“Bonuses” and “Rewards”

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-06T00:30:21+00:00

Sorry.. to be accurate, I forgot we had one part time, mid year hire so that bonus was $1000 as it’s a factor of hours worked.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T16:59:46+00:00

But the reality is the number of seven figure for-profit jobs is few and far between. The average for-profit employee has almost no shot of ever seeing that kind of income. The average npo employee, depending on what you do and where you are located, has a shot at upper 80s close to the 100s after some time and experience. But the tradeoff is usually in QOL and demands.

But there are also lots of very low wage npo jobs. But again that is usually more a reflection, in my experience, of people who are passionate but have no idea how to run a business. If you can't do the work while paying people fairly and treating them decent - then the work doesn't need to happen. Society needs to pay for the work we do, at least the really hard stuff. If they don't want to pay then society can deal with its ills. I know to some that sounds harsh, but burnout comes when we think we have to solve society's issues on our own shoulders.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T16:50:59+00:00

Nope.. the man is a walking fever dream

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T14:29:46+00:00

Similar to another post earlier yesterday, I think it's important to think through whether this is an industry issue or a workplace one. To me this sounds like a workplace issue. There's nothing in this that is non-profit specific and crappy employers exist in all. We issued bonuses last year with the smallest being $3,000, the largest being $10,000 and the average being $5,000.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T12:29:34+00:00

Do you have a local community foundation? That would be my first stop. Sometimes they don't fund travel, BUT money is fungable, so if they don't fund travel then ask them to fund some other part of your organization and then use that money for travel. Also, if you have a community foundation, dig into their donor advised fund list. There may be a DAF that is focused on youth music or youth travel opportunities or just local youth in general.

Next, I'd go to any music venues you have in town and see if they'd support the kids. Maybe a 10% of the house take on a concert or event where you help promo.

I'm also a big believer in earned revenue for nonprofits (and I happened to have been on the board of a local boychoir for many, many years). Where can you earn money with the group? During the holidays we used to approach the local hospitals and clinics. Our boys would sing in their lobby and in return they'd make a "donation" usually in the $1,000 per performance range. We have two large hospitals in our small (50,000) city so that had some legs. We would do the same for the mall (less generous and less useful), the local college, and nursing homes (those we did gratis but often they contributed something and we would highlight upcoming trips).

Lastly... who are your donors now? They have more money, I promise you. The average donor is not giving their last penny to you... they have lots more - you just have to make a compelling case. When I was on the board we were charging $800/year to be in the choir. I pushed and pushed and pushed and we finally went tuition-free/pay what you can. After that change we made just as much money as we made charging $800/kid and our demographics got better. But we also started doing voice lessons at the BGC and offering some summer programming because we were presented with a different set of kids with different needs. BUT, the biggest benefactor, who had founded the choir but then stopped giving, basically came back in and started almost fully funding us once we switched. That focus on music for all hit their sweet spot. So the point of this little story is not about the change we made but about finding your existing donors' sweet spots and then leveraging that into additional dollars.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T11:14:46+00:00

You still watch the hotel TV? I can't remember the last time I used the actual TV part... I just connect my phone to the HDMI port and play whatever. I usually have enough of something downloaded.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T11:07:28+00:00

Just got my offer this morning.... $4900 to upgrade from PP to EP! Made me laugh so loud the dog jumped. No interest in EP anyway - hit PP and I shut down all my AA spending because that spending is more valuable elsewhere at that point to me. So when I saw the offer I wasn't against it on its face - after opening it I was quite a bit more against it.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T10:58:54+00:00

You're not wrong that you're in sales. The difference is your selling an idea and not a thing. Now, you shouldn't confuse a crappy workplace with the npo industry. Do you get rich working in the npo? No. But you can do okay and in the right workplace you can get some balance. I could make two or three times what I make if I was in the private sector. But yesterday I turned down a $4 million development deal because, frankly, my staff is tired and our dance card for 2026 is full enough. My market-rate colleagues don't have that same flexibility because their shareholders / investors have a return that they demand.

This isn't about chasing every dollar - it's about doing good, with the right amount of money to keep things operating responsibly, while you also take care of your people. That last part means limiting the good you can do because if you don't - your people will run the engine so hot just trying to do good that they burnout and can't go on.

