NonProfits and Social Media

Sage North America today announced the results of its recently conducted social media survey for nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada. One of the most interesting findings: 91% of respondents raise funds online, but only 58 percent of those nonprofits using social media cite fundraising as a goal for using it. "Sharing our story," building a community, public relations, and donor engagement/retention -- not raising funds -- were listed as the nonprofits' top reasons for engaging in social media.

 

Other findings from Sage's social media survey for nonprofit organizations include:

  • 88% of survey respondents are using some form of social media; more than half of them have been using social media for less than a year.
  • 45% of survey respondents that haven't adopted social media are unsure of the relevance and advantages to their organization; other respondents cited lack of time and resources and lack of understanding and expertise as reasons for not participating in social media.
  • The most popular type of social media used is general social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, followed by blogging and microblogging; YouTube is also widely used.
  • 70% recognize social media as either very or somewhat important to their organization, while only 9% are very satisfied.
  • 20% of respondents spend more than five hours per week using social media.

To read the full story, click here.

Year-End Tips: Disabling the Social Security Verification in Aatrix® when Producing W2’s for Employees whose Social Security Wages do not Equal Medicare Wages

Question:

You have a number of employees whose wages were partially subject to social security. Some of their earnings were subject to social security and some of their earnings were not (i.e. they were covered by a separate pension program). As a consequence their social security subject wages do not equal their Medicare subject wages. Their social security taxes may not equal the standard percentage of their wages either. When you attempt to produce W2’s for these employees you receive an error that tells you the social security wages are not correct and you cannot continue. How do you resolve this?

Answer:

For employees who meet this condition (part of their wages is subject to SS, part is not) there is a way to turn off the social security checks in Aatrix®. WARNING: If you choose this option you MUST make sure all social security information is correct since you are turning off all error checking related to social security. At the start of the W2 process, there is the Data Verification window that asks several questions. If you select ‘Yes’ to the question “Do you have an employer with ANY wages that are not subject to Medicare or Social Security?”, you will have more options when you are in the preparer grid.

The system will still notify you of any records that violate the normal restrictions on social security. You will have the option to Continue without Correcting them. The boxes with these criteria will still be highlighted in Red but the system will allow you to proceed with your filing.

WARNING: This should ONLY be used in situations where employees paid into both social security AND a qualified pension fund during the same year. It should NOT be used to simply bypass the checks in the event that the amounts for social security are wrong. Especially in situations where the system has reached a maximum social security withholding that is lower than the current years ceiling (refer to KB Article 300083 for more detail). In situations where the social security amounts are wrong you will need to investigate the cause of the problem and make corrections. Usually in Set up/Adjust Employee Balances.

For more information about year-end processing in MIP Fund Accounting, please contact Blytheco by email or give us a call at 800.455.1368, extension 2500.