what they can and cannot do in the workplace. If we lived in an ideal world these kinds of rules probably wouldn't be needed.

Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world.

Governing behavior is not the only role conduct policy needs to play. In "The Big Book of HR," Barbara Mitchell and Cornelia Gamlem wrote that HR managers need to make sure that the rules accomplish six other goals to ensure stability in the office place. The policies should:

Establish and define professional standards of conduct that are not acceptable, while stressing that the list is not all-inclusive and that there can be other infractions.
Provide assistance to employees to change inappropriate behavior.
Provide managers a means to address issues.
Provide management responses if behavior does not change.
Provide a flexible approach (progressive or corrective discipline) process to address conduct.
Provide a communication mechanism for employees and managers.

So what happens when an employee breaks some of the rules? Discipline should follow, according to Mitchell and Cornelia, but that doesn't mean instant termination. Instead, it should follow these steps:

Open dialogue/verbal counseling.
Written counseling/letter of caution.
Final written notice.
Suspension.
Termination.

NY Gov. Proposes Salary Cap For Nonprofit Execs

History — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:36:00 +0000

N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday proposed new regulation that would place caps on the salaries that nonprofit executives receive.

As reported by The Daily News, the new rule would cap the amount of money towards an executive's compensation package at $199,000. The actual pay package could be higher, but the nonprofit would have to find new funding sources to make up the difference and get special permission. Salaries could also fall no higher than the 75th percentile for the field in which the organization works.

The new rule would only impact nonprofits that receive 30 percent of their total funding from the state. The Daily News reported that the Bronx-based Soundview health clinics -- run by recently convicted ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada -- would have been in real danger of losing state funding. Nearly half of the organization's funding came from the state, and Espada's $612,000 salary placed him above the 75th percentile in that field ($380,000).

Gov. Cuomo's announcement shouldn't come as a surprise. He vowed to crack down on excessive pay for executives during his State of the State address in January. Before that, he created a task force to investigate pay at nonprofits that receive taxpayer money. This stemmed from a New York Times article that reported high salaries and perks at the Young Adult Institute. Executives at that organization reportedly received $1 million a year, in addition to ethically questionable perks, such as billing the nonprofit to cover their children's college tuition.

You can read the full article on Cuomo's announcement on The Daily News' website.

Nonprofit Sues California Over Teacher Tenure Laws

History — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:23:00 +0000

A nonprofit education group is suing the state of California over five laws they say protect ineffective teachers and lower school quality for poor children.

Los Angeles-based Student Matters filed the lawsuit today with the goal of getting the laws overturned, according to a report on KQED News. The laws in question set up a seniority system for public schools in the state.

According to the organization's website, Student Matters is "committed to ensuring that all of California’s children receive a quality education." It is run by David F. Welch, an executive at a Silicon Valley fiber-optic communications firm.

Josh Pechtalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that the lawsuit is "misguided," and that the real problems of public education stem not from teachers, but from money.

"The real problems of public education really are not about teachers having due process rights," he said, "the problems have to do with massive cuts to the classroom, and frankly defunding of public schools now for a number of years."

You can read the full story on KQED's website.

Calling All Contributors: Community Summit 2012

Jane Wells — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:36:46 +0000

Each year, the WordPress core development team meets in person for a week to work together and discuss the vision for WordPress in the coming year. As annual events go, it’s easily my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I love attending WordCamps and local WordPress meetups (which are awesome and you should try to attend if you are able), but at the core team meetup, the focus on working together and getting things done is unique, as is the experience of every person in the room being so highly qualified. This year, instead of just planning a core team meetup, I’m aiming a little higher and shooting for a full-on contributor/community summit.

Core code isn’t the only way to contribute to the WordPress project. We have an active theme review team, support forum volunteers, people writing documentation, plugin managers, community event organizers, translators, and more. The teams have been siloed for too long, so we’ve recently begun the process of bringing them together by having teams elect representatives to facilitate more communication between the contributor groups. These reps will form the nucleus of the contributor summit now being planned for a long weekend at the end of October in Tybee Island, GA. This is completely different from a WordCamp. It will be a combination of co-working, unconference, and discussions among the project leaders, and participation will be by invitation.

In addition to bringing together the active contributor team reps to work together, I think it’s important to include community members who don’t fall into that category (at least not yet!). Successful WordPress-based business, authors of popular plugins and themes, and people using WordPress in unexpected but intriguing ways should have a place at the table, too. That said, part of the magic of the core team meetup is the small size; it allows every voice not only to be heard, but to engage. Since this is my first attempt at bringing together so many groups and points of view, I want to try and keep it small enough to retain that personal atmosphere while at the same time ensuring that the best possible mix of people and businesses in the WordPress ecosystem is represented. This is where you come in!

Taking a cue from events with limited availability like AdaCamp (attendance) and the jQuery conference (speaker roster), I want you to nominate people and/or WordPress-based businesses to participate in the summit. Yes, you can nominate yourself.* You can nominate up to 10 additional people — be prepared to provide URLs and the reason you think they should participate. You can also nominate up to 10 WordPress-based businesses without naming individual people, so if there’s a theme or hosting company (for example) that you think should be there, you don’t need to go looking for employee names. This nomination process will hopefully ensure that we don’t overlook someone who is making a difference in our community when it comes time to issue invitations.

