Note: This guest post is by Daonese Johnson-Colón, MLS, SHRM-CP, CPC. Thanks, Daonese! A payment is late. A staff member needs access to a system. A new project is ready to launch, but no one has created the process. Someone needs to figure it out. What do you do? You send it to Admin. Each request may be reasonable on its own. But … [Read more...]
Everyone grab a fork: What’s different about leading a rural nonprofit
Note: This guest post is from Abbey Harlow, host of the Rural Nonprofit Leader Summit beginning October 20. Registration is free! This winter, a nonprofit leader in a rural area told me that his list of prospective foundations was running dry. His organization has spent most of a decade renovating its building, winning the same … [Read more...]
Stop losing people with your language
Note: This guest post is from consultant and author Harvey McKinnon. Thanks, Harvey! If you can’t build trust, you can’t create social change. Ineffective language choices are one of the quickest ways to lose trust ... and if people don’t trust you, they won’t listen, join, volunteer, donate, or take other actions. People don’t hear … [Read more...]
Closing the gift: A fundraising exercise
Note: This post is adapted from Train Your Board (and Everyone Else) to Raise Money by Andrea Kihlstedt and Andy Robinson. Most of what we call fundraising takes place before or after you receive the donation: prospecting, cultivation, recognition, donor engagement, and so on. You can do all those things supremely well and still miss an … [Read more...]
Consultant confidential: What to know about working with consultants
Over the years, we’ve offered behind-the-scenes perspectives in Board President Confidential and Treasurer Confidential. In Trainer Confidential, published at the start of the pandemic, we discussed how to move in-person programs online. In the same spirit, we invite you to eavesdrop as Laurel, Bob and Andy discuss the philosophy and … [Read more...]
The facilitator’s secret superpower
Note: Thanks to Stephanie Lahar for helping to develop this post – and for modeling this skill so effectively. Imagine the following situation. You’re sitting through a long board meeting or planning retreat. Colleagues offer ideas and suggestions; others dispute those ideas and add more layers to the suggestions. Words are literally … [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...]
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...]
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...]
Core elements of fundraising success: Trust, engagement, impact
Note: This post – the first in a three-part series – is by Train Your Board partner Laurel McCombs. Thanks, Laurel! In recent years, there’s been much discussion about the generosity crisis. I understand the data: the number of people giving to traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofits has been declining for more than a decade. In the last few … [Read more...]
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