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 […]
individual donors
What Is Nonprofit Sustainability?
Last week I led a planning call among the panelists on the “Supporting Nonprofit Sustainability” session I am moderating at April’s Center for Effective Philanthropy conference (which I described in an earlier post). One of the panelist suggested that we start the session by defining what we mean by “nonprofit sustainability.” As we started to discuss […]
The Problem With Nonprofit Events
I was speaking to a group of nonprofit leaders recently about how to Move from Fundraising to Financing, and when I came to the part about events, the room went predictably quiet. Looks of shock shot around the room. Events are so ubiquitous in the nonprofit sector, how could I possibly say they have little financial value? It […]
What Nonprofits Really Need From Their Donors [Video]
My hope in creating the growing library of Social Velocity videos is that nonprofit leaders will use the topics as a jumping off point for honest discussions with boards and donors. It can often be intimidating for a nonprofit leader to raise a controversial question like: “Should all board members be required to fundraise?” “Should we stop worrying […]
Does Your Nonprofit Know How to Attract Big Donors?
One of the reasons fundraising can be so exhausting is that nonprofit leaders spend too much time chasing small gifts, or relying too heavily on government contracts with too many hurdles. One way to diversify and grow a nonprofit’s financial model is to attract more major donors. And I’m not just talking about major individual donors. […]