Note: This post is adapted from an online conversation among Train Your Board partners Bob Osborne, Laurel McCombs, and Andy Robinson. Join the discussion! Andy I'm hearing from clients and colleagues that it's difficult to hire professional fundraisers – and when you do hire them, they tend to move on to other organizations. This is … [Read more...]
Board members going rogue (and how to manage them)
Note: This guest post is from Sheree Allison. Thanks, Sheree! In our small community, you’ll find Executive Director Happy Hour in the back corner of Olivier’s Wine Bar. It’s anything but happy, as nonprofit CEOs swap bizarre tales of boardroom misbehavior. These stories effect nearly every nonprofit. Mariette, one of the EDs, often … [Read more...]
A capital campaign … for a for-profit business
Located in my small Vermont town, the Plainfield Cooperative grocery store is more than fifty years old. A visit to its current location – a small-ish room in the former grange hall – is like a visit to the 1970s. Uneven wooden floors, narrow aisles, aging equipment. An interesting assortment of products, ranging from uber-local produce … [Read more...]
Core elements of fundraising success: Trust, engagement, impact (part 3)
Note: This post – the third in a three-part series – is by Train Your Board partner Laurel McCombs. Thanks, Laurel! I’m excited to share the latest installment on how you can engage your supporters in authentic and meaningful ways. Since my last post, the 2023 Giving USA results were released. The data demonstrates what we’ve been … [Read more...]
What is fundability – and how do I get some?
Many years ago, when I was employed as a development director, I would gather the program staff once a year and ask the following question: “If we had unlimited amounts of money, what work would we do – and how would we do it?” In other words, I gave them explicit permission to go crazy. To dream without limits. To speak those dreams … [Read more...]
Core elements of fundraising success: Trust, engagement, impact (Part 2)
Note: This post – the second in a three-part series – is by Train Your Board partner Laurel McCombs. Thanks, Laurel! In part one of this series, we discussed the declining number of donors and contributed dollars across the nonprofit sector. Since then, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project released their Q4 report, confirming that these … [Read more...]
Are you prepared for planned gifts?
Note: This guest post from Christine Graham is adapted from her new book, Thinking About Planned Giving: Information for donors and their favorite causes. Thanks, Christine! Planned giving is increasingly popular and often sounds complicated. It need not be. When we talk about planned giving (or legacy giving), we mean a charitable … [Read more...]
Do we really need boards? Let’s debate (Part 2)
Note: This is the second of two posts adapted from an online conversation between Train Your Board partners Bob Osborne and Andy Robinson. You can find the first portion here. Join the debate! We welcome your comments. Bob Any alternative structure – different from the traditional 501(c)(3) – would need to address fundraising. If an … [Read more...]
Do we really need boards? Let’s debate (Part 1)
Note: This two-part post is adapted from an online conversation between Train Your Board partners Bob Osborne and Andy Robinson. Join the debate! We welcome your comments. Bob Andy, I know you believe that our current model of board and nonprofit governance may be broken, and that you've been exploring alternative models. It's an … [Read more...]
Training for movements, not just organizations
In 1980, a few weeks after Ronald Reagan was first elected president, I answered a classified advertisement (remember classified ads?) in my local newspaper. The first word was Activist. I can’t remember the rest of the ad, but the idea was that I would be paid to work for social justice. I was adrift and anxious about the future, and … [Read more...]
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