billable_jobs_explanatory_sheet [Northwest Cooperative Development Center] (2024)

Below are brief descriptions of some of the common jobs to which NWCDC staff bill hours.

General Customer/Job Accounts

None of these “General” accounts are billed to grants. They catch time spent on everything from admin to program delivery but only when the costs are not related to a contract or billable to a grant. Many of the following accounts have two versions: one for general cooperative development and a second specific to MHC work.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Admin

This job is for tasks that are not specific to any particular project and are not general work towards cooperative development. We track this to understand how much time our organization spends in administration to provide our key services. This account is similar to overhead. Typical expenses for this job would be entering payroll hours, general filing, filling out expense reimbursem*nt reports, buying or installing office equipment, or troubleshooting technology.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Admin:HOLIDAY

Full-time staff have a set amount of holidays every year. For logging Ebillity hours, these holidays should be entered as eight hours of General:Admin:HOLIDAY.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Admin:SICK

All staff accrue sick time. When using sick time, enter the hours using this account.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Admin:VACATION

Full-time staff accrue vacation time. Use this account when billing time to vacation.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Communications

Use communications to bill time spent answering emails or making phone calls when and only when it is not related to a specific project, an eligible activity, or development. Anything meeting this criteria but related to MHC or ROCNW work should be billed to the following account: communication MHC.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Communication MHC

Same as above (General:Communications) but specifically for work related to MHCs or ROCNW.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Development

Bill time to Development for work that is programmatic in nature but not related to a specific billable project or activity. General work that would otherwise fit the description of admin but is related to cooperative development fits in this category as does some professional development. This category is not usually used for anything that is a delivery of services to an outside client. Examples would be attending a webinar on understanding cooperative finances, participating in a team meeting, strategic planning for NWCDC, or researching partner organizations. Anything meeting this criteria but related to MHCs or ROCNW should be billed to Development MHC.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Development MHC

Essentially the same as Development but for any work related to MHCs or ROCNW. Examples would be participation in ROCUSA network calls, ROCNW team meetings, reading bulletins or materials on ROC training or coaching practices.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Urban

Because so much of our work is related to USDA rural activities and projects, this category exists for work on projects or with clients that are located in Urban areas but are programmatic. This account is for billing the preparation and delivery of services. Examples may include working with an urban food co-op prior to signing a contract for services, splitting time on a project where some locations are rural and others are urban, or just in time responses to an urban group. A similar account exists for MHC work in urban areas.

NWCDC [current year]:GENERAL:Urban MHC

This is similar to General:Urban but for MHC and ROC work. If you work on a a conversion in an urban area, it goes here. Once residents sign take assignment, they become a contract.

All work billed to RCDG must be rural based on the USDA's RCDG map. Some work may crossover with SDGG projects and it is important to bill only to the correct grant. Because RCDG is an activity-based grant and SDGG is a project-based grant, usually it is ideal to bill down projects to the SDGG first and then other activities can be included in the RCDG.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Co-op Education & Training:Just In Time

Just in time is for unplanned services provided to a co-op or prospective co-op or other client that meets the USDA's rural eligibility. Examples include providing a consultation to a group of farmers looking to form a producer cooperative or assisting a rural worker co-op that is looking to expand. When Just in Time work for a client becomes regular it should become a contract or be built into a future grant.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Co-op Education & Training:Marketing, Outreach & Member Campaign

These costs are spelled out in the activities in the most recent RCDG grant application and include marketing efforts, work with co-ops on recruitment and membership campaigns. This is generally not for MHC work. Again, you'll find these activities in the RCDG application for the year. This includes professional development such as attending webinars and some conferences. This job also includes projects around improving NWCDC systems and meetings with key partners of NWCDC.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Co-op Education & Training:Workshops & Events

This is for costs related to hosting workshops and events outlined in the most recent RCDG grant application. For example, this would include the co-op academy program. MHC workshops are more likely in resident training.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Feasibility & Business Development:Cost Analysis

These are costs related to feasibility studies or making pro forma financial statements. That might include market research, reviewing financial statements, or meeting with clients to discuss any of this.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Feasibility & Business Development:Legal & Accounting Prep

These costs are often associated with preparing articles of incorporation, bylaws, charts of accounts, initial accounting systems, or policies. This could be time working on the documents alone or could be facilitating a group process with clients.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Feasibility & Business Development:Strategic, Biz & Mktg Planning

Strategic planning sessions with clients, work on a business plan, or help setting a marketing strategy are all allowed under this job.

NWCDC 2021-2022:RCDG 2021:Feasibility & Business Development:Training & Coaching

The work with rural clients that is often less defined than cost analysis or planning fits here. Most of the time, this will look like regular attendance at board meetings, troubleshooting clients' issues over the phone, or helping board members otherwise address day to day issues.

A new category for this year, Healthy Housing is meant to cover our time spent working to address major infrastructure or home repair issues. This only includes the kind of work that goes beyond our technical assistance contract. For example, helping a community revise its CIP as part of regular budgeting or advising a board member to get cost estimates is not covered under this grant. Instead, meeting with engineers directly to create a water district or setting up a home repair fund are outside of our TA agreement and can be covered by this grant. This work is the primary function of the market development specialist. It is all of the work in rural areas to build a pipeline of rural communities and develop relationships with the related owners and brokers. It also includes any organization development work related to a rural MHC conversion up until the date that the residents take assignment of the purchase and sale agreement. Examples of eligible work include one-on-one meetings with owners and brokers, MHC owner association meetings, third party lender meetings, owner negotiations. More recently, this category is expanded to include similar work but for other property types like apartment buildings.

Most of the training to residents is provided under their TA contract. This grant activity is really for larger trainings such as the Cascade ROC Conference or a unique series of webinars. Often some resident training opportunities covered under the SDGG grant, too. It is important to make sure activity is only being billed to one grant.

NWCDC 2021-2022:SDGG 2022

NWCDC 2021-2022:SDGG 2022:[project]:Legal & Accounting Preparation

Use this category when working on bylaws, articles, or charts of accounts for a SDGG project.

NWCDC 2021-2022:SDGG 2022:[project]:Feasibility Research & Cost Analysis

Proformas and feasibility work for SDGG projects should use this activity. Routing meeting attendance or support to project leaders as well as training on facilitation or good governance should use this category.

NWCDC 2021-2022:SDGG 2022:[project]:Outreach Activities and Marketing Training

This includes membership campaigns, marketing efforts, and recruitment to a co-op.

NWCDC 2021-2022:SDGG 2022:[project]:Strategic and Business Planning

Time spent working on business plans and strategic planning sessions should be captured in this category. RBDG Grants Also, there are other grants such as the Rural Business Development Grant that may be broken down by activity. If you are working on an RBDG grant it should include categories similar to the RCDG or SDGG.