Fundraiser Education

The three elements of a successful major gift program are a good program to present to donors, good donors and a good major gift staff. Jeff and I have seen many major gift situations where one of these elements was missing, and it was impossible for a major gift program to really get traction...

My father is a fundraiser. My grandfather was a fundraiser. And just about all of my siblings and close relatives are involved in community work one way or another. I’ve made it my life’s goal to enhance the work and results of fundraisers. Fundraisers are my people—my passion...

Welcome back to #NPPTrendingNow, a weekly video series where NonProfit PRO Editor-in-Chief Nhu Te breaks down the top three coveted stories of the week. Here's what we've got going on for you this week: acquiring major donors, indicators of strong fundraising campaigns and succession planning...

Today, impact investing has become an essential topic for philanthropic engagement and discussion, and even the Catholic Church has gotten on the impact investment train. Under the direction of Pope Francis, the Church understands that it also takes making money to make a difference...

I attended a recent Kiwanis service club luncheon in Indianapolis. The theme of the lunch was nonprofit service by a variety of youth organizations related under the Kiwanis umbrella. Kiwanis International is a global community of clubs, members and partners dedicated to improving the lives of children...

Each individual metric we track and try to improve upon is a KPI. And if we just try to improve KPIs, we will fail at accomplishing our missions because we are focused on the wrong things. Why is focusing on KPIs bad?...

How many times have you tried to research foundations, corporations, organizations, associations and individuals only to find out that these entities are not accepting new proposals? In fact, they have not accepted new proposals for quite some time...

Taking that first step is what separates those who dream about creating change from those who actually create change, those who are change-makers. The nonprofit sector is a unique and powerful sector because of this...

When you have been in the nonprofit profession for a number of years, you interact with many colleagues. I am blessed to have known and continue to know colleagues who have impacted me during my career. One special person who I admire for a variety of reasons is Ernie Vargo, II, CFRE, in Indianapolis...

In previous blogs, we have been critical of the way in which nonprofits are often evaluated—their so-called “overhead ratios.” An overhead ratio compares the operating costs of the nonprofit with its income. A low-overhead ratio implies that the organization is minimizing its expenses (e.g. salaries, office rent) and, therefore, has more resources available to dedicate to its mission...