Un primo que me lleva unos añitos me paso esta lista... Disfruten:
Please support the Diabetes Hands Foundation by making a tax-deductible donation.
Por favor, apoya la Diabetes Hands Foundation realizando una donacion.
Inspired by Kerri, who stole from George, who lifted it from LeeAnn.
After what others have written, I feel a bit clown-ish writing what I've come to realize, but I needed a mental break over lunch...
1. I’ve come to realize that my chest-size... is not really all that impressive!
2. I’ve come to realize that my job... is not really a job. I am blessed to be able to do what I do every day.
3. I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving... I am beginning to act like a senior citizen.
4. I’ve come to realize that I need... to get more sleep!!
5. I’ve come to realize that I have lost... quite a lot of hair.
6. I’ve come to realize that I hate it when... people can't see past themselves.
7. I’ve come to realize that if I’m drunk … I'm fun. And sometimes I dance on bars.
8. I’ve come to realize that money... moves too many things and it shouldn't be so.
9. I’ve come to realize that certain people... make a lot of noise upstairs. :)
10. I’ve come to realize that I'll always... love music.
11. I’ve come to realize that my siblings... are non-existent! :P
12. I’ve come to realize that my mom... will never get over the fact that I am 37 years old.
13. I’ve come to realize that my cell phone... is too faithful to me, considering what I subject it to.
14. I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning... my wife brought me a cup of coffee. The precious moments in life!
15. I’ve come to realize that last night before I went to sleep... I read Harry Potter 1 with my son. The precious moments in life!
16. I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking... I am, really! I am thinking! :)
17. I’ve come to realize that my dad... is the person I admired most in the world. I miss him so much.
18. I’ve come to realize that when I get on Facebook... I first read any comments others may have left for me and then check my home page. Does that make me anal?
19. I’ve come to realize that today... is #bgwed!! :)
20. I’ve come to realize that tonight... I will probably fall asleep early.
21. I’ve come to realize that tomorrow... the weekend is one day closer.
22. I’ve come to realize that I really want to... read more.
23. I’ve come to realize that the person who is most likely to repost this is... you!
24. I’ve come to realize that life... is like a box of chocolates. I prefer dark chocolate.
25. I’ve come to realize that this weekend... I have no plans.
26. I’ve come to realize that marriage... is the best thing in life (along with children) when you are with the right person.
27. I’ve come to realize that my friends... are part of my family.
28. I’ve come to realize that this year... is full of challenges, but with challenges come great opportunities to open new doors and explore new things.
29. I’ve come to realize that my ex is... a good person.
30. I’ve come to realize that maybe I should... get new shoes. My left foot is killing me.
31. I’ve come to realize that I love... to see people help each other out.
32. I’ve come to realize that I don’t understand... war.
33. I’ve come to realize my past... will not get in the way of my future.
34. I’ve come to realize that parties... are fun, but it can be just as much fun (or more) to hang out with 2-3 people that you love.
35. I’ve come to realize that I’m totally terrified... of guns and people who swear by them.
July 14, 2009 more than 1,000 people with diabetes answered our call and tested their blood sugar at the same time. Our goal was to reach 14,000 people, however the people who participated in this online event felt more connected to others with diabetes than they had felt in a long time. So we will make this our goal again for World Diabetes Day, November 14.
Programs like this one require a lot of planning and coordination. To help you understand why your help is so important, let me introduce you to Lee Ann Thill, a member of TuDiabetes who has had type 1 diabetes since 1978. Please take a moment to watch her video where she shares her thoughts about the Diabetes Hands Foundation and the importance of your financial contribution.
We count on your financial your support to make this and other diabetes awareness initiatives a success. Please donate to Diabetes Hands Foundation today to make it possible. Your donation is tax deductible:
Constantly wondering whether we will see a new album from Peter any time soon (or ever, again), here is my favorite Peter Gabriel song, from his 2003 Growing Up tour:
Today, after a conference call I was left scratching my head wondering how could someone else's video (not one of your own uploaded videos) be featured on your YouTube channel. What to do? I turned to Twitter's collective knowledge and within a couple of hours someone sent me a screenshot with the explanation.
Here is the list of steps, indicated on the following screenshot (click on it for a large version):
(1) Click on the edit link at the top of your YouTube channel.
(2) Select "Other" in the Featured Video dropdown menu.
(3) Paste the URL of the video you want to feature.
