10 Bad Decisions Nonprofits Make

I’m going to rant for a minute here. Over the last six months, I’ve explored more than five dozen nonprofit development operations, and, in many ways, I’ve been disappointed at what I’ve seen.

That’s not to say that these programs are failures or that the people in these organizations aren’t doing good and meaningful work. But what I’ve seen is that there are some very basic, bad decisions that some organizations consistently make—and those decisions cost these organizations millions of dollars in lost revenue. Revenue that could be used to house and feed more people, to rescue more animals, to improve our environment, and the like.

Here, you’ll find the top 10 bad decisions that I’ve seen nonprofits make—and some thoughts about how to better approach these issues.