Strategic Planning

A few years back, famed Princeton philosopher Peter Singer had a student who, like many new graduates, wanted to change the world for the better. The student, Matt Wage, decided that the best way for him to do that wouldn’t be to join the Peace Corps or take a low-paying job at a nonprofit. Instead,…

Cash gifts at calendar year-end are literally the life-blood of many a nonprofit. Nonprofits often receive north of 40 percent of their annual cash during the last 30 to 60 days of the calendar year. Certainly nothing to treat casually. And yet, that‘s something that some organizations do. As with any appeal, it’s important to know what your objectives are...

Our fundraising work allows programs to continue, results to happen and stories to be told because the organization’s mission is being accomplished. One way we may become people who are remembered for years to come is to make sure we are consistently reminding our donors how important leaving us a legacy in their will or trust is to our organizations (and to them). Set in motion bequest gifts with these four steps...

I bet many of you are out there thinking, “Do I really have time for #GivingTuesday?” To that I say, "Yes, you do!" The tools and tactics are all at your fingertips. Remember that other organizations are taking part in this global giving campaign and #GivingTuesday is about visibility and momentum during a vitally important…

Customer experiences in the commercial industry declined year-over-year. What about with your nonprofit?

What is your big vision? What is next for your organization? If you could double your contributed income, what would it mean for those you serve? Ideally, this should come from your strategic planning process. A campaign I was leading was about to hit its goal, and we had momentum to raise significantly more funds. When I asked the CEO what was next, there was a blank stare. They had not thought beyond what was a very obvious building need...

I am old school and still maintain my to-do list by hand. Some days I do not look at the list because I know what is on the list. The point of this post is not to advocate for the elimination of a work-priority task list, but to encourage you to create a modified version of a list. Divide your list by time segments, priorities and importance with respect to deadlines...

Do you have a strategic plan, operational plan, target markets or bull’s-eye target in mind to determine and strengthen community partnerships? A simple exercise consisting of three steps may help any nonprofit executive determine how to strengthen community partnerships going forward...

To get a handle on what’s in store for 2015, NonProfit PRO rounded up some of the nonprofit industry’s finest, who were kind enough to share these 70 trends for this new year — everything from leadership to staffing to fundraising and more.