E-Newsletter -- Spring, 2006 In This Issue:  •  Value of Volunteer Time Increases  •  Book Review Sneak Peek -- Fiscal Sponsorship  •  Sumption & Wyland -- Recent Training & Presentations  •  2005 Presidential Tax Commission Report and Nonprofits  •  Grantsmanship Education in Sioux Falls  •  Sumption & Wyland Passes Fifteenth Anniversary; Institutes New Look  •  Please Share With a Colleague! Featured Links:  •  Sumption & Wyland Web Site  •  Sumption & Wyland Recent Columns  •  Sumption & Wyland Book & Media Reviews  •  Sumption & Wyland Nonprofit FAQs Value of Volunteer Time Increases Independent Sector announces that the estimated value of a volunteer hour in 2005 is $18.04. This number, up from 2004's estimate of $17.55, gives charitable organizations a tool to help quantify the immense contributions volunteers make. Independent Sector estimates the total value of hours volunteered nationally in 2005 was equivalent to approximately $280 billion, assuming the total number of volunteer hours has remained constant from previous years. The hourly value of volunteer time is based on the average hourly wage of all non-management, non-agricultural workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 12 percent increase to estimate for fringe benefits. In related news, individual cash giving, the single largest source, rose by an estimated 4.1 percent in 2004 to reach $187.92 billion, according to the American Association of Fundraising Counsel's "Giving USA" 2005 report. Total 2004 charitable giving reached $248 million in 2004, according to the report. Book Review Sneak Peek -- Fiscal Sponsorship We were asked by Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ) to review Gregory Colvin's "Fiscal Sponsorship - 6 Ways to Do it Right." Many individuals and groups wish to pursue a nonprofit mission, but lack the organizational infrastructure to establish or maintain a nonprofit corporation. Fiscal Sponsorship is a good primer for established nonprofit organizations that might provide this support. We've posted the full review on our web site in advance of publication in NVSQ. Read the full review Sumption & Wyland -- Recent Training & Presentations Sumption & Wyland has been doing a lot of training and workshops in the past several weeks. Some of the materials and handouts are available on our web site. Michael Wyland delivered a workshop on the uses and limitations of styles instruments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the GOLB Profile, and the Gregorc Styles Delineator. Instruments like these are widely used by businesses and consultants with positive results for interpersonal and team communication as well as professional and personal development However, they are often misused as employment screening tools or relied upon too heavily as predictors of individual behavior. Michael demonstrated the tools and worked with the audience to demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate uses of styles tools. Sumption & Wyland was asked by Volunteers of America-Dakotas to present three multi-state videoconference workshops as part of a nonprofit capacity-building series funded under the Federal Compassion Capital Initiative. Presentations included "Nonprofit Incorporation and the IRS Form 990," "Board Basics," and "Community Collaborations." The Center for Disabilities at the University of South Dakota's Sanford School of Medicine is about halfway through a nine-session, 18-month professional development program presented by Margaret Sumption. The series covers everything from team-building and communication to project management, time management, and coordinating the work of medical and consumer advisory boards. Margaret is also presenting a board development training series to the board of directors of Carroll Institute, a Federally funded drug & alcohol abuse treatment facility. Short, topic-specific modules are presented during each board meeting, with board and management implementing lessons learned. Topics include board/staff roles, fund development, board succession, and working with committees. Our web site includes several examples of training designs, handouts, and related materials. If your organization has specific training needs in these or other areas, we would like to help! Please call or e-mail us to set up an appointment. Watch for our newly-designed "Training & Facilitation" section, coming soon! 2005 Presidential Tax Commission Report and Nonprofits The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform issued a report in November, 2005 that addresses the complexities and inequities of the present Federal income tax system. The package of specific reforms in the report are unlikely to be adopted by Congress. However, the report is valuable because it crystallizes thought on a number of tax-related policy issues, including treatment of charities and charitable giving. Proposals made in the report may become part of legislation and regulations in the next few years. Only about ten pages of the report deal directly with charitable giving and nonprofits. We've outlined the panel's proposals as they affect charities, donors, and both charities and donors. Read the full article Grantsmanship Education in Sioux Falls Margaret Sumption and Michael Wyland have served as adjunct faculty at the University of Sioux Falls for many years. We will be offering our "Grant and Proposal Writing" workshop three times in 2006. The next workshop will be presented Friday, June 9 and Saturday, June 10 on the USF campus. For more information, or to register for either academic credit or non-credit attendance, visit the web address below. Sumption & Wyland Passes Fifteenth Anniversary; Institutes New Look Thanks to our clients and friends, supporters and advisors, vendors and suppliers, and too many others to mention, Sumption & Wyland was gratified to celebrate our 15th year in business during 2005. Starting as a grant-writing firm, we have grown and changed over the years, developing into a firm offering strategic planning, executive coaching and training & facilitation services while honoring our roots in grantsmanship services. With the new year in 2006, we retained a marketing firm to design a new logo and "image materials" for us. We're very pleased with the results, and we hope you'll like them, too. The "look" may be different, but Sumption & Wyland remains dedicated to the same principles and goals, under the same leadership, that we've always believed. We believe in the nonprofit sector as a critical component of our society and our economy, that nonprofits should be sustainable and free to pursue their missions, and that our success as a firm can only be measured in terms of our clients' successes and satisfaction. Our web site now uses the new logo & designs, and we're in the process of redesigning the web site to make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for. Keep checking -- you'll see more new things soon! Sumption & Wyland's redesigned web site Please Share With a Colleague! If you find this free e-newsletter to be valuable and interesting to you, please share it with a friend or colleague. Subscriptions remain free, and we respect our subscribers' privacy. Use the link on the newsletter, or have your colleague submit their e-mail address on the home page of our web site. It's that easy! Visit our web site to subscribe or view e-newsletter issues This free periodic e-newsletter is sent to clients, friends, and colleagues by Sumption & Wyland, 818 S. Hawthorne Ave., Sioux Falls, SD, (605) 336-0244. Please contact us with your questions and ideas. To unsubscribe from this free e-newsletter, follow the link below.