By Linda Zelig
MnSF Development Manager

I hadn’t been here long. My first responsibility was to organize the year-end appeal. I agonize over every single word of a letter to tell the story of the work of the Minnesota Senior Federation and ultimately compel people to respond with a gift. I agonized, you responded. The results were tremendous and a testatment to your commitment to the work of the Federation. I thought I could stop agonizing, but for one of the responses.

Among the hundreds of replies that arrived throughout December, was an envelope with a return receipt, but no donation enclosed. Instead a message scrawled across the receipt read, “The Charities Review Council says you do not meet all standards of accountability for a nonprofit organization. How shameful!” Ooooh, that stung. I hadn’t thought to check our status with this respected board of review, but there it was - we were lax on four of the required standards. The report, however, was old - December 2003. It was time to do another assessment. And we did. It took 18 hours, but we answered hundreds of important questions regarding public disclosure, responsible governance, sound financial management and ethical fundraising.

Whew, do you remember what it’s like to take a final exam and not be sure of the outcome until it’s posted? That’s exactly what happened, and now you, too, can check the board. Our results are public on www.smartgivers.org. It’s a snapshot of the organization from several valuable perspectives. We’re now qualified to use the Council seal in printed documents and on the MnSF website. I hope you’ll take the opportunity to read the outcome.

The review stands for the next three years and is your assurance that the Minnesota Senior Federation is a trusted nonprofit operating on your behalf and worthy of your gifts. Equally important, our board signed a pledge to continually strive to meet the Accountability Standards, knowing that adherence to the standards will benefit this organization and the donor public.

Now I need to dig through my files and find the member who prompted us to action. I want to thank her for being a thoughtful and diligent donor, one who makes gifts to trusted organizations such as this one.