Time for Halloween

The pumpkins are the BEST

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. It takes place during the BEST season, there are all sorts of opportunities to get scared out of your mind, and then there are the ACTIVITIES! Pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving, apple picking, corn mazes, haunted houses. It’s so much to cram in!

Usually this time of year calls for re-watching of Halloween movie classics: Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and of course, Halloween. But this year, hanks to the wonder of Netflix, I have a queue of movies I have never seen to frighten me all the way up to Halloween night!

1. The Lady Vanishes-  A lesser-known Hitchcock. In this, a young woman aboard a train suddenly vanishes and none of the passengers can recall seeing her.

2. Children of the Corn– I am ashamed I’ve never seen this Steven King classic . Creepy kids killing adults and taking over a small rural town? Yes please!

3. The Crow– Rock star comes back to life to exact revenge on those who killed him and his girlfriend. It’s like Batman for Halloween!

4. The Faculty– A 90s cult classic I haven’t seen in a while but can’t wait to re-watch! Aliens take over invasion of the body snatchers-style starting with the high school. 90s stars like Josh Hartnett and Clea DuVall fight back. Awesome-ness ensues.

5. The Frighteners– Another cult classic! In this one a shady psychic detective uses his abilities to boost his business. It’s got Michael J. Fox so it’s impossible to go wrong.

6. Slither– It looks and sounds like a farce, but from what I’ve heard this body-snatchers flick is full of fright and fun. Plus Nathan Fillion. Be still my heart.

7. House at the End of the Street– The most recent movie on my list and also the only thriller/slasher.  A family moves to town and finds out their neighbors’ house was the site of a double murder, and their teenage daughter (Jennifer Lawrence, again can’t go wrong) investigates.

I’m going to need more than just this list, so let me know some more creepy movies to add to my netflix queue!

Nonprofit Vocabulary

I’ve found there is a fair amount of jargon if you’re not familiar with the nonprofit world. Even if you are, it helps to have a glossary handy just in case things start getting mixed up.

This is just a starter! If you have some terms you deal with every day in the nonprofit world, I’d love to heard about them.

Nonprofit

This is a legal distinction which means an organization does not operate for profit, does note have shareholders, and operates for either a religious, charitable, scientific, public safety, literary, or educational purpose, or for the purpose of fostering international sports or preventing cruelty to children or animals.

Foundation

An institution whose purpose is to distribute funds to colleges, schools, hospitals, charities and the like. These are the “big guns” that you hear as sponsors of NPR like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Community Foundation

Operating similarly to a foundation, community foundations manage the funds of many individual (or group) donors and carry out the charitable interests of those donors. Community foundations are usually geographically aligned with a specific area or state, for example here in the Triangle we have the Triangle Community Foundation.

501(c)(3)

Tax designation for most nonprofits, foundations, universities and nonprofit hospitals. Contributions to these groups are tax exempt, and all of these organizations are exempt from paying income tax. The “brief” description of this designation can be found on the IRS website.

501(c)(4)

These groups have started springing up more and more in the post-Citizens United ruling and are in the news quite a lot in the wake of the accusations against the IRS for targeting conservative political action groups. Technically, organizations under this designation promote “social welfare” and may take part in politics, elections, and lobbying. Unlike their (c)(3) cousins, contributions to these groups are not tax-deductible, and organizations do not have to disclose who their contributors are.

Grant

An award, which does not have to be repaid, usually given to a nonprofit organization but also to individuals. These awards may have certain strings attached, to which the grantee much comply in order to receive the grant and be eligible for future awards.

Matching Grant

This is a common example of a grant with strings attached. Many times for large campaigns, a foundation or grant-making authority will grant an organization money if that organization can match the amount given in other contributions. For example, the Rachel B. Johnson Foundation will award a $50,000 grant to the Ashby is a Cute Kitten Charity once the ACKC raises $50,000 from its other donors.

Endowment

Now we’re getting into the weeds! Once a nonprofit, foundation, etc. reaches the point where it has more than $250,000 in the bank at a time (the maximum the FDIC will insure), usually it will begin investing some of its assets in order to split up the amount into separate accounts which will be insure-able, and to continue growing its wealth.

The total value of an organization’s financial assets is known as its endowment, and can be organized (in legal terms) as a public charity, private foundation, or a trust. Beyond this there are some restrictions of how much money can be held in an endowment, particularly if you are a university, and the weeds start getting deeper. If you’re really really into this stuff, I’d check out the Wikipedia page as a starter.

Why I Work for Nonprofits

In my real life, when I’m not playing with my kitten or making delicious things come out of my kitchen, I split my time between a small nonprofit that serves disadvantaged youth through music and a large grant-making foundation. I always knew I wanted to work for organizations whose mission it was to improve our world, but it took me some time to finally come to where I am today. I could probably go on and on about why I love working for these organizations, but I’ve whittled it down to these 4 reasons:

1. It’s a community.  At least here in the Triangle, nonprofits are supportive of one anothers’ missions. There are listservs and Facebook pages dedicated to connecting nonprofit professionals and their organizations to one another, resources, volunteers, you name it!
2. Women rule. The nonprofit sector is dominated by women. I found statistics from 2009 saying that 73% of workers in this sector, 45% of CEOs, and 43% of board members (WomenMovingMillions.org). Granted, the wage inequalities between men and women CEOs still hold for the nonprofit sector, but the fact that there is a near 50-50 split between men and women CEOS is impressive. At the two nonprofit organizations I work for, one of my bosses is female, the other is male. The board members are about a 50/50 split between men and women at the small nonprofit I work for while the large organization has more men on its board (but to be fair, it’s a family affair and they only have sons). It’s pretty empowering to be in an environment where you’re  likely to be working with a room full of women.
3. Transparency. Ok, technically by law nonprofits are required to make their financials public, but still, the fact that there can be open conversations about how your workplace spends money and what they value is refreshing. Plus transparency means accountability; when organizations or businesses must be accountable for producing results based on what they spend, you get better results.
4. A little goes a long way. Nonprofits have limited resources which means they have to do their research and get creative. This can be a great thing for innovation, especially for techies and development nerds. Plus, you get to really focus on where the organization needs to spend money, not on where it can spend money. This reduces waste (which is good) and paves the way for long-term financial responsibility for one day when a little organization becomes a BIG organization.

At the end of the day, I feel more fulfilled working for a not-for-profit entity because I know the hours I worked don’t just contribute to my company’s bottom line or my boss’ ego, build up something larger than myself or my organization. They’re hours spent making a better community, and ultimately a better world.