Hot spots. Hot issues.

I’m a graduate of Leadership Austin and want all my readers to know more about it. Leadership Austin’s Experience Austin is a great way to further your knowledge of Austin issues and strengthen your engagement with the community. These days, community connections are becoming all the more essential in both our business and civic spheres – and this is a wonderful opportunity to build new relationships, learn about Austin’s critical issues, and find out more about how we can best serve our community.
Experience Austin consists of 5 program sessions, and is a must for anyone who values networking and a deep understanding of their community as critical for success.

Participants will:

• Join a select group (limited to 24) for unprecedented access to the latest information about Austin’s key issues from top community, business and arts leaders.
• Meet the movers and shakers in the business and civic community and form connections that will make both personal and professional impact.
• Go behind the scenes to hear from decision makers on topics such as Austin’s growth and changing demographics, Central Texas workforce development initiatives, economic development, transportation, healthcare and the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of the city.
• Learn how to get involved, get connected and make a difference!

The fall 2011 session of Leadership Austin’s extremely popular Experience Austin program includes in-depth sessions on the topics of:

• Education and Workforce development
• Land Use, Transportation, Housing
• Healthcare
• Austin’s economy and demographics and
• The creative and entrepreneurial spirit of our city

Experience Austin Fall 2011
Friday, October 14, from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm and
Tuesdays, October 18, October 25, November 1 and November 8, from 4:30 – 8:30 pm
Full details and registration

Tax Time! : Turbo Tax Giveaway and nonprofits

Preparing your taxes can be a daunting task, even for the most experienced filer.  But if you’re a recent college graduate, you’re self-employed, or you’ve had a life-changing event, it can be downright head scratching. So where do you begin the process of filing a federal and state income tax return? The nonprofit Gen Y Out Loud is here to help!

They are very fortunate to have TurboTax provide them with three gift cards for the online version of its Deluxe tax preparation software. You can win one of the gift cards, valued at $29.95, in three different ways. Make sure you do all three for your best chance to win! Contest ends at noon CST on March 2, 2011. How cool is that?

How much does your NP boss get paid?

Check out the latest figures from the 2010 GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report. Interesting facts below. What do you think?

Do you know:

* How many CEOs headed nonprofits with budgets greater than $50 million in FY 2008?
Answer: 3,107. The median compensation for those CEOs was $394,508.
* How many CEOs headed nonprofits with budgets between $25 million and $50 million in FY 2008?
Answer: 2,332. Their median compensation was $238,085.
* How many CEOs headed nonprofits with budgets between $10 million and $25 million in FY 2008?
Answer: 6,117. Their median compensation was $173,457.
* The budget category that had the greatest number of CEOs in FY 2008?
Answer: Between $1 million and $2.5 million. Some 18,589 individuals headed these organizations. Their median compensation was $87,849

Source: 2010 GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report

Read highlights of the 2010 report

Causes+Birthday’s = It Works

I’m sure a lot of you already know about Causes. If not you should. I used Birthday’s to raise some money for the American Cancer Society this year. My friend and rockstar Beth Kanter used it to raise over 5k for her cause. But you don’t have to have 2,000+ friends to make it work.

I know a lot of people have talked about the backlash against people asking people money for their Birthday’s but I personally think it’s amazing. Causes also has made it easy as possible to do. With timed updates, reminders and the ability to share with the click of a button. Check out the stats below….

The last few months have also highlighted the success of Causes Birthday Wishes, accounting for a third of all donations in the past 6 months.  As Facebook users know, participation in Birthday Wishes has risen enormously over the last year.  In 2009, Beth Kanter created a Birthday Wish for the Sharing Foundation and raised $3,600.  Just a few weeks ago, Beth created another Birthday Wish for the same organization and saw donations rise almost 40% to over $5,000.  This is the kind of peer-to-peer giving that Causes was built for and is excited to see take off. Birthday Wishes tap into the potential of every cause member, empowering them to be fundraisers (many for the first time) as well as identifying new donors who nonprofits would not have discovered otherwise.