Month: March 2021

Multiple tax preparation services are available to nonprofit clients in the region. Spread the  word!

• Free Tax Assistance is available from the Community Action Agency through April for individuals who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). All tax preparation is virtual this tax season. More info here.
• The Cincinnati Public Library and the United Way have partnered to offer numerous locations for free tax assistance. Call the Library’s Virtual Information Center at 513-369-6900, or fill outa brief online survey online to register for tax prep assistance. More info on all available CPL options here.
• Free Tax Prep, an initiative of United Way of Greater Cincinnati, provides free income tax  preparation and filing services to individuals in need. Funded by the IRS and powered by volunteers, the program offers services including preparing and filing taxes on an individual’s behalf or supporting people in preparing and filing their taxes. All in-person services have been modified to limit contact and ensure safe distancing. To determine the best free tax prep option, complete a short survey or call 2-1-1- for assistance. More info here.
• Brighton Center in Northern Kentucky offers the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) service in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, through April 10. The free volunteer income tax assistance is available on Saturdays in Newport, Florence and Grant County. Appointments need to be made due to pandemic restrictions. More information available here.

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a new consumer education blog post with the National Association of Attorneys General, offering tips on how to recognize and avoid vaccine-related scams. According to the post, with COVID-19 vaccines in the pipeline, scammers will not be far behind, and people should recognize the red flags of potential scams.

The article contains a graphic, featured in this article and included in the blog post, that can be captured and printed on 8 1/2 x 11″ paper to be posted in public areas or utilized in handouts. Article tips include:

• You likely will not need to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine during this public health emergency.
• You can’t pay to put your name on a list to get the vaccine.
• You can’t pay to get early access to the vaccine.
• No one from a vaccine distribution site or health care payer, like a private insurance company, will call you asking for your Social Security number or your credit card or bank account information to sign you up to get the vaccine.
• Beware of providers offering other products, treatments, or medicines to prevent the virus. Check with your health care provider before paying for or receiving any COVID-19-related treatment.

“We help with that!” is more than a slogan when it comes to consultant offerings through OneSource Center.  With a 100+ consultant team, experts can guide nonprofits in a wide array of business improvements.  While many executives think consulting automatically means strategic planning, board development or even financial recommendations – sometimes consulting means logistics planning, work process solutions, revisions to job descriptions based on organizational changes, capital campaign planning or even executive search.  Sometimes an in-road to helping a nonprofit succeed is as simple as a board member saying, “Why don’t you call Vickie Ciotti to investigate OneSource Center’s capabilities in that area!”   

In late 2019, Dress for Success Cincinnati was anxious to have more clothing readily available for their Suiting Center operations and supporting re-sale boutique, Portaluca.  Dress for Success, residing on 4^th Street in Cincinnati, is a multi-tier support system empowering women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and development tools to help them thrive in work and in life.  Women receive an interview ensemble and a week’s worth of suitable work attire once they have utilized support services to set them up for employment success. 

While the region is highly supportive of this nonprofit through donations of gently used clothing and financial donations, sufficient clothing items were not being prepared in-time to meet the demand.  OneSource Center consultant Jody Yetzer was new to the Dress for Success Cincinnati board of directors, and suggested a call to OneSource Center, and the “perfect ensemble” was created to develop a move-forward plan.

OneSource Center’s Rob Johnston, with extensive experience in optimizing work processes through his leadership in the Beauty Care division at Proctor & Gamble, worked with Dress for Success in developing a streamlined process for sorting and preparing clothing for the outlets.  He and the Dress for Success team collaborated, analyzing the types of clothing that came in; how it was sorted and the logic on how items were divided between the two distribution outlets.  The process was formalized into a work process flowchart which helped make visible the steps needed.  The flowchart is an effective tool to implement consistent procedures and can be used as a teaching tool to train new volunteers to convert donations into plentiful inventory for the outlets.

“Often what happens in organizations is that once work practices and department responsibilities are established, they are simply repeated over time without questioning if they are still the best approach.  Leaders of nonprofit operations don’t have time to analyze if the procedures are the most effective way to meet the organization’s current needs”, said Rob Johnston.  “Having an outside set of eyes to review, clarify and explicitly document the actions and decisions allowed the operation of converting donations into inventory to be streamlined, thereby providing a consistent supply of clothing to better support the mission of Dress for Success.” 

Another important component to the project was to help clarify the purpose and role of the department preparing clothing items, emphasizing its role as an inventory distribution center for the Suiting Center and Portulaca outlets. When a new manager was hired for this part of the business, the new title was “Inventory Coordinator.”  With this new “inventory management” mindset, Rob and the Dress for Success team reviewed the types and number of clothes that were needed by each outlet every week.  This analysis helped estimate the number of clothing donations to solicit and process by the inventory department each week.   

Know of an organization that could benefit from improved operational efficiency?  A project to clarify flowchart work procedures and decision logic can be a relatively simple and fast way to make big strides forward.  It’s as simple as a call to OneSource Center!   

For more information on Dress for Success Cincinnati and its positive impact on the lives of women and their families visit their website.