Foundation Business

Archive for the ‘foundation center’ Category

Cost per call is one of the most usual and most important performance metric when looking at and evaluating performance of call center operations. That is because in all businesses, of course, expenses would be among the most crucial factors to look at when computing profits. Call centers are no different from traditional businesses in that sense. That is because call centers must also first and foremost give ample consideration to the costs incurred when making calls to customers so that comparison with actual revenues can be made.

Because of that, cost per call is widely considered as the foundation of all key performance indicators in a call center business. Costs or expenses on labor like wages, employee benefits, and payments to incentives, and costs for contractors should be given much leverage. That is because it has been found that in any call center business; about 67% of overall costs are accounted for labor. Therefore, it is certain that costs on labor are indeed the biggest factor that should be reduced if the company is aiming to lean or trim cost per call. Of course, all call center operations should strive very hard to lower total cost per call so that profits could be maximized and efficiency be made better.

Other than that, labor costs are also taken against expenses on other operational factors. For example, because call centers basically involved operations using telephony, it is just natural that costs of using telecommunication or telephone equipment and services should also be accounted for. Because call centers are now usually outsourced from third world countries and emerging economies, call costs are usually higher. Those expenses are logically added on top of the costs spent for labor.

Ensuring labor efficiency is one way on how high costs per call can be offset. By that, agent utilization should be made ideal. If there is a high agent utilization rate, it follows that there would be low cost per call. And that for all call center operations would be optimal. So how would firms ensure there is labor efficiency? By looking at and focusing at the rate of calls each call center agent makes per hour or per day, the productivity could easily be determined. The more calls agents make per hour or per day, the more productive they become. Some call centers even set quotas per day that should be reached by agents. However, one pitfall of this is the possibility that quality of calls can be compromised because agents are on the rush to beat call caps.

These setbacks and challenges about costs per call are the reasons why in the past several years, call center companies have been actively putting up operations in emerging economies like India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. To begin with, labor costs in those countries are significantly lower as compared to those in major countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. The rise of numerous cal centers in those cheap-labor nations are apparently attesting the profitability of putting up businesses in those countries, as quality of services are ensured though costs are dragged down.

First let me explain what a heavy duty shed is and then I will explain how to build the foundation. A heavy duty shed would be something built similarly to a home. In other words you would use lumber to frame the building and siding or stucco to finish the exterior. The shed would also have a regular roof on it, using composition shingles or something of its equivalent.

If your soil conditions are pretty good, I would recommend building a 6 inch thick foundation, with 10 to 12 inch deep perimeter footings. This would give you a sturdy shed foundation for a heavy duty shed.

To make it even stronger, I would install half-inch rebar or number four rebar, 16 inches on center, in a grid like pattern directly in the center of the 6 inch concrete foundation slab. This would give you a superior product and would probably hold up, pretty good in most soil conditions.

You should also install some half inch anchor bolts around the perimeter of your shed foundation, to hold the framing bottom plates in place. This provides a good foundation anchor for your wall framing.

If you’re going to be building a shed larger than 12′ x 12′, you might want to get in touch with a structural engineer. Don’t forget to check with your local building department, to make sure that you’re allowed to build a shed that will not be removable on your property.

These are basic recommendations, for constructing a heavy duty shed foundation on your property.

And what to do if your budget allows for neither …

Awhile back the “Grants” listserv of CharityChannel, the Internet’s premier resource for nonprofit information, featured a lively debate about the merits of Metasoft’s BIG Online subscription database versus The Foundation Center’s Foundation Directory Online database. The merits of Guidestar’s Grant Explorer were even touched upon.

Both programs offer their users a variety of methods to seek out foundation funders. Both obtain their information through foundations’ 990 tax forms. And, based on feedback, both BIG Online and Foundation Directory Online share an equal number of loyal fans.

However, the fact is there are many nonprofit organizations whose budgets (or executive director’s mindsets) do not allow for choosing ANY foundation prospecting tool, let alone BIG Online, which will run you thousands for a six-month (their shortest) run.

What’s a smaller nonprofit organization with limited resources to do? Is it possible to still seek out those little known national and regional foundations whose missions align with yours? Without expensive tools and connections, how will my little $250,000 annual budget children’s arts organization find foundation support to grow and create new programming?

With an internet connection, preferably high speed, some time and practice, and a number of detecting tools, even those on very limited budgets can regularly seek out foundations that will support your mission – year after year.

Your best start is a foundation directory. Almost every state, with exceptions such as Alaska and Hawaii, publish one and sometimes several. More and more these directories are moving to Internet subscription-based services – but they’re still a deal.

Now take some time to really explore these websites if you’re not already familiar with them:

guidestar.com: Note that you must register to use Guidestar but registration is free. Guidestar does offer paid subscriptions, however, there is no charge for viewing a foundation’s three most recent 990′s.

taxexemptworld.com: This clunky little site can be a boon to the grantseeker on a budget.

fdncenter.org/: The Foundation Center; one of the oldest and best resources on the web. The Foundation Center offers a number of paid subscription programs – but they also offer free services.

.cof.org: The Council on Foundations

.smallfoundations.org: A relatively new organization devoted to 60,000 smaller United States Foundations

.nozasearch.com/: In October of 2007, Noza began offering free foundation searches.

Between your state foundation directory and these sites, you should have enough resources to get you started on the path to funding.