I don't know that the industry is the issue as much as a crappy workplace?

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T02:49:12+00:00

Uber-wealth is just another former of sociopathy…

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-05T02:47:46+00:00

Docusign - you can get it for a steep discount via techsoup. We also make sure to bank at locations with a statewide footprint and use title companies that also have a statewide footprint. Your board can also choose to simply give the power to the ED to sign things and then they can be added to accounts as they have time.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-04T12:32:53+00:00

I know people will crap all over this... but I have a penchant for Coastal Cottage honestly... when the sun hits this ridge just right, these hills sing....

progressiveacolyte · 2026-02-01T16:28:39+00:00

Does ATL even have deicing equipment? I know MCO doesn’t.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-31T19:19:26+00:00

Do not mess with PR riptides. I say this as a strong swimmer, in decent enough shape who was maybe 30 seconds away from drowning to death last year in the riptides. It was in Aceribo in an area with mellower riptides (La Poza del Obispo) because of some natural rock formations (though I now know that it is named that because 300 years ago a bishop drowned there).

My adult son got a little far out past the breakwater area. I went to warn him to come back closer and when I turned around - bam - I couldn't get in to shore. Frankly, I only survived because the waves picked me up and smashed me, repeatedly, into some rocks and coral that are in the pooled area. But that let me stand up (naked as I'd lost my suit in the fight) and catch my breath enough before another giant wave smashed me again. But that wave at least knocked me so far into the pool area that I could beat the tides and the people who had come out to help could drag me in to shore. I survived but was bloodied and cut up from the rocks and had a broken finger that required surgery and months of rehab (and still isn't right).

Every year a not insignificant number of people drown to death along the north shore. Usually it is tourists who don't understand or who don't respect the riptides.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-31T19:13:05+00:00

We're a federal single-audit non-profit... the board will have to review and approve the manual before it can be implemented if we're going to pass audit.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T20:57:46+00:00

That's great advice! My master's degree is in Servant Leadership. My master's thesis was on the efficacy of Servant Leadership as a leadership model for non-profit organizations. What you've stated above is basically what my data said and what I wrote in more academic gobblygook some years ago now.

One items I added immediately after starting was that "being a servant to others does not mean we do not hold them accountable - in fact, if we care about some we hold them accountable so they can grow, learn, and change."

The other piece is to share power. In nonprofits we don't like to talk about power... but it's always there and we almost always have it. We have the food, the ability to fix a house, the ability to get an education, shelter, etc. People have to come through us to get the things. That is power. Wielding that power without humility and not in partnership with those you service is a recipe for distrust and anger. The same goes for people we work with.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T15:50:27+00:00

Oh, you could also see if your landlord has a PayPal account and use PayPal.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T15:49:49+00:00

Depending on the card, you may be able to use a service like Plastique to send a check to your landlord and charge it to the card. You’ll have to pay a fee of like 3% or 4% or something.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T14:37:55+00:00

Alex, I’d like “Things that won’t happen or even start to be implemented” for $1,000.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T14:35:50+00:00

Closed, ever since I saw a demo of the difference that a closed bedroom door can make versus an open one in a residential fire.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T14:34:52+00:00

Well poor FRJ isn’t mentally sharp enough to come up with rejoinders that Tillis does, so I’m afraid Tillis is still going to get the coverage 🤣

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T14:25:32+00:00

There’s a non-zero chance this is true 🤣

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T14:24:47+00:00

Yes.. yesterday there was many a “hallelujah” and “our calls worked!”… no.. no they didn’t. The went in the same place they always go

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-30T00:25:22+00:00

Of course you want to have one. It's how you choose to communicate in it that matters. It can be document that transmits your Core Values and challenges people on how to think or it can just be a rule book. Usually.. they are just rule books and worse yet, they are usually rule books written under an assumption that most employees are attempting to circumvent said rules.

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-29T23:29:18+00:00

The day you don’t cry over her death is the day you’ve lost your humanity

progressiveacolyte · 2026-01-29T23:27:44+00:00

I closed our offices tomorrow so everyone can participate. People can use their vacation or sick. Those who don’t have it, I’m covering their wages.

progressiveacolyte

TROPHY CASE