Creating more strategic, financially savvy, and confident nonprofit leaders and organizations.
Perhaps one of the worst things about this pandemic is that in practicing social distancing for days on end we begin to believe that we are alone. Zoom calls, emails and conversations with the same few people you are quarantining with can only get you so far. The silence, the physical distance from staff, board, […]
I have been a little absent from the blog in the past couple of months, but I have a good reason. I’ve been working on something I’m pretty excited about. I am in the process of writing a book about how we create more effective, sustainable social change. Rather than depressed by the chaos seemingly […]
Fear, anxiety and anger seem to be swirling lately. These are dark times for our country, there is no doubt. And perhaps particularly in the social change sector — a sector built on creating a more equitable, loving, and connected society — these dark times are particularly hard to take. But the true danger in […]
The other day I was talking with a nonprofit leader and was suddenly struck by how much his story echoed so many of the stories I hear from nonprofit leaders. See if your nonprofit fits some or all aspects of the scenario he faces: His board is passionate about the mission and wants to be helpful, but they don’t really contribute […]
Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge believer in strategy. I talk about it All. The. Time. I firmly believe that every nonprofit should have a long-term strategy with a corresponding financial model. But sometimes a nonprofit is not quite ready to create that long-term strategy because they don’t know what they don’t know. When a […]
I will admit that I am often the QUEEN of going it alone. I sometimes (ok, maybe more often than I’d like to admit) believe that it’s all up to me. And I see this so often in social change leaders just like you who unknowingly suffer from the “Go it Alone” mentality. This mentality […]
The other day I — among many others — received an email from the leader of a large, well-established nonprofit announcing they were going out of business. The email was a shock to many because this organization is well respected and seemed to be doing important work. The reason they are closing is because, as […]
In consulting with a nonprofit my role is to guide the organization to the next level. Perhaps they want to dramatically grow their impact or influence, or they want to develop a truly sustainable financial model, or they want to become a national player. Whatever their aim, my role is to help them figure out […]
In one of my coaching sessions with a nonprofit leader last week, we spent a good deal of time discussing how to take a break. But like so many leaders in the nonprofit sector, this exhausted, worn down, borderline burned-out nonprofit leader was very resistant to what every cell in her body was craving — […]
Today I’m delighted to announce the launch of a brand new Social Velocity website. I hope you will go take a look! As you know, last Fall I took a 4-month break from social media. I stopped writing the blog and checking Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and spent more time reading books, meditating and figuring out where […]
In the age of Big Data there has been a real push among funders, government, and thought leaders to encourage nonprofit leaders to make decisions based on data. I have been among the many who have heralded the importance of gathering and using data to improve performance. And I still believe data is incredibly important. […]
Next week, as part of the 2018 Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) Conference, I’m excited to host some exceptional guest bloggers here on the blog. GEO’s biennial conference is where the most engaged philanthropists gather to talk about how they can more effectively support nonprofit leaders. GEO has asked me to host a blog series about […]
It’s fairly common knowledge that in the nonprofit sector the relationship between funders and nonprofit leaders is often fraught. A power imbalance between those with the purse strings and those without can sometimes lead to poor decisions about a nonprofit’s future direction. The other day I was advising a nonprofit leader — let’s call him […]
In today’s Social Velocity blog interview, I’m talking with Eric Weinheimer, President and CEO of Forefront, the only regional association that represents grantmakers, nonprofits, advisors, and social entrepreneurs. With 1,100 members in Illinois, Forefront provides education, advocacy, and research, and mobilizes its members around issues that are important to the nonprofit sector. Prior to his current […]
Beyond the mistakes nonprofit leaders often make in staffing their fundraising function, the relationship itself between a nonprofit executive director and the development director (or whatever you call the staff person in charge of bringing money in the door) can often be fraught. In an ideal world, the executive director and development director have a symbiotic […]
