Accountability

On June 21, supporters on Trump’s mailing list received the first fundraising email the campaign has ever sent with the subject line, “The First One.” Well, they were supposed to. According to Ad Age, nearly 60 percent (59.3 percent, if you want to get specific) of those emails went straight to the spam folders. Only 12 percent of recipients opened the email and 6 percent of recipients deleted it without reading...

I had a light bulb moment that made me do one of the smartest things I’ve ever done and something that I continue to do 16 years later. You see, I knew that the heart and soul of my fundraising plan would be to learn what our donors’ motivations were. So, after querying our database for 20 loyal donors who had given more than $250 a year during the past five years, I wrote a letter of introduction asking why they had supported the organization...

Is donor-centricity a crock? There was an interesting discussion at The Agitator last month. (I think it began with "Who Gets Fired?" but I can’t promise I’m right. The conversation continued over days because it’s important.) It raised a question: Who’s to blame for lousy fundraising? Development staff, executive directors, consultants—we ran through the gamut.…

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.…

A court order forced the IRS to release a lengthy list of groups that applied for nonprofit status and were given extra scrutiny based on their political views...

How many of these are true for you and your nonprofit board? You make assumptions that are incorrect about board members knowledge, skills or comfort level. You make board members wrong, mostly behind their backs, and they feel it. Board members, especially the new ones, are nervous about making a mistake or overstepping their bounds.…

One of the dangers nonprofits face is the cult of personality. That is the idea that one person is the organization. Beyond the initial founding years, an organization’s leadership must work diligently to build an organization to last. Not an organization that is about or dependent on one person. Building a nonprofit board to last is essential. It is the board that is the steward of the organization, transcending CEOs and other staff leaders...

About five months after CBS aired harsh criticism of Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), which led the nonprofit to fire its CEO and chief operating officer, the organization has announced its hiring of a new leader...

The city of Orlando, Fla., announced Friday that the $7 million it collected after the nightclub shooting would be given directly to family members and survivors instead of being distributed through charities and nonprofit groups. The change was necessary, Mayor Buddy Dyer said, because survivors of the nightclub attack and relatives needed help immediately with…

Seventeen years ago, former University of Southern California and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Pat Haden joined the board of an old, little-known charitable foundation that helps needy young people get an education. The George Henry Mayr Foundation, established in 1949, has no office of its own, no full-time staff and no website. Its founder and namesake…