Nonprofit Analysis paper

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Nonprofit Sector Ethics and Accountability Analysis Paper

PAPER CONTENT:

Refer to the Writing Rubric in Important Documents on D2L for further guidance. This paper represents

an opportunity for you to analyze the nonprofit you have selected by applying the principles we have

discussed in class and referring to best practices. I offer some possible questions/scenarios to explore,

but you may certainly choose a different topic, however, I do have to approve the topic you choose no

later than March 27, 2020.

Throughout the project, I recommend that you keep in mind that your overall task, is to take the

principles we have covered during this course and use them as a lens to view your nonprofit. By using

that lens, determine if your nonprofit is following/applying best practices for the nonprofit sector. If

they ARE applying best practices, identify the best practices they are applying and give specific

examples. If they ARE NOT applying best practices, identify specific examples of where the nonprofit is

NOT using best practices and identify the best practices that you would recommend that the nonprofit

use or implement.

You need to select at least three examples to identify and discuss. You can choose to discuss all

instances of your nonprofit not following best practices; or you could choose to discuss all instances of

your nonprofit following best practices or a combination using best practices and not using best

practices, if you discuss at least three examples. Below are several areas which you might consider

analyzing and discussing:

1. Mission, Vision & Strategy:

a. Does your organization have both a mission and vision statement? Are programs and

services in alignment with mission? Does the organization have a current strategic plan?

Does the organization have procedures in place for evaluating programs? Does the

organization report the impact of its programs to donors, on its website and/or in

annual reports? Does the organization regularly get input from program participants?

2. Leadership: Board, Staff & Volunteers:

a. Does the organization have current by-laws and policies? How does the organization

recruit and retain board members? Does the organization have board term limits? How

does the organization recruit and retain volunteers? Does the organization have written

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job descriptions for board members, staff and volunteers? Does the organization have

orientation for board members, staff and volunteers? How many board members does

the board have? Is the executive director a member of the board of directors? How

often does the board meet? Does the board represent the diversity of the community

and/or the demographic which the organization serves? Do the staff and/or volunteers

represent the diversity of the community and/or the demographic which the

organization serves?

3. Legal Compliance & Ethics:

a. Does the organization have its 990 posted on its website? Or is it accessible on request?

Does the organization seem to be transparent with disclosing financials through an

annual report or on its website? Does the organization have in place whistleblower

policies? Does the organization have a written conflict of interest policy and disclosure

statement? Do board and staff members complete the disclosures at least annually?

Does the organization have in place policies and procedures to protect confidentiality

and privacy of clients?

4. Finance & Operations:

a. Does the organization have an annual operating budget? Does the board vote on the

annual operating budget? Does the organization conduct an independent audit? Does

the organization have internal controls and written financial policies? Does the

nonprofit have written personnel and volunteer policies? Does the organization have

social media policies, communication policies or disaster preparedness policies?

5. Resource Development:

a. Does the organization have a written development plan? Does the organization have

diverse funding streams or sources of income? What are the organization’s fundraising

costs? What types of fundraising activities does the organization participate in? Are the

solicitation materials accurate and correctly identify the organization? Does the

organization have gift acceptance policies? Does the organization have dedicated staff

for fundraising, or do they contract out the work?

6. Public Awareness, Engagement & Advocacy:

a. Is it easy to find information about the organization’s mission, program activities,

finances, board members, and staff? Does the website and social media appear to be

updated and current? Is it easy to reach staff representatives from the organization?

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Does the organization participate in advocacy and/or public policy? Does the advocacy

and/or public policy work align with the mission of the organization?

ORGANIZATION OF YOUR PAPER:

Refer to the Writing Rubric in Important Documents on D2L for further guidance. Your paper should

have an introductory paragraph; it should give some background about your nonprofit (its name, where

it is located; its mission and the programs and services it provides). You may also want to include some

brief history about the organization (when it was founded; its budget size, how many paid employees

and how many board members). The next paragraph or transition paragraph should clearly identify

each of the three examples you will be discussing. The next several paragraphs/pages should then go

into analysis, content & recommendations. This is the main content of your paper. In this section you

should identify an example from the nonprofit, analyze and provide your opinion as to why this example

does or does not follow best practices (citing the best practice) and then making recommendations if

applicable (again you may cite lectures, reading materials or your own research) to substantiate your

recommendations. I would expect you to devote at least 350-400 words to discussing each example,

(probably 1-2 paragraphs). Your next section should be reflection on your service-learning component.

