• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Social Velocity

Creating more strategic, financially savvy, and confident nonprofit leaders and organizations.

  • Consulting
    • Financial Model Assessment
    • Executive Coaching
    • Strategic Planning
  • Book
  • Clients
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • About
    • Nell Edgington’s Bio
    • Media
  • Connect
  • Tools

capacity capital

Featured Posts

Overcome Nonprofit Scarcity With Capacity Funding

Overcome Nonprofit Scarcity With Capacity Funding

October 9, 2020 By Nell Edgington

I was talking to a nonprofit leader earlier this week who was unknowingly torturing herself. One part of her had a big vision for growing her nonprofit to reach more people and create change to a broken system. But another part of her felt stuck because she lacked so many things to make that big […]

Social Velocity Tools Are Back, and Now Free to Download!

Social Velocity Tools Are Back, and Now Free to Download!

January 22, 2020 By Nell Edgington

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 […]

How to Overcome the Nonprofit Lack of Money Mindset

How to Overcome the Nonprofit Lack of Money Mindset

April 29, 2019 By Nell Edgington

Let’s be honest (or obvious) for a second. A feeling of lack often pervades the nonprofit sector. And it can take many forms: “We lack enough money” “We lack access to decision-makers” “We lack permission to move forward” “We lack the right or enough staff” “We lack influential or effective board members” The list of […]

Nonprofit Scarcity Thinking Will Get You Nowhere

Nonprofit Scarcity Thinking Will Get You Nowhere

March 20, 2018 By Nell Edgington

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 […]

The Danger of the Nonprofit Savior Complex

The Danger of the Nonprofit Savior Complex

February 28, 2018 By Nell Edgington

You know the Nonprofit Savior Complex, I know you do. It’s when a nonprofit leader begins to believe that she (and only she) cares enough, knows enough, or is enough to fix the massive problem she cares so deeply about. The positive side to the Savior Complex is it compels people who see an injustice […]

3 Things I Wish Funders Would Ask Nonprofits

3 Things I Wish Funders Would Ask Nonprofits

May 2, 2017 By Nell Edgington

I think we can all agree that most philanthropists truly want to be helpful to the nonprofit recipients of their dollars. However, because of the inherent power imbalance, it is often challenging, if not impossible, for a funder and a grantee to have a candid conversation about what it will really take to achieve the social change that they […]

Nonprofit Leaders Have the Power to Create Capacity Funding

Nonprofit Leaders Have the Power to Create Capacity Funding

October 13, 2016 By Nell Edgington

I was in a meeting with a group of nonprofit leaders the other day, and one of them voiced an often-heard complaint: “There just aren’t many foundations funding nonprofit capacity building.” I was instantly reminded of my mother’s admonishment when I would come home from school with complaints about a classroom rule or a frustrating teacher. She would say, “Well, […]

A Nonprofit “Culture of Philanthropy” Is Not Enough

A Nonprofit “Culture of Philanthropy” Is Not Enough

March 3, 2016 By Nell Edgington

The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, a foundation on the forefront of investing in nonprofit capacity and one of the few foundations funding nonprofit leadership development, released a new report this week Beyond Fundraising: What Does It Mean to Build a Culture of Philanthropy?. While I applaud the Haas Fund for taking a pioneering interest in, as […]

7 Things Funders Don’t Get About Fundraising

7 Things Funders Don’t Get About Fundraising

June 18, 2015 By Nell Edgington

In the nonprofit world there is often a disconnect between funders of nonprofits and their understanding of the fundraising activity necessary to secure their gifts. Funders (and board members) rarely understand how critical fundraising is, how it works, and what’s required to do it well. But in the hope that greater understanding leads to better actions, I’d like to offer […]

Reinventing the Nonprofit Capital Campaign

Reinventing the Nonprofit Capital Campaign

June 26, 2012 By Nell Edgington

In a previous article on About.com, I discussed the idea of capacity capital, an incredibly exciting new funding vehicle for nonprofit organizations. Capacity capital is the money that nonprofits so desperately need to build strong, effective, sustainable organizations that can create more social change. It is a one-time investment of money to add new technology, […]

