One of the happiest and most fulfilling results of providing database technology to the nonprofit sector for nearly four decades has been being able to witness the overwhelming majority of those new customers raise more dollars each year to fund their mission. In the last seven years at Bloomerang we [...]
My favorite band is Los Lobos. I’ve listened to their music since (gulp!) high school more than 30 years ago, and I’ve been to countless of their concerts. All five original members have played music together for more than 40 years. I’m telling you all this to get to the [...]
Everything you do emanates from the WHY and WHAT of your existence. Your mission! And both the why and what are important, because if folks don’t understand why you exist it’s difficult to inspire them with what you are doing. I always ask a new client what would happen were they to [...]
“Abuse of power comes as no surprise” – Jenny Holzer Evidence suggests you do not pay your women enough. According to Bloomerang’s recent research of over 1100 people working in the nonprofit sector, women make less than men, in every level of experience, whether they have one year of experience, [...]
Nonprofit leaders don’t usually like to talk about the Form 990. Every time I bring it up and my eyes light up, their smiles turn down and a sick look comes over their face. I completely understand. It’s a tedious form with dozens of confusing schedules, half of which aren’t [...]
In Part 1 of this two-part series I began to talk about how neuroscience can help leaders be more effective and strategic in today’s economy. Above all else, we discussed the need to think about what people are thinking, not just observe what they’re doing. This holds true for yourself [...]
I often turn to principles of neuroscience and psychology to understand what makes folks tick. I’m particularly interested in how these principles impact decision making. Especially, the decision to become involved philanthropically. To volunteer. To affiliate. To advocate. To give. In my life as a fundraising and nonprofit marketing leader [...]
When I started in nonprofit years ago I had no idea what a Form 990 was. All those numbers and checkboxes seemed like a lot of painful information for someone to fill out. Frankly, I didn’t understand what most of it meant. I’ve put off filing because of “more important” [...]
The reality of nonprofit fundraising is that circumstances and needs change from year to year. The fund development office is an important function for any nonprofit. As these changes occur, a restructure of this department is sometimes necessary. So, how do you determine when to restructure and where to begin? [...]
Micah Weaver never thought he’d be the type of person to suffer a panic attack. His entire life, he has been a low-stress person who could roll with the punches. Then, one day, when he was driving home from work, it happened. Micah suffered from a panic attack. After several [...]
We've all seen the stats outlining the poor retention rates for working fundraisers, with most leaving their positions every 16-18 months. Researcher Penelope Burk found that this costs nonprofits $127,650 in direct and indirect costs every time a fundraiser needs to be backfilled. While there's a lot of (good!) ideas and strategies [...]
Dear Manager, It’s the beginning of the year and for many of us it’s performance evaluation time. This is the time of year