This week, I was having breakfast with an incredible leader. He owns three significant businesses in a metropolitan area and is one of the region’s most respected leaders, fully engaged in the civic affairs and direction. One of his affiliations is with a university. He was sharing with pride the caliber of the university’s current and past presidents and how, while with different leadership styles, they have taken the university to another level...
CEOs of nonprofits have been talking with me a lot about three matters that are weighing heavily on their minds: financial challenges, regulatory change and expansion. It is not news that nonprofits face financial challenges, but the challenges have been gradually exacerbating. They are seeing increased competition for donations, time and attention...
Since President Donald Trump’s administration ordered an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sept. 5, nonprofit providers across New York City have responded to those directly affected by offering legal services and other help. The move would phase out a program, created by then-President Barack Obama in a June 2012 executive…
I recently made a presentation to a group of fundraising professionals sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. During the presentation, I asked the class many questions. Some of these questions dealt with aspects of using volunteers to seek time, talent and treasure on behalf of their institution...
A new effort with the backing of some major names in the advertising industry is launching with an ambitious goal: create 130,000 jobs for people with developmental disabilities by 2020. Leaders of several New York advertising agencies are coming together to form the nonprofit Creative Spirit, which will work to grow employment opportunities for those…
If you want to be sustainable over the long haul, you must incorporate this dual-pronged goal into your values and planning. The values part is critical, because if you don’t have goodwill internally (in how you treat your colleagues) you’re unlikely to have goodwill externally (in how others perceive you)...
Charity regulators are cracking down on fundraising scammers after concerns that fraudsters had used tragedies such as Grenfell Tower and terror attacks to dupe donors. Fundraising platforms are to attend a meeting with the Charity Commission to agree new guidelines after websites, such as JustGiving and GoFundMe, were forced to suspend fundraising pages for tragedies,…
A nonprofit board’s fiduciary duty of care—aka risk prevention, management and compliance specific to program, finance and governance—can be effectively achieved by a nonprofit board through three activities: planning, policy-making and evaluation...
Take a few minutes, step back and think of ways you can improve the consistency and clarity for your board. You’ll see immediate and positive results!...