Learn How Capacity Capital Can Make Your Nonprofit Work Easier

September 9, 2021 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Do you struggle (as so many nonprofit leaders do) to raise money for: a top-notch fundraiser, solid technology and systems, fantastic marketing expertise, and other elusive (but oh so necessary) things that will make your work so much easier? Then this month’s free training, Embrace Capacity Capital, is for you! You’ve been taught for so […]

red and white lifebuoy

How To Ask For (and Receive) The Help Your Nonprofit Needs

February 10, 2021 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

So often in the nonprofit sector scarcity manifests as a lack of money — nonprofit leaders constantly bemoan the (perceived) fact that there just isn’t enough money to go around. But if we dig a little deeper, money is just a means to an end. Likely the first thing you would buy if an abundance […]

plants growing

The Antidote to Nonprofit Scarcity is a Plan and a Leap

September 16, 2019 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

There was a really interesting report in the Chronicle of Philanthropy last week about how nonprofits are losing top talent because they aren’t paying enough. Shocking news, I know. But let’s talk for a minute about what is underlying this and how we might move beyond it. The problem, in my mind, is that nonprofit […]

3 Mistakes Nonprofits Make in Fundraising Staff

May 23, 2017 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Before a nonprofit can achieve financial sustainability, the nonprofit leader has to figure out how to staff their money raising function effectively. When I conduct a Financial Model Assessment for a client, one of the sections of my final report is always focused on the nonprofit’s staffing structure and how that contributes to or detracts from the nonprofit’s […]

The Future of the Nonprofit Sector [Slideshare]

September 15, 2016 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

I’m excited to be heading to Pennsylvania next month to speak at the 2016 Nonprofit Day Conference. My keynote address for the conference will be “The Future of the Nonprofit Sector.” I wanted to share an abbreviated version of the speech with you here via the Social Velocity Slideshare library. In my mind, there are some fundamental […]

How Is Nonprofit Overhead Still a Thing?

June 23, 2016 By Nell Edgington 2 Comments

Lest you think we’ve made headway on overcoming the Overhead Myth (the false notion that nonprofits must keep their fundraising and administrative costs cripplingly low) you need only look as far as a recent Forbes article, “5 Nonprofit Leaders Share How to Keep Overhead Costs to a Minimum.” And this is perhaps even worse because it is nonprofit leaders themselves, […]

5 Fundraising Mistakes Nonprofits Make

February 4, 2016 By Nell Edgington 1 Comment

Fundraising is such a misunderstood enterprise. And it’s not just misunderstood by nonprofit leaders in the trenches. I was talking to a normally very savvy foundation program officer the other day who wondered if one of his struggling grantees should think about launching a new gala event to raise some additional money. I swallowed my […]

Social Velocity Summer 2015 Guest Bloggers

July 7, 2015 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

As I mentioned earlier, it is so important to take time away to rejuvenate and reconnect with your passions, family and friends. So I am taking my own advice and taking some time off later this summer to connect with the world outside of social change. And so for the second summer in a row […]

Does Sexism Hold the Nonprofit Sector Back?

June 15, 2015 By Nell Edgington 2 Comments

There was a great post on the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog last week that clearly articulates a dysfunction in the nonprofit sector and when recognized by nonprofit leaders and their funders could reshape the sector. Just like the Overhead Myth and other myths that hold the nonprofit sector back, the historic sexism the sector operates under is […]

The Changing Nonprofit Landscape [Podcast]

March 31, 2015 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Earlier this month I participated in a podcast conversation with Joed Lopez of Panvisio as part of their on-going Q2 Podcast series with social sector leaders. We talked about: How broken fundraising is A more effective financing approach Nonprofit fear of money The passion of nonprofit leaders The need to articulate a nonprofit’s message Capacity capital […]

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Free Training

Consulting Services

If you want your nonprofit or foundation to do and be more, Nell can help you get there

Ready to Learn More About Working with Nell?

Book a Discovery Call
Reinventing Social Change Book

FREE GUIDE: Find Your Social Change Joy

  • Figure out what you LOVE to do
  • Make time for it
  • Find your way back to Joy

Featured Blog Post Topics

  • Social Changemaker Interviews

  • Smart Strategic Planning

  • Effective Philanthropy

  • Networks for Social Change

  • The New Nonprofit Leader

  • A Groundbreaking Board

  • Reinventing the Nonprofit Sector

  • From Fundraising to Financing

Recent Posts

Woman with magnifying glass

You Can Turn Any Challenge into Opportunity

Marching soldiers

A Social Change Army is Amassing

It’s Not All Up to You

To Save the World, Save Yourself

Imagine the World You Want to See

Categories

  • Abundance
  • Advocacy
  • Board of Directors
  • Capacity Building
  • Capacity Capital
  • Financing
  • Fundraising
  • Individual Donors
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Networks
  • Nonprofits
  • Philanthropy
  • Roadblocks
  • Social Change
  • Social Movements
  • Strategy
  • Consulting
  • Book
  • Clients
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • About
  • Connect
  • Tools

© 2022 Social Velocity | Privacy Policy | [email protected] | Tel: 512-694-7235