House Approves New Savings Accounts for People with Disabilities  

House Approves New Savings Accounts for People with Disabilities, December 3, 2014, The Hill, by Cristina Marcos
The House of Representatives on December 3rd passed legislation to create tax-free savings accounts for people with disabilities. AJFCA has advocated for passage of the ABLE Act for the past six years and is hopeful that The Senate, where the legislation has 70 co-sponsors, will soon pass this important legislation.Passed by a vote of 404-17, the bill known as the ABLE Act is intended to help Americans with disabilities pay for the associated expenses, including medical costs and finding employment.

With Naming Gifts, 'Perpetuity' Is a Matter of Negotiation
With Naming Gifts, "Perpetuity" Is a Matter of Negotiation, November 27, 2014, New York Times, by Sam Roberts
Nonprofits and cultural institutions have often raised large gifts by offering perpetual naming rights to their buildings in exchange for financial support. Perpetuity has now become "a matter of negotiation" according to attorney William D. Zabel, which allows organizations to garner additional financial benefits after the terms of the original agreement expire. Continue reading here.

Philanthropy's New Release
Philanthropy's New Release, December 2, 2014, Stanford Social Innovation Review, by Kimberly Dasher Tripp
Understanding this new wealth and its philanthropic leanings continues to be the subject of great interest overall, but especially in light of this region's two realities: escalating wealth and steadfast poverty. Many feel that a place with this much wealth should be closer to tackling its local social problems. So it begs the question: Who are these new donors? How do they think? Continue reading here.

Hatch:  A Tool for Digital Storytelling for Social Impact Launches
Hatch:  A Tool for Digital Storytelling for Social Impact Launches. December 5, 2014, Beth's Blog, by Beth Kanter
Hatch is a concierge that connects you to a suite of tools and a growing community of storytellers to help you leverage your stories to drive social impact. Each of Hatch's five sections are designed to help you craft, curate and share impactful stories. As you build your storytelling profile, Hatch will suggest tools, case studies and resources customized to your needs. These recommendations will always be saved to your profile so you can access them later.

Volunteers "work" for your organization for free. So how can they end up costing you money?

• Theft or embezzlement
• Damaged volunteer relations and morale
• Endangerment of employees, volunteers and other constituents
• Litigation
• Public scandals and negative publicity  

The main challenge for volunteer managers is that the volunteer pool is peppered with people who appear to be suitable candidates but who, in reality, may not be. Download Counting the Costs of a Bad Volunteer, to learn about some red flags to look out for and how you can avoid onboarding some less than stellar volunteers.

Employers of National Service

AJFCA is proud to be an Employer of National Service, committed to actively seeking out AmeriCorps and Peace Corps members for future employment opportunities. As a current sponsor of an AmeriCorps VISTA program, AJFCA has seen first-hand the talent, commitment and creativity AmeriCorps VISTA members bring to their work. VISTAs in 10 cities across the United States are working to build the capacity of local agencies to serve Holocaust survivors in their communities. Get to know our incredible VISTA members in our biweekly VISTA Spotlight in the AJFCA newsletter. There are three weeks until the December 31st deadline for charter members to join. Learn more here.