Executive Issues

This week, I was at the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Fundraising Conference in Boston. Many sessions were worth the time away, but there was one, in particular, to remember. Three people took the stage. These three helped launch, build and grow organizations such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace International, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Heifer International and more...

Charity Defense Council, the nonprofit-advocacy organization founded by Dan Pallotta, on Thursday issued an 11-page media advisory detailing the preliminary findings of its investigation into the allegations CBS News and The New York Times made against Wounded Warrior Project. The organization found "major errors" in the two news outlets' reporting, including "significant factual errors" and "the possibility of material bias."...

A year after the largest human services provider in New York City suddenly collapsed and closed its doors after 80 years, we can learn valuable lessons through two “post-mortem” reports. The first report, by the Human Services Council, performs a detailed autopsy specific to the organization that closed its doors: the Federal Employment & Guidance…

American Cancer Society wants to be the Amazon of the nonprofit sector, in its online presence, anyway. It makes sense. Forbes ranked it as the 10th-largest U.S. charity in 2015, and as it has grown, it has significantly expanded its online footprint. So it's a smart move for the organization to model its user-experience after that of the world's largest online retailer...

Rachael Wilkins, director of development for Safe Haven Family Shelter had been going back and forth via email with a potential major donor who wanted to gift $30,000 in memory of his mother. When the gift arrived, the nonprofit told its financial consultant about the big check....

On Thursday, Wounded Warrior Project announced that it had fired two top executives and established an office of the CEO, led by board chairman Anthony Odierno, to head up the search for a new leader. Within a day, a familiar face had volunteered. John A. Melia, who founded Wounded Warrior Project in 2003 and led the organization until his departure in 2009, on Friday told The Associated Press that he had requested an "immediate" meeting with the organization's board of directors. And he has a 10-point plan to fix the organization...

A study by Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) found that a large number of nonprofit organizations are concerned about being displaced due to the cost of office space in the Bay Area. The study, called "Status of Bay Area Nonprofit Space & Facilities," found that an overwhelming 82 percent of the organizations surveyed are worried about…

More and more, it looks like many national chapter-based organizations across the country are breaking up or reorganizing. They may be called chapters, affiliates or federated organizations, but more and more, these small groups are growing up and demanding more respect, independence and control over the dollars they are raising...

Donald Trump claimed it took only an hour to raise $6 million for veterans. “We set up the website. I called some friends,” he said. And, just like that, 20 veterans’ groups were told to expect “a lot of money.” Indeed, if all you’d read about veterans groups in the past few weeks was coverage of…

Want inside nonprofit-leadership insights from the chief information officer at America's 10th-largest charity; a certified coach and consultant with a TEDx talk under her belt; the nonprofit branding expert who worked on the McGruff the Crime Dog marketing and promotional campaign; and other high-level nonprofit leaders? You've come to the right place...