This edition of Nonprofit Essentials is landing in your inbox just a few days into Hispanic Heritage Month. Rather than being a calendar month, this celebration runs from September 15–October 15, a time that overlaps with the independence days of Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Many nonprofits can help people of all ages learn more and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. For our readers with young children, over at PBS, there is a new episode of the kids’ show “Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum.” Each episode is dedicated to helping kids learn about two different people in history. The latest episode features Sonia Manzano, best known for portraying Maria on “Sesame Street.” Manzano is also an author, a board member for several nonprofits, and the creator of the show “Alma’s Way” on PBS. We also recommend this article about the impact seeing themselves and their community in that show had on the author.

For podcast fans, tune in to Fritanga, a series from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Monthly episodes explore Latinx culture and community.

And the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino provides an online virtual tour of their ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States exhibit, along with more learning resources and recipes to try from Cuba, El Salvador, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

We encourage everyone to take some time to learn more and celebrate the contributions of Hispanic and Latino people to our communities.

In the latest edition of their “Community Perspectives” survey series, the Federal Reserve examined the health of organizations serving low- and moderate-income communities. They found that only about one-third of responding nonprofits reported being able to meet most or all of the demand for their services. While 40.6% of organizations reported their finances to be “steady,” 41.4% reported “some” or “a lot” of stress. When it comes to staffing, almost equal amounts reported decreases (29.3%) and increases (30.9%) over the past year.

Last week, Independent Sector and United for ALICE released “ALICE in the Nonprofit Workforce: A Study of Financial Hardship,” focusing on the financial challenges faced by too many people working in the nonprofit sector. (ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.) The report found that five percent of nonprofit workers’ income is below the U.S. poverty level, and another 17 percent have earnings that are insufficient for the counties they live in.

Nonprofit and other employers that sponsor retirement plans will be permitted to provide matching contributions for employees based on their payments on student loans, according to a recent Internal Revenue Service notice. Eligible retirement plans include 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), or SIMPLE IRA plans. Previously, these benefits were restricted to only elective contributions to retirement plans. The notice applies to plan years that start after December 31, 2024. For this year, employers may rely in good faith on the guidance in the notice.

Hundreds of people visit our job board each day, where they find thousands of nonprofit jobs across the country like those in this recent sampling. Browse jobs or list openings at your nonprofit.