This portion of the paper must incorporate your personal experience while volunteering. You can

discuss if you enjoyed your experience or did not enjoy the experience; you can discuss if you think the

nonprofit is worthwhile and does a good job of aligning its programs with its mission or if you think it

doesn’t. I do want you to back up your opinion with examples you observed or experienced to

substantiate your opinion. This section should be approximately 250 words (half a page). The last of

your paper should have a conclusion paragraph summarizing your points and content of your paper and

I would expect to be approximately 100-125 words.

APPEARANCE, FORMAT AND GUIDELINES: As an example, this document is written in 11pt Calibri font,

1.5 spacing with 1-inch margins. It is 1831 words and almost 5 full pages in length.

Length: 1800 words (+/- 250), excluding cover page, endnotes page and bibliography.

Font size: 11 fonts; Times Roman, Arial, or Calibri

Line spacing: 1.5

Margins: 1-inch margins

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Number pages: all pages beyond the cover page should be numbered (bottom of page).

Student name: Student’s full name or first initial and last name should appear on top right of paper on

every page beyond the cover page. (Use the paper header feature to do this).

Cover page: include student name, instructor name, course name and number, title of paper.

DO NOT: insert clip art; photos; or use colored fonts in the text of your paper. This is a professional

research document. You can however, utilize bold, italics, all caps, underline to emphasize headings or

subheadings, but do not change the font size of your headings from the 11pt required font size. You

may use sparingly, bold and italics within the body of a paragraph to emphasize a point, but do not use

excessively or it loses its emphasis. Do not use all caps in the body of a paragraph as it means you are

yelling at me. Do not change font style or formatting mid-way through your paper. Be consistent with

the style of your headings and subheadings (do not use all caps in one instance, then lowercase in

another instance).

Refer to the Writing Rubric in Important Documents on D2L for further guidance.

MECHANICS AND STYLE:

I expect you to use proper spelling and grammar in your writing. Please take the extra time to spell and

grammar check your document. Almost all word processing software have built in spelling and grammar

checks and there are other subscription websites which also check spelling and grammar. Poor

grammar and spelling are not acceptable at this level of writing. Don’t try to impress me with complex

sentence structure or obscure vocabulary, please write clearly and concisely. Have someone else read

your paper and check for understanding.

I will run your paper through grammar and spelling check software once you turn it in to check for errors

and to make suggestions for better grammar and sentence structure. Refer to the Writing Rubric in

Important Documents on D2L for further guidance.

CREDIBILITY/QUALITY OF RESEARCH:

Documentation, citation and formatting guidelines: You must use the Chicago Style notes and

bibliography system Chicago Style Link or the Turabian notes and bibliography system Turabian Style

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Link. Use either style to cite your references in the body of the paper, in corresponding endnotes (do

not use footnotes) and in the bibliography. Chicago and Turabian Styles include both an endnote (or

footnotes) page and a bibliography. I want you to include BOTH! Please refer to the document in the

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS file in D2L titled: Examples & Directions for Chicago-Turabian Style. I provide

very detailed and thorough examples of how to use this citation style. You may also check out Kate L.

Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations in the Center for Nonprofit

Management & Leadership located in Dillard 147 (across from Einstein’s).

References:

Cite and reference at least 6 credible sources when referencing best practices, or providing examples of

policies, procedures or examples. So, what counts as credible? High quality, nonprofit

industry/business websites or publications, such as Board Source, The Independent Sector, Standards for

Excellence Institute, Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, National Council of Nonprofits, would all be

considered credible. Universities, colleges and government publications or websites would also be

considered credible, especially for statistics or research supporting your best practices. I also consider

materials that I reference, cite and/or post on D2L as credible sources. Most of the books available for

check-out in the Center for Nonprofit Management & Leadership would also be considered credible

sources. You will primarily be using these sources to establish and to document best practices you

reference and/or cite in your paper.

If you use any statistics in your paper, you must document (cite) where the statistics were found.

Additionally, if you quote materials directly from publications, brochures, websites, etc., which are

produced by your nonprofit and you reference it in your paper, it must be cited. These sources would

not count towards your credible source for referencing best practices, because these nonprofits are not

“experts” in the field of researching best practices…so you will need 6 in addition to any citations

directly from your nonprofit’s materials. Understand?!

Also note that I will be using plagiarism software, so PLEASE properly cite and give credit where credit is

due. Do not try to pass off someone else’s work as your own! Refer to the Writing Rubric in Important

Documents on D2L for further guidance.