If you are planning a capital campaign, you should develop your skills at managing conference calls. The success of capital campaigns will depend on your ability to recruit and manage great volunteers. And these days, pulling volunteers together for meetings is harder than ever...
Regardless of where you are in the fiscal year, you should be constantly looking for new volunteers and potential board members. These individuals, if chosen correctly, can bring much needed new contacts, finances and open doors for future possibilities to your organization...
I get a lot of fundraising mail, which is good because to this fundraiser, that’s like food to a starving person. I receive great nourishment from other people’s mail (OPM)—creative stimulation, chuckles, thoughtful moments, emotional engagement, smiles and an occasional tear...
Transitions are a part of life in a nonprofit. According the American Council on Education, the average college or university president serves seven years. Also, the average tenure has been decreasing. The average tenure for a nonprofit CEO/executive director is even shorter...
In our grant applications, we are careful to select the best statistics to set out our need statement. We are careful to use the best descriptions about the demographics of those our organization serves each day...
Are annual reports important to your nonprofit? I would say definitely so. It provides the past, present and hints of the future for your organization in a very succinct way. Make sure you understand the purpose of the annual report and how you intend to utilize the annual report before launching this program...
A CEO who is actively interested and engaged in fundraising is critical to attracting transformative philanthropic investment. For CEOs who have a passion for building relationships with donors or who perhaps served as fundraisers earlier in their careers, rolling their sleeves up and jumping into the fundraising fray comes naturally...
I’ve seen great turnarounds in poor-performing nonprofits. I’ve also seen many fail terribly. To map out a plan for greater mission focus, increased impact, heightened leadership and transformational philanthropic support are invigorating. But to get to that vision, you must first deal with reality—where you are. And that often means making tough decisions...
Throughout the last few years, the entire world has been buzzing about the power of story. On the surface, all this conversation makes it seem like we've collectively forgotten the millennia of storytelling sprawled out before us in museums, history books, novels and campfires...
While I do believe too many fundraisers are underpaid relative to their skill sets and performance, I have a hunch it’s not the real chief culprit for fundraiser dissatisfaction. What is?...
