In any profession, certain words and phrases provoke reactions from cringing to shrieking, eye rolling to angst. For many in organizational leadership, these include audit, grant report, and restricted funding, to name just a few. And…. strategic planning. Perhaps scarred by a past planning effort, many nonprofit leaders and board [...]
All too often, nonprofits see their donor database as a glorified phonebook. This may be because they're not getting the most out of the software or because the solution in which they've invested doesn't have the expansive functionality the organization needs. When nonprofits invest in the best donor database [...]
Co-dependency is such an ugly term. Yet, a pleaser is often one-half of a co-dependent team. The one who accommodates, and the one who does their best to smooth things over, placate, please, and keep the peace. If you are a pleaser fundraiser at work, you may have internalized some [...]
In my last post “Get a GRPI to Improve Your Nonprofit Team,” we discussed how using a Six Sigma tool called a GRPI (which is an acronym for Goals, Roles, Processes and Interpersonal Relationships) can be used to increase the effectiveness of non-profit teams. Today, let’s add more letters to [...]
Nonprofits tend to wring their hands a lot about fundraising. We don’t have enough. It’s so difficult. Our board won’t help. Our staff isn’t sufficiently skilled. It’s so distasteful. It’s a necessary evil. We have more important things to do with our resources. All of this hand-wringing comes from a [...]
Have you ever met a pleaser, or worked for one? What is a pleaser? A pleaser is someone who: Has a hard time saying no, so you can’t trust their yes. Will give and give instead of setting good boundaries. Will say “oh, sure, do what you want” and that’s [...]
It can be tough working with a nonprofit team of volunteers, donors, and paid staff. Everyone has their own ideas, their own ways of working, and their own perception of what’s best for the organization. It’s a common challenge. It seems to pop up whenever three or more people get [...]
I want to make a point about the significance of a culture of philanthropy. About treating our internal stakeholders as kindly as we treat our external ones. About being grateful to those who support us and work with us, donors and staff alike. About being able to fully enjoy and [...]
Let’s talk about conflict, baby! Let’s talk about you and me! Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that can be! Let’s talk about conflict! Why? Because if you’re a good nonprofit leader, or a good fundraiser, you’re going to have to say no. Because it’s [...]
I was talking with a new friend recently, who had stopped working at nonprofits years ago. When I asked her why, she said, when she and her friends worked at nonprofits, they would all say that they were “dragged through the street” by them. I asked what that meant. She [...]
Have you ever been blown away by an off-the-wall question from a donor or board member? You know, the one that makes you wonder if they even know what your organization does? I hear this often. On the flip-side, one of my favorite things about my business is that I [...]
Here’s the thing. A couple years ago I talked with a representative of an economic development program here in Portland. He focused on the big industries, Intel, Nike, Adidas. I asked him why they didn’t focus more on nonprofits. He said, “because they bring the median income of the region [...]