Nominations will be open for a week, after which the survey will be closed and the process of analyzing the results** will begin. The nominations process will lead to invitations in June, confirmations in July, planning in August and September, and the summit itself in October. Hopefully we can stream and/or record some of the activity to share online at WordPress.tv. Additional invitations may be extended up until the event if there are people/businesses that become more active in the community. If you’re thinking to yourself that maybe now’s the perfect time to start contributing time to the WordPress project, good thinking! In the meantime, if you want to weigh in, fill in the community summit nomination form. Thanks, and wish us luck!

* Nominating yourself: Do nominate yourself if you fall into one of the categories described in the post above, or if you believe that you have a unique point of view. Please do not nominate yourself if you just think it would be cool to hang out with this group. This is a working event, and everyone is expected to bring something special to the table.

** I (and/or a helpful community volunteer) will sift through the nominations and compile a shortlist of the most-nominated people/businesses and the most intriguing underdogs. This list will be reviewed by the summit planning committee (made up of team reps) to create the invitation list.

Build Your Social Media Audience

History — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Social media plays an important role in today's world, especially in business. It's almost unfathomable to find a business that doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter account. It's easy enough to set up your online presence, but it's a little bit harder to get people to listen.

Thankfully, "a little bit harder" doesn't mean "impossible." The nature of social networks means that every follower you get can potentially lead to many more. This is because each person "liking" your page will conceivably tell his/her friends to also follow you. Sounds great, but this is all moot if you can't get many people to care about your page in the first place.

A lot of people using social networking sites tend to over-think it. They try to get too fancy and end up with few followers. In truth, the key to building an audience is to post things that are relevant and useful. What's interesting to your followers? Why not ask them? Before making the first post on your new blog, engage your supporters on what kind of stories they want to read. When you get a good enough sample of answers, start writing about those topics.

Even with brilliant content, it’s difficult to attract supporters to a site that no one else is following. Reach out to your staff and other core supporters of your organization and ask them to follow your tweets, or “like” your Facebook page --and to invite their personal friends.

Having an active community is another good way to get people to show interest. Let's face it -- nobody wants to be a part of a page that has no interaction. Try asking questions to your supporters in addition to sharing links. The whole point of social media is interaction with the audience, and there's no better way to do this than starting a discussion.

The most important thing to remember is to be honest when participating in any of these discussions. There will be things you just can't say, of course, but don't be robotic. People like to know that the individual they are talking to is an actual human being.

State Senator Convicted Of Stealing From Nonprofit

History — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Former N.Y. State Senator Pedro Espada was convicted yesterday of stealing more than $500,000 from the nonprofit health network that he founded. He faces up to 10 years in prison on four counts of theft.

Espada, 58, was convicted after 11 days of deliberation, according to a report in Newsday. He has often been described as the poster child of corruption in Albany by good government groups, serving as a major power broker as the former Senate majority leader in New York.

Espada is convicted of using the funds from Bronx-based Soundview for personal expenses, such as personal meals, home improvements, and vacations from 2005 to 2008. His son, Pedro Gautier Espada, was also charged. They used a for-profit janitorial company to siphon money from the organization.

Deliberations for the case took longer than expected. Jurors deadlocked on all counts against Pedro Gautier, as well as one theft charge and three conspiracy charges against Espada. Two jurors speaking outside the court said the panel was divided 9-3 for two weeks. Holdouts were apparently worried about an anti-Espada agenda. They were eventually convinced after further review of the evidence.

The case against Espada was first brought to light by now Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he was still serving as attorney general. He said in a statement that the state was working to ensure that patients at Soundview would receive proper care despite the loss of funds.

You can read the full story in Newsday.

The Top 10 Nonprofit Risks

History — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:26:00 +0000

Every nonprofit would love to avoid risk all together. Unfortunately, that is not the world in which we live. Risk is everywhere and, in order to survive it, you must be prepared.

The first step to developing a good risk management plan is to understand the kind of dangers you will be facing. At a recent Risk Management and Finance Summit for nonprofits, Melanie Lockwood Herman of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center discussed the top 10 risks that are faces by nonprofits. They are:

Financial loss. To prevent this, it helps to have a well-trained, well-informed board.
Exposures from social media use, misuse and naivete. Risk-management strategies include written guidelines for employees, volunteers and members and a point person to monitor social media.
Incivility. Investigate complaints without delay and hold staff and volunteers accountable.
IRS Form 990 and federal tax-exempt status. Losing that status is really easy.
Copyrights and trademarks. Use the copyright symbol. Use work-for-hire agreements with contractors. Respect the work of others.
Failure to limit a contracting authority and other common mistakes in contracting. Develop a simple policy, clarify who has authority to enter one and obtain legal review, before signing.
Lack of synchronicity in board policy and practice. Look at policies. Do they need changing?
Failure to understand and manage conflicts of interest. Make sure the policy is easily understood.
Fraud. Understand the inherent risks and fraud schemes.
Harm to reputation. Remember humility (admit mistakes) and speed (without delay).