Note: This post is from Train Your Board partner Laurel McCombs. Thanks, Laurel! My colleague Bob Osborne and I just spent a few great days in New Orleans at the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference (AFP ICON). This might be the largest fundraising conference in the world, with several thousand attendees from … [Read more...]
Your favorite thanks: A fundraising exercise
Note: This is adapted from Train Your Board (and Everyone Else) to Raise Money, which I co-authored with Andrea Kihlstedt. Fundraising is about gratitude and appreciation. When we demonstrate genuine, personal appreciation, donors respond – and they keep giving. By developing a “thank you menu,” you can provide more opportunities for … [Read more...]
Consultants: First, do no harm
A former client called last week. He had hired a team of consultants to facilitate a two-day planning retreat and the event had gone badly. It’s a long story, but here’s the gist. The consultants did their homework and carefully prepared the agenda. However, once the retreat began, they faced a lot of tangents, conflict, and … [Read more...]
What’s your board vision?
Note: This post is from Train Your Board partner Laurel McCombs. Thanks, Laurel! Are you planning for an incredible 2023? I hope you’re developing a board plan as well as a plan for your broader organization. More importantly, are you looking beyond the next year? Here are three reasons for clearly defining your multi-year board … [Read more...]
Boards and fundraising: Plan B (and C and D…)
Are you satisfied with your board’s fundraising performance? If the answer is an emphatic “No!,” don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. Based on all the inquiries, I could probably lead board fundraising workshops 365 days per year. The demand is endless. Perhaps you’ve tried the standard remedies: pep talks, board retreats, recruiting … [Read more...]
What I learned facilitating my first hybrid workshop
Note: This guest post is from Nora Ellertsen of The Funding Seed. Thanks, Nora! Before the pandemic, my company hosted monthly in-person fundraising workshops here in New Orleans. Over eight years, I developed content, activities, and presentation strategies for those trainings. Like many of us, I switched to Zoom during COVID, … [Read more...]
Creating a climate-positive consulting business
As the summer winds down – a summer filled with drought, fires, floods, and other extreme weather – I’ve been thinking about the ways my consulting business engages with the topic of climate resilience. What am I doing to create positive change? Which of my behaviors add to the problem? How am I supporting my clients in taking … [Read more...]
Leading through ambiguity
A friend recently asked me, “In your role as board president, what’s been your approach to dealing with the pandemic?” “Embracing ambiguity,” I said, without hesitation. “The virus changes, the health guidance evolves, the future is unclear. We keep adapting, and I’m comfortable with that.” In that moment, I remembered an Institute … [Read more...]
Is it OK to give up on your board?
Several years ago, while attending a Money for Our Movements conference hosted by the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, I witnessed an interesting debate. This was literally a debate, with two teams arguing the pros and cons of the proposition du jour: Are we ready to give up on nonprofit boards and allow our organizations to be … [Read more...]
Funding social change from your own community
Note: This guest post is adapted and condensed from Fundraising for Social Change, 8th Edition, by Kim Klein and Stan Yogi. It explores how the LGBTQ+ rights movement generated funding and people power in San Francisco. Order your copy through your local bookstore. Thanks, Stan and Kim! In the 1970s, lesbians and gay men from … [Read more...]