A report by Andrea Kovach a staff attorney at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law points out that women have a better chance of staying out of abusive relationships once they acquire financial literacy skills. Ms. Kovach talks about a number of programs that help these women achieve financial independence and points out a number of success stories.

There is no doubt that financial independence is crucial to a woman’s safety and her ability to leave her abuser. For some women...

My previous six posts http://www.thebusinessofme.com/the-business-of-me-blog.php all talk about the struggles nonprofits have and the challenges they face in the light of the economy and downward spiral of charitable giving and increasingly rare government funding.

I talked a lot about how important it is for nonprofits to be more entrepreneurial if they are to survive. I even posted a “real life” story of a nonprofit in the South Bronx who has lost all its funding and is in dire jeopar...

My friend Dr. Sharon Ufberg has written an article (http://bit.ly/iVMC2G) about a wonderful organization in the South Bronx whose funding has dried up and is struggling to stay open. This is a real story about how the “New Normal”, that I have been blogging about, is affecting nonprofits. The question is whose next?

 Read my blog to find out what I have been saying about the “New Normal” and how it is affecting nonprofits. I even talk about some solutions.

This is a very serious...

On May 5th I wrote about “The New Normal” http://www.thebusinessofme.com/the-business-of-me-blog/the-“new-normal” and how nonprofits need to be more entrepreneurial if they are to make up the funding gap from lost donations and government funding. Today the New York Times ran an article titled “Squeezed Cities Ask Nonprofits for More Money” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/us/12nonprofits.html?hp.

The article talks about how some cities are asking their large nonprofits who own...

In yesterday’s post http://www.thebusinessofme.com/the-business-of-me-blog.php I related a conversation I had with a director of a women’s shelter who was thinking of opening a gift shop so her organization could earn money.

Let’s take a look at what it takes to open a physical store:

Location: The store will need to be located where it will get sufficient traffic and attract customers requiring a lease commitment.

Inventory: The store will need to be stocked with inventory. Even if...

Zira J. Smith Ed.D. Of the University of Illinois Extension gave a presentation titled “How Non-Profits Become Self-Sufficient”. One of the slides is titled “Innovation is not Entrepreneurial” and I agree with Ms. Smith. Innovation, according to Ms. Smith is not making brochures prettier, implementing new programs and reaching out to new audiences and still relying on the same old foundations, organizations, donors and government agencies for funding.

I was talking to a non-profit d...

If you Google the term “New Normal” you will get a list of articles that talk about how the current economic crisis has changed the way people are spending and saving in order to make ends meet. Now if you Google the term “New Normal Non Profits” you will get a slew of articles on how nonprofits are struggling to meet higher demand for services with less funding.  

I have been speaking to a number of women’s organizations recently about the “New Normal” and how it is affecting ...

According to a report by Mary Kay domestic violence is on the rise for the third straight year (http://www.marykay.com/content/company/2011survey.pdf) and the economy is taking a toll on both shelters and survivors.  The Mary Kay report confirms an earlier report by The National Network to End Domestic Violence. In a post I wrote on March 23rd I talked about the affect the economy is having on the services shelters provide http://www.thebusinessofme.com/the-business-of-me-blog/a-day-in-the-li...

I have said for a very long time that domestic violence is one of the major health issues facing women. I’ve shared statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) showing that  the health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and homicide  by intimate partners  exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of this total, nearly $4.1 billion  are for direct medical  and  mental health care services.

According to Dr. Jennifer Wider a renowned women’s health expert domestic violence is...