Strategic Planning
March 4, 2016 at 10:23 am
With the presidential elections heating up, you’re probably busy weighing the similarities and differences between candidates. But, as a nonprofit, you can take away a lot more from election season than simply knowing where candidates stand on important issues. Turns out, you can learn a lot about how to improve your very own fundraising strategies.…
February 18, 2016 at 11:18 am
If you work for a small nonprofit, you quite likely spend a portion of your week frustrated. You have great ideas, but they are often stymied by (1) a lack of budget, (2) a lack of time or (3) a lack of staff to put them into action. I confess I used to suffer from Big Organization Envy (BOE)....
February 5, 2016 at 10:47 am
Governance and risk management—two of the biggest concerns in the nonprofit sector right now, according to “Managing Risk in a Riskier World,” a study of top nonprofit executives by accounting, tax and advisory firm CohnReznick...
February 3, 2016 at 11:50 am
When you convert from another donor database you will have a lot of questions: How long is the process? Who will I be working with? How can I clean up my data? Will I be trained? Can I apply filters? The most common question asked during a conversion is “what do other organizations do?” in…
February 2, 2016 at 10:31 am
That’s how many nonprofits view the topic of grants. But foundation-grant seeking is a strategic process, not a one-time grant submission. So, how does the nonprofit organization that is brand new to grant seeking begin laying the groundwork for successful foundation-grant funding? Begin by following these basics...
January 27, 2016 at 10:18 am
What began as a fun way for Atlas Brew Works and DC Brau Brewing Company, two Washington, D.C.-based breweries, to engage the community and raise funds for an important cause, left them with a bad taste in their mouths and a five-month headache. So, what happened? Why did this attempt to do good go so wrong? The reasons are manyfold...
January 22, 2016 at 9:59 am
Advances in technology and the emergence of social media tools make it more possible than ever for social movements and causes to quickly spread far and wide (to go "viral" in the parlance of the moment). But how do you take a cause and transform it from an idea into something with universal appeal? In…
January 22, 2016 at 9:55 am
Do you ever feel stuck in cultivation? Like you’re simply not sure it’s the right time to ask? How can you know when the donor is ready? Figuring out when it’s the right time to ask can be one of the most difficult challenges for fundraisers to overcome. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to coach…
January 18, 2016 at 10:09 am
Today we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The man embodied many things, but perhaps among his most notable identifiers was that he was a man of remarkable vision. Vision is crucial to inspiring others to give, volunteer and participate. However, many nonprofit leaders spend countless hours writing a compelling vision statement,…
January 7, 2016 at 10:25 am
A typical nonprofit organization’s calendar is always full. Meetings, campaigns and other important dates. But which should take highest priority? Here are 14 important dates that you should consider circling on your nonprofit’s calendar. They will help you strategically plan throughout the year...
