What’s the impact when there is zero cost to distribute one more item?

I have a series of posts up on my other blog, Outrun Change, discussing the radical changes in how books, music, and video are distributed today without having to use a traditional middleman.  There is a dramatic shift when it doesn’t cost anything to make and distribute one more copy of something.

This doesn’t just impact writers and musicians.  This has a huge impact on nonprofits that want to get their message or resources out, or businesses that want to start producing materials for education and promotion.

Check these out:

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Jim Ulvog

Software tracks everything you do on a smart phone – yet another reason to be attentive to privacy issues

Software from an outfit called Carrier IQ seems to be available for all the smartphones, if it is not already loaded on all of them.  Their software can track everything you do, down to monitoring key strokes and web sites visited.

So what?  Think passwords to bank accounts, apps used, all data searches performed and what results were viewed.

Remember the discussion on your phone tracking your location every moment?  This goes beyond location tracking.

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Jim Ulvog

15 tips for QuickBooks

A Quick Guide to QuickBooks from the December Journal of Accountancy provides 15 great tips for more efficient and effective use of QuickBooks.  Check it out for ideas you haven’t seen before.

A few highlights of interest to small NPOs:

Memorized transactions – you can memorize recurring transactions, such as the rent or copier payment and have them posted automatically on a chosen day.

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Jim Ulvog

Philanthropy articles in the Wall Street Journal

Five great articles in the Wall Street Journal on November 28. If you have yesterdays paper sitting around, grab The Journal Report section and save it.

I will discuss these articles in more detail later, along with my thoughts on the operate-as-a-business question.  In the meantime here are some links.  Check them out – they are not behind a paywall! (more…)

Jim Ulvog

“Once Upon Internal Control” is available on Kindle platform

My tale on internal control done well and poor at two churches is now available in Kindle format at Amazon.

Price is $0.99.

You can read the book on your Kindle device, on any smart phone with a Kindle app, or on your computer using the Kindle-for-PC application.

At Amazon, search for my name, Ulvog, or the book title, Once Upon Internal Control.

Or click here to go directly to the book.

Jim Ulvog

2 great QuickBooks tips

Sharlynn Garza has two great tips for QuickBooks users in her post Quickbooks Tips at the Nonprofit/Government GPS blog..

One of the things that can create a mess in QuickBooks is to make a change in prior year data that has already been closed out or even audited.

One of the underappreciated dangers of changing prior year data is a loss of credibility for the finance staff.  When a new report has prior numbers that don’t equal what was on previously distributed reports, the finance team looks bad.  The board can lose confidence in your abilities if the previous numbers change and the report users think prior data is fluid.

Ms. Garza points out two things you can do to avoid changing previous amounts.

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Jim Ulvog

Myths about church dropouts – research from Barna Group

Barna Group has released new research about young people who drop out of church. Their book is called, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith.

They have posted an executive summary of the research on their blog: Five Myths about Young Adult Church Dropouts.

The myths: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Q: Why does it feel like the economy hasn’t recovered yet the stats say it has?

A:  Doing more with less.  In other words, increased productivity.

On one hand, the unemployment rate continues very high, which means there are lots fewer people working.  On the other hand, GDP has just passed the peak from before the recession, which means the size or value of the economy has recovered.

Check out this picture – (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Do the cribs in your church nursery need to be replaced?

Richard Hammar calls attention to new regulations of the Consumer Product Safety Commission affecting cribs in the September/October 2011 edition of Church Law & Tax Report.  The newsletter is not available online so I will not quote it. Since government statistics & regulations aren’t copyrightable, I will summarize a few key pieces of information from the CPSC.

By the way if you are in leadership of a church, I heartily recommend you subscribe to Church Law & Tax Report.  At $69 for six issues a year, it is the most reasonable, pertinent legal information you’ll find.  E-mail contact:  CLTReditor@christianitytoday.com.  On the net at www.ChurchLawandTaxReport.com.

Why are cribs a problem getting government attention?  Here’s the data CPSC collected in a 2 ½ year time span: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Pendulum swings in how we use computers

The swinging of a pendulum is a great word picture for describing change.   Especially helps for explaining shifts in computing power.  The pendulum swung from dumb terminals to personal computers and now to ‘the cloud’.

I mention this in a post at my other blog, Outrun Change:  The computing pendulum has swung back to dumb terminals and service bureaus – will it swing back?

There I discuss and link to a post by John Bredehoft.

By the way, my ponderings about the change taking place around us are posted on the other blog.  That leaves this blog focused on nonprofit issues.

Jim Ulvog

Reflections on the zero cost and inconsequential time to deliver a 2,500 page book.

Delivering books in PDF format is old news.

Today I looked at the process anew and laughed in marvel at the simplicity, low-cost, and blinding speed of doing so. Posted my thoughts on my other blog Outrun Change at: It’s a blast being alive today, or, isn’t technology cool?

Jim Ulvog