A few weeks ago, Andrea and I led a webinar about teaching board members to ask for gifts. It was a lively workshop. We shared five training exercises and answered lots of questions about board involvement. Overall, it felt like an effective, engaging experience. And then… Tell us what you really think As we were wrapping up, … [Read more...]
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go
Note: This is a guest post from our thoughtful colleague Joseph Tumolo, CAP®. Joe helps fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, and board members grow their major and planned gift programs. Visit him online at www.joetumolo.com. Thanks, Joe! Sometimes I hear nonprofit managers wrestling with the questions, “What if we invest in training our … [Read more...]
How to Build Consensus With Any Group
Do you facilitate or chair any kind of meeting or gathering – planning sessions, board meetings, work groups, or committee meetings? If so, one of your jobs is to help the group make decisions…preferably thoughtful, transparent, commonly-agreed-upon decisions. In our last post, we discussed the ways that Robert’s Rules of Order can … [Read more...]
Decisions, decisions: Consensus vs. Robert’s Rules
In my work with nonprofits, I'm always mystified by the pervasive use and abuse of parliamentary procedure, also known as Robert’s Rules of Order. Many, many board members believe that their discussions and decisions are somehow more valid when they make motions, second those motions, call the question, and hold formal votes that are … [Read more...]
The Big Ask: Training Your Board to Pitch in Public
Note: This guest post is from our colleague Crystal Middlestadt at the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training. GIFT publishes the Grassroots Fundraising Journal (one of our favorite publications) and organizes Money for Our Movements, North America’s largest gathering of social justice fundraisers. Thanks, … [Read more...]
Ambassador Training for Your Board
How big is your marketing budget? Let me guess: Not big enough. Many grassroots nonprofits struggle with marketing. They want a big brand, but have little time or money to invest. Sadly, many of these groups ignore the best tool in the marketing toolbox – and it’s free. Word of mouth! While your marketing options have expanded … [Read more...]
Challenge Your Board, Raise More Money
You’re probably familiar with the challenge or matching gift. A generous donor provides a gift or grant on the condition that you raise an equal amount from other sources. These gifts typically require a 1-to-1 match. Each donation you receive is matched dollar for dollar, though other ratios are possible. Challenge gifts are … [Read more...]
Yes We Can: Two Exercises to Inspire Your Board
When I worked as a development director, I gathered our program staff once a year to brainstorm “what if” questions: What if we had all the money we needed? What if we could focus on the work we wanted to do without worrying about the budget – what would we do? What if we had the capacity to try new things and do our work … [Read more...]
Find the Courage to Train Your Board: 6 Simple Tips
How do you cultivate courage...specifically the courage to try new things, like training our boards to raise more money? Our colleague Beth Raps, who was kind enough to review an early draft of our book, recently asked us that question. Like Fundraisers, Trainers Need Courage If you listed the attributes of successful fundraisers, … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 10
- 11
- 12