(4) Click the Save Changes button and voila!
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. The following post cannot and should not be taken as legal advice (it isn’t). It’s just meant to give you references to consider your legal options as you are deciding what is the best course of action for you to pursue in order to get your not-for-profit idea off the ground and to make it sustainable.
When you want to create social change there are several ways to accomplish it. You can do it by being part of a larger organization (a for-profit with a deeply engrained social credo and a track record of socially responsible behavior or an established nonprofit that you feel identified with), you can start your own nonprofit organization or you can go at it alone. Right? Well, sort of.
There are options “between” those options that enable you to surround yourself with the appropriate corporate structure to let your mission spread its wings without the burden or barriers that come with some of the most commonly chosen options. You can think of the following few paragraphs as one of the things I wish I had known when we first formed our nonprofit: I will be discussing the concept of Fiscal Sponsorship, an option that falls somewhere between “going at it alone” and “starting your own nonprofit.”
The difference between being a nonprofit and being tax-exempt
There is a concept that is often misunderstood: the difference between being a nonprofit and being a tax-exempt organization. To become a nonprofit, you create articles of incorporation and bylaws and file them with your state’s attorney general. You also set up a board of directors and paying a filing fee, give or take (different states will have different requirements). Even if you get legal help, before you embark on the trip of forming a nonprofit, I highly recommend you read the Nolo book about forming a nonprofit (there is one specific to California, if you need it).
Once you have incorporated and registered your organization as a nonprofit with your state, you still are not a tax-exempt organization. This means, if you do nothing else, your income will be taxed as any other for-profit entity and any donations you may receive are not tax deductible (to the donor).
There may be good reasons to do nothing else and continue as a nonprofit without having tax exempt status, but because of the extra work it entails, I am not sure this would be in your organization’s best interest. Some of the things you need to do as a nonprofit are:
• Act as a nonprofit, i.e. work towards your mission as a nonprofit public charitable corporation, not organized for the private gain of any person.
• Hold board meetings, keep minutes of the meetings.
• Set up bank accounts and maintain books for the nonprofit.
Though this may not sound as much, if you are a small nonprofit, keeping up with these administrative tasks may feel to you like you are not focusing all your time and energy doing what your nonprofit mission calls for.
At this point, one natural path you may want to pursue is to apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. There are other types of 501(c) organizations you can apply for: most do not give you tax-exempt status –neither the corporation is exempt from paying income tax nor are the donations they receive tax exempt to the donor. In this post I am only dealing with organizations that qualify for 501(c)(3) status.
I won’t lie to you: the application process (from filing an IRS 1023 application to obtaining your 501(c)(3) status) can become lengthy, costly and even a bit exhausting (you may also find it to be straightforward, but I can’t say that from my own experience).
Only once you receive your letter of approval from IRS stating you have been granted 501(c)(3) status are you exempt from paying taxes on business-related income. Also, at that point all donations you receive become tax deductible, you become eligible for many more foundation and government grants and you can take full advantage of benefits such as the ones offered by TechSoup, Google Grants and YouTube’s Nonprofit Program.
Fiscal Sponsorship: an alternative route
You may be wondering if there is an alternative to pursuing the 501(c)(3) route, at least initially. There is no other way to have ALL the benefits that a 501(c)(3) has access to, but if you are willing to sacrifice some things, you can apply for a fiscal sponsorship.
First off, you can think of a fiscal sponsorship as a way to “incubate” your social change project under an existing nonprofit.
To help explain the concept of fiscal sponsorship better, I interviewed M. Melanie Beene, President and CEO of Bay Area-based fiscal sponsor Community Initiatives. The Diabetes Hands Foundation, the nonprofit I lead, recently became a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives.
What is a Fiscal Sponsor?
Melanie Beene:
When a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation agrees to oversee other nonprofit activity (a fiscally sponsored project) in order to allow that project to be able to solicit grants from foundations and corporations and to provide its individual donors with tax-exemption for their contributions, the relationship is called fiscal sponsorship. There are six ways to structure this relationship and they are outlined in the only book on the topic, “Fiscal Sponsorship, 6 Ways To Do It Right,” by Gregory L. Colvin, available from Study Center Press.
