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November 3, 2026 |
Tips, ideas, stories and grants for nonprofit leaders.
A 5-minute read
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Dec 15Open enrollment for 2027 health coverage started Sunday. Staff who buy their own plan on HealthCare.gov have until December 15 to pick one that starts January 1, and until January 15 to enroll at all. States that run their own marketplace can set other dates. HealthCare.gov dates
Nov 11Veterans Day is next Wednesday, November 11. It's a federal holiday, the Federal Reserve is closed, and the Postal Service lists it as a postal holiday. Check your bank's hours before a deposit run, and plan mailings around it. OPM's holiday list
The Social Security wage base rises to $192,300 in 2027. It's $184,500 this year. Social Security tax applies to wages up to that figure, so update it in next year's payroll budget for anyone who earns more. Medicare tax has no limit. SSA's 2027 fact sheet
Social Security benefits rise 3.6% in January. SSI recipients see the increase in the payment dated December 31. If your programs help people budget around their benefits, use the new amounts in January's planning. SSA on the 2027 increase
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Ask December's volunteers for one date in January
More people help than volunteer. In the Census Bureau and AmeriCorps survey covering September 2022 to September 2023, 54.2% of Americans helped their neighbors informally. Only 28.3% volunteered through an organization.
That gap is your recruiting pool: people who already show up for others and haven't been asked to show up for a program.
December brings many of them through your door for one shift. They wrap gifts, serve a holiday meal or sort coats. Then the shift ends, and nobody asks them for the next one.
Ask before they leave, and ask for a date. "Let us know if you'd like to help again" is easy to put off. "Can you come back on January 18?" is a yes or a no, answered on the spot.
January already has a good date. Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on Monday, January 18, 2027, and AmeriCorps notes that it "is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service."
What to do this week: pick one January date with a real job attached. Put it on a sign-up sheet at every December event, and have whoever leads each shift ask every helper in person before they head home.
AmeriCorps on the day of service
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Through DecemberTarget: up to $500 a year in gift cards
For 501(c)(3)s and accredited schools. Fill out Target's request form, print it, and bring it to your local store with your IRS determination letter or another letter from the IRS. Donations run February through December "as funding permits." Most are $25 to $50, and the most one organization can get is $500 a year. Stores can take up to 30 days to review a request, so don't wait for December.
Target's giving page
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Panera: up to 25% of a night's sales
For 501(c)(3)s near a Panera café. You book a fundraiser night, your supporters show your flyer at the register, and the café donates up to 25% of their net sales. Book at least two to three weeks ahead; each organization can hold one event every 30 days. Gift cards, catering and delivery-app orders don't count. Have a completed W-9 ready to upload, and expect the check 45 to 60 business days later.
Panera's fundraising page
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Always open: Microsoft gives a nonprofit with recognized charitable status Microsoft 365 Business Basic free for up to 300 users, with 1 TB of cloud storage each. Schools, hospitals, government agencies and political groups don't qualify. Microsoft's nonprofit offers
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Nearly 90,000 coats, cleaned by the local dry cleaners
Coats for Kids in Macon County, Illinois, run by WAND and the Decatur nonprofit Dove, Inc., is in its 35th year. The drive has collected nearly 90,000 coats, almost 3,000 of them last year, WAND reported on October 26. This year it runs through November 29 and takes new or gently used coats, adult sizes included.
Nearly 30 businesses and organizations serve as drop-off sites, and local dry cleaners help get the donated coats ready to give away at no cost.
"Our goal is to make sure that everyone in Macon County, kids and even adults, has a warm coat during the wintertime," said Melissa Girardi of Dove, Inc.
The lesson for a director: give each partner one job they already do. A dry cleaner cleans coats. A business with a front door takes drop-offs. Neither has to learn anything new to help.
WAND's report
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Take people who have left off your accounts
Before the year ends, list everyone who has left since January: staff, volunteers and board members. Then check who can still sign in to your website, post on your social accounts, or see or move money at your bank, and remove anyone who shouldn't. Change any shared password a person who left still knows, and ask your bank for the list of signers it has on file.
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Sign contracts right inside Argenta
Contracts in Argenta now have document signing built right in. Upload the contract as a PDF, mark where each person signs, and send it.
Signers open the emailed link without an account, and they can type, draw or upload their signature. You can set the signing order and send reminders.
When the last person signs, everyone gets the signed copy with a Certificate of Completion, and a copy is filed with the contract.
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