When I talk to a nonprofit leader for the first time I will often see opportunities for her to make powerful and transformative connections for her nonprofit — to influencers, networks, organizations, trends, advocates, and/or money — which she just doesn’t see. Let me give you an example. I was talking to a nonprofit leader […]
advocacy
Nonprofit Leaders, Give Yourselves Permission
As human beings we are often held back by a sense of needing permission from someone (sometimes anyone) to do something we already know deep down is the right path. And certainly in the nonprofit sector with many and varied stakeholders to constantly engage and include, it can often seem that moving forward on anything […]
GEO Guest Post: Confronting Our Complicity in Racial Inequity
Note: The second guest blogger in this week’s Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) conference blog series is Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, Co-Director of Building Movement Project. His post is below. And don’t forget to follow the conference via #2018GEO. Nikole’s 2016 article about choosing a school for her daughter in New York City’s segregated school district highlighted the systemic […]
Nonprofit Scarcity Thinking Will Get You Nowhere
Scarcity thinking is incredibly pervasive in the nonprofit sector. And it makes sense that it would be. Nonprofit leaders have been told for so long that they must scrape by, are not worthy of real investment, and deserve only the leftovers. No wonder the belief that resources are scarce is baked into their DNA. This […]
A Reactive Nonprofit Leader Will Get Us Nowhere
Let’s be honest, nonprofit leaders tend to be a pretty reactive bunch. Instead of creating or controlling a situation, they tend to simply react to it. And it makes sense. A foundation suddenly changes their funding strategy, and a nonprofit leader must scramble to find a new revenue source. A shift in how or where […]