It’s a fact of life that between 20 to 30 percent of a nonprofit’s budget is spent on managing the other 70 to 80 percent of the budget. But it doesn’t mean that 100 percent of your budget can’t be used to generate reportable outcomes that are worthy of sharing with your donors...
It was a new vice president for development, and expectations were high. I was serving on a campaign steering committee and enjoying a day full of high energy. The new staff leader entered the room quietly, sat in a row of chairs against the wall and proceeded to either text or read emails until he was asked to speak...
If anything, working from the underground up taught me to concentrate on what really matters, because, frankly, I didn’t have time for the stuff that didn’t. I trimmed off all of the extraneous stuff so that I could maintain a laser-like focus when it came to working the key areas that eventually would grow my business to what it is today...
My guess is that you or some of your colleagues in the field are thinking, "What the heck is Jeff talking about now? Spirituality and major gift fundraising? What’s this all about? OK, I get it. Today, when you hear the word "spirituality," all kinds of stuff comes bubbling up. Some of what comes up is pretty negative. There is no doubt about that...
We all have seen agendas that have time amounts allocated for each item, but are never followed. At a certain point, members get tired or uninterested in the meeting or spend too little time on the most important issues. How many of us take meeting agendas for granted? Since meetings are an important part of our business life, we need to better understand this topic...
This has been a crazy week—I co-presented a webinar for NonProfit PRO and am heading to Washington, D.C., for the annual Bridge Conference (as a learner, not a presenter). Why? Because I am absolutely passionate about continuing education, both for myself and what I share with others when I can. And I want to energize you about continuing education, too, which is why I write about investing in you about once a year...
Genuine, wholehearted appreciation trumps money, benefits and an epic job title. Because at the heart of it is the idea that you enjoy coming into work every day. Sure, a job is a job, but a cheerfully positive outlook on the space where you spend the majority of your day-to-day shouldn’t feel like a novel concept...
One trip, three brands and personal communication that went in opposite directions...
We all know that millions of Americans enjoy volunteerism. All of us strive to identify, recruit and orient volunteers each year. We also know that, for our organizations to continue to stimulate volunteer engagement, we must provide meaningful opportunities for volunteers to engage in win-win situations. In order to provide those, we need to have those volunteer experiences for ourselves...
It is midway through 2016. In a few short months we will enter the holiday season. Most of us are either halfway through a fiscal year or just beginning a new one. In either case, it is time to take professional stock of where you are and where you are going. Last week, we discussed steps for a midyear personal checkup. This time, let's talk about the 10 steps for a professional nonprofit fundraising checkup...
