Note: This guest post is from Alyson Molloy Hussey, a development consultant and former development director. Thanks, Alyson! A lot of organizations – maybe yours? – are perpetually looking for development staff. In Boston, where I work, there seems to be a shortage of professional fundraisers. While conducting their staff search, … [Read more...]
Hiring a consultant? How to be an even more savvy consumer
Last month, I published a post about hiring consultants. This piece was passed around, re-posted, and featured on other blogs, including GuideStar. If you read it and shared it – thank you! Because there’s lots more to say (and learn) about this subject, here are five more tips you can use to build productive relationships with … [Read more...]
Graphic Facilitation 101: Telling Your Story Visually
For years, I’ve been fascinated by the work of graphic facilitators, thanks in large part to my friend Julie Stuart at Making Ideas Visible. If you can imagine capturing a meeting or planning session in a series of images – and using what you’ve captured to advance the conversation – you'll begin to understand the power of this … [Read more...]
Making Decisions? A Simple Facilitation Tool
A few years ago, I sat down with my colleagues Nancy Wasserman and Stephanie Lahar to discuss ways to work together more intentionally. We’re friends, we’re consultants with different (but complementary) expertise, and we all run our own one-person businesses. Nancy suggested a very basic exercise. She wrote three columns on a flip … [Read more...]
Social Enterprise: Identify Your Assets
By Jean Block We asked our colleague Jean Block, a thought leader on nonprofit social enterprise, to share her wisdom on entrepreneurial nonprofits. Her strategy, outlined below, can help you identify your assets and begin to create earned income strategies. Oh, no! The Big Grant was not renewed. Yikes! The Walk-A-Thon was rained … [Read more...]
Consultants: Become a Magnet for New Clients
The world is crowded with fundraising consultants – it seems that more and more enter the field every year. Most serve clients doing development assessments, fundraising planning, campaign strategy and management, and (our favorite) helping board members embrace fundraising. They create strategic plans, facilitate board development, … [Read more...]