Different fiscal sponsors provide different services in addition to fiscal sponsorship itself. For example, Community Initiative provides its full-service projects (Model A in Colvin’s system) with financial accounting, reporting, auditing, full human resources services such as payroll and benefits administration (health, dental, vision, disability, 401(k), flexible spending accounts), grants management, and comprehensive insurance at no cost. We also provide problem solving and risk management consultation and discounted legal referrals as needed. (For more detail see: www.communityin.org.)
Other fiscal sponsors may provide shared office space and bulk purchases of supplies as well as other services.
What are the main advantages of becoming a fiscally sponsored project?
MB: The main advantages are:
• Timing: you get the benefits of tax exemption quickly while waiting to submit and have the IRS process your application. Or if you need to respond quickly to a critical situation (e.g., natural disaster) a fiscal sponsor can be a way to receive donations quickly.
• Incubation: you may not want to invest the time and money to incorporate and develop organizational infrastructure until you have tested your idea and are convinced it is viable and has attracted funding.
• Ability to concentrate on your programmatic work: some of our projects don’t want to evolve into their own organizations because they are happy to have the back office functions handled by a fiscal sponsor who has qualified staff dedicated to Finance, HR, and Grants management.
• Economies of scale: most small nonprofits don’t have the staff or expertise to negotiate for lower costs that a larger organization can, particularly in the area of payroll, benefits administration, insurance and risk management services.
• If your project is one of limited duration it doesn’t make sense to create a corporation. Many collaborative partners (e.g., multi-funder or multi-agency) often prefer to use a neutral third party home for their activities. Fiscal sponsorship gives you a way to easily set up a professional infrastructure.
What are the disadvantages of becoming a fiscally sponsored project?
MB: Initially, I don’t think there are many disadvantages. Here are some:
• Some funders may not accept proposals from fiscal sponsors.
• Depending upon an organization’s budget size (and the corresponding fee it pays its fiscal sponsor), there may come a time when the project can get the same services by spinning off to become its own nonprofit and hiring staff to do what the fiscal sponsor has been doing.
• All the project revenues must be housed with the fiscal sponsor who takes financial and programmatic responsibility for them. For some, this may initially feel like a loss of control, but operationally at Communitiy Initiatives, it’s never been an issue.
• Projects with a lot of individual donors sometimes feel that it’s harder to assert their brand identity using a fiscal sponsor, although we use their logo on our website and accept donations in their own names.
How does a person/group apply for fiscal sponsorship? What are the requirements?
MB: The requirements vary by fiscal sponsor. A directory of fiscal sponsors is available at www.fiscalsponsordirectory.org. At Community Initiatives we vet the nonprofit purpose and we need to see a minimum of $24,000 per year in revenues. Other fiscal sponsors have higher floors and some have none.
If you have already formed a nonprofit, can you still apply for fiscal sponsorship?
MB: The response to this will vary by fiscal sponsor. At Community Initiatives we have several groups that already have their nonprofit status, but while they are with CI all their revenues go through us.
It is my hope that this post helps you find alternative ways to develop the necessary structure to develop and support your social change project. Perhaps the best option for you is creating your own nonprofit and applying for tax-exempt status. Perhaps it will be best for you to apply for fiscal sponsorship. At least, if you know the options, you can make a better-informed decision.
This week our fundraising campaign will be focused on our diabetes awareness programs. Please donate to the Diabetes Hands Foundation: any donation helps!
Your donations are tax-deductible.
Casi lloro hoy escuchando esta hermosa version del clasico del maestro Billo, interpretado por Ilan Chester y Jose Luis Rodriguez.
Yesterday, I was interviewed by Steve Hargadon on the topic of Ning and niche social networking. Thanks for the opportunity to share, Steve!
You can download the following:
* Full Elluminate
* Portable Audio (MP3 file)
* Portable Video
* Chat Log
If you haven't gotten it, this session goes very well with a copy of "Ning For Dummies".
DONATE TO DHF
In March 2007, we launched TuDiabetes.com a social network for people touched by diabetes in English. In August 2007, it was followed by EsTuDiabetes.com in Spanish. Today, the two communities offer a supportive environment where nearly 16,000 people touched by diabetes can connect with each other, hold informed discussions and share their experiences.
Watch this video with Dino, one of our members who has lived with type 1 diabetes for the past 18 years. He found TuDiabetes in 2008 and shares the impact the community has had on his daily diabetes management.
Please donate to DHF today to support our Online Communities. Your donation is tax deductible and it can be made online securely. You are also always welcome to send donations by mail.
Thank you for your support!
