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nonprofit starvation cycle

Featured Posts

Understanding The Full Costs of Nonprofits: An Interview with Michael Etzel

May 16, 2017 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

In this month’s Social Velocity interview, I’m talking with Michael Etzel. Michael is a partner in The Bridgespan Group, a global nonprofit organization that consults to nonprofits and philanthropists, provides leadership development support, and develops and shares insights — all with the goal of scaling social impact. Since joining Bridgespan in 2006, Michael has focused on effectiveness […]

Forcing Nonprofits and Their Funders to Talk About Real Costs

August 30, 2016 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Something really interesting could emerge out of new federal rules about overtime pay. My hope is these new rules force a better conversation between nonprofits and their funders about the real costs of creating social change. This coming December new Department of Labor rules will go into effect doubling the salary threshold for guaranteed overtime pay, from about $23,000 to $47,476 so […]

What Do Your Programs Really Cost?

January 20, 2015 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

There was an historic victory last month in the battle to rid the nonprofit sector of the Overhead Myth. The federal Office of Management and Budget adopted new Uniform Guidance rules that when any local, state or federal agency contracts with a nonprofit at least 10% of the contract must fund the nonprofit’s administrative costs (what the government calls […]

Overcoming The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle: An Interview With Ann Goggins Gregory

November 10, 2014 By Nell Edgington 1 Comment

In today’s Social Velocity blog interview, I’m talking with Ann Goggins Gregory, Chief Operating Officer at Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco where she oversees programs, the social enterprise called the ReStore, HR and Operations. Previously, Ann was a Senior Director at the Bridgespan Group, where she led the organization’s work on organizational learning; managed […]

Financing Not Fundraising: Break Free From the Starvation Cycle

March 27, 2013 By Nell Edgington 2 Comments

The other day I met with a nonprofit leader (let’s call her June) who has a great idea for an earned income venture that fits directly with her mission, but she doesn’t have the start-up capital to launch. When she explained this to me, she threw up her hands as if to say, “I’m powerless […]

Do Nonprofit Leaders Have Time to Be Bold?

February 25, 2013 By Nell Edgington 8 Comments

A reader of my blog post earlier this month, From Nonprofit Scarcity to Social Change Abundance, took issue with my argument that nonprofit leaders need to be more bold. He believes that I, and others, should stop telling nonprofit leaders to chart bolder goals because nonprofit leaders simply don’t have the time or resources. I […]

Preventing Social Change Burnout

December 9, 2011 By Nell Edgington 2 Comments

Perhaps it is the nature of trying to solve the intractable, but social change leaders are heading for burnout. I see it more often lately. A nonprofit leader  gives me a dazed look, rubs her temples with exhaustion, throws her hands up in the air, seriously considers just giving up. The exhausting, endless hamster wheel […]

Why Nonprofit Overhead is Destructive

November 30, 2011 By Nell Edgington 11 Comments

It’s that time of year when donors make key decisions about their end of year giving. But a recent post on the Social Earth blog advising donors about questions they should ask nonprofits perpetuates thinking that actually hurts, rather than helps the nonprofit sector. The author, Tarini Chandak, asks “How do you know where your […]

We Should Expect More From Nonprofit Donors

October 3, 2011 By Nell Edgington 3 Comments

Many of the ills of the nonprofit sector can and should be solved by educating and strengthening nonprofit leaders, staffs and boards, but there is also work to be done with nonprofit donors. Those private individuals, foundations and corporations that support the nonprofit sector also need to change their approach if nonprofits are ever going […]

Overcoming the Catch-22 of Nonprofit Capacity

August 29, 2011 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Ask a nonprofit executive director their biggest challenge and most will say securing enough resources. It can seem a vicious cycle: a struggling nonprofit needs to raise money to build their capacity, but they have to have enough capacity in place to raise that money. So they continue to struggle. A reader of the Social […]

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