Obtaining Tax-Exempt Status: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Understand Beyond the IRS Application
Tax-Exempt Status for Nonprofits: The People Side of Compliance For many nonprofit leaders, obtaining federal tax-exempt status feels like a box to check before the “real” work begins. In reality, recognition is the start of an ongoing compliance journey that shapes how you hire, pay, manage, and protect your people. IRS forms are well documented. […]
Nonprofit Mid-Year Check: Labor Tracking and ACA Readiness
Nonprofit leaders carry enormous responsibility, balancing funding cycles, state regulations, complex staffing models, and a mission that depends on getting payroll and compliance right. Mid-year is one of the most strategic checkpoints to review your workforce data, strengthen compliance processes, and avoid costly year-end surprises. Two areas that become especially critical in Q2 and Q3 […]
Lessons from Nonprofit HR Leaders on Engaging Volunteers
Nonprofits are mission-driven organizations but missions are executed by people. While board governance, fundraising strategy, and program delivery often dominate leadership discussions, seasoned nonprofit HR leaders understand a quieter truth: volunteer engagement is not a community relations function. It is a workforce strategy. Volunteer programs that lack structure eventually strain operations. Those built with intentional […]
The Ten Rules of Payroll: A Strategic HR Framework for Growing Businesses
Payroll is one of the most operationally routine processes inside a business, more over it is also one of the most legally exposed and culturally sensitive. For small and mid-sized organizations, payroll often begins as an administrative necessity handled by finance or ownership. Over time, as headcount increases, compensation structures evolve, and regulatory demands expand, […]
From Compliance to Capacity: A Nonprofit’s Move to HCM
In Part 3 of our series (check out the 2nd one here), we turn to a growing community-based nonprofit facing increasingly complex grant reporting, payroll allocation, and strategic workforce planning needs. Already equipped with HRIS and HRMS capabilities, the organization adopted a Human Capital Management (HCM) platform to connect HR, finance, and program operations. This […]
A Sector Under Pressure: How Nonprofits Can Adapt to Federal Funding Changes
Nonprofits are navigating a choppy 2025: delayed grants, funding pauses, and policy turbulence have created real uncertainty, especially for organizations that rely on federal and pass-through state dollars. Recent analyses show roughly a third of nonprofits experienced a disruption in government funding in early 2025, and those affected were more likely to reduce staff or […]