I recently facilitated a board retreat for a nonprofit client. As a warm-up exercise, I asked the participants to pair up for two minutes and discuss the following questions. As a board member, what do you need to be successful? What does the organization need from you to be successful? When I reconvened the full group, people … [Read more...]
Asking Styles: Boost Your Board’s Fundraising
Note: The following guest post from Brian Saber is adapted from his new book, Asking Styles: Revolutionize Your Fundraising. Thanks, Brian! At Asking Matters, we developed Asking Styles to directly address the myth of the ideal, stereotypical fundraiser. Our model is based on the concept that authenticity is central to building … [Read more...]
Five big meeting mistakes – and how to avoid them
Note: This guest post is from Heather Yandow at Third Space Studio. She helps organizations with strategic planning, board development, business model design, implementing fundraising strategies, and going from good to great. Thanks, Heather! How much time do you spend in meetings? If you’re like me, the answer is simple: a … [Read more...]
Dialing for dollars, reinvented
What do you get when you combine an old-school fundraising strategy – phone banking – with a new online platform like Zoom? People working together – while also working remotely! – to engage their donors and raise more money. Here’s a great example from Training for Change. Thanks to Zein Nakhoda (staff) and Sonia Silbert (board) … [Read more...]
Training both sides of the brain
Take a look at these two photos. Which one looks like the more engaging learning experience? Given a choice between the two, where would you rather be? Your answer may depend on how your brain works. Your brain isn’t one thing In the 1960’s, psychobiologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry proposed that the brain’s left … [Read more...]
Making and Managing Change: A Field Manual
The following is adapted, with my thanks, from the Institute for Conservation Leadership. Are you a consultant, facilitator, or trainer? Maybe you work as nonprofit staff, or you serve as a board member or volunteer. Perhaps you’re an activist, advocate, or community organizer. Regardless of your position, I’d like to offer … [Read more...]
PowerPoint For Good:
4 Tips For Trainers
Note: This guest post is from Laura Rhodes of Third Sector Consulting and author of the LetsTalkNonprofit.blog. Thanks, Laura! Ask nonprofit staff or board members why they attend conferences, and you’ll get a variety of responses. To be with like-minded people. To network with others in the field. And, invariably, to … [Read more...]
Give your board members what they need – you’ll get what you want
If you’re like me, you’ve probably taken a new job without having a complete picture of your responsibilities – in other words, without seeing a job description first. Undoubtedly you encountered workplace surprises, not all of them pleasant. Board service is a job, too. Like any job, it has specific requirements and … [Read more...]
What Do I Wear? The Trainer’s Guide to Getting Dressed
As part of our train-the-trainer program at Marlboro College, we offer shadowing opportunities for participants. They join a faculty member for a workshop or facilitated meeting, observe what happens, and then we talk about it. Before a recent gig, one of the students surprised me with a question – one that I don’t consider very often … [Read more...]
Fundraising Therapy, Part 2 – It’s Not About You
If you’re a fundraiser, it’s often helpful to think like a donor. When leading workshops, I encourage people to flip this mental switch. “How many of you have ever given away money to anybody for any reason at all?” Of course, all the hands go up. Then I ask people to pair off and talk about why they give. These small groups … [Read more...]
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