Staffing & Human Resources

Thirty years is a long time to devote to any pursuit, and Karen Cragnolin, the oft-honored founding mother of RiverLink, can attest to that. During that time, she says she held every job in the organization, and was planning to finally move on this year when, during surgery, she suffered an aneurysm that robbed her…

Because many nonprofit leaders do not take the time to thoroughly examine their organizations' management, small mistakes happen often—and large disasters are just around the corner. Here are some skills and techniques to help us recognize problems before they occur, and build a culture to address them...

Sometimes, you’re in that ideal place, one where it feels like everything has come together full circle. You’re sailing along in your dream development director job. You love your work, your coworkers, your commute. The benefits far outweigh the shortcomings. What’s more, you’re getting great results. And then it happens...

It’s a common frustration for nonprofit communications directors who are trying to work collaboratively with staff: getting people to meet their deadlines. This is a hard first step, but one that’s essential: If you want someone to meet your deadlines, they have to believe it’s important to do so. And that means that they understand…

I asked a few readers to tell me why they hated meetings. Here’s one: I have a quarterly meeting with a funder. I travel 250 miles to get there. When I get there, it’s clear that no one has read the report I spent hours putting together. I essentially recite the report and then travel…

The other day, I was thinking about what the perfect resource-development job is like. In this complex society and profession, there are many moving parts in play. In my mind, however, I thought, "Wouldn’t our jobs be easier if we created our own organizational vision of the perfect nonprofit organization?" Here's what my dream organization would look like...

Our sector seeks to achieve impact at scale on some of society’s greatest and most persistent challenges. For today’s nonprofit CEO, the key to success is collaboration—striking a balance between making decisions from the middle and leading from the front. Nonprofit CEOs who do this effectively see their organizations accomplish their missions. We need more CEOs like that...

According to "The Nonprofit Almanac, 2016: The Essential Facts and Figures for Managers, Researchers and Volunteers," updated and released by the Urban Institute, growth in the sector occurred mostly in the health care and social assistance sectors, which include hospitals, mental health centers, crisis hotlines, blood centers, soup kitchens, senior centers and similar organizations. That…

I have worked in nonprofits for 15 years—longer if you count volunteering throughout high school and college. I’ve been powering through burnout with full awareness for my entire career. But this year, at age 35, something snapped. I literally found I couldn’t work anymore—physical symptoms, compounded by stress, forced me to take medical leave. Reading…

Even if you’re not in the middle of a capital campaign, fundraising boosts your adrenaline. And if you are in capital campaign mode, the stress is even higher. Here are 10 suggestions for taking care of yourself. These are things you can do to boost your energy and morale, even as you live through the everyday anxiety of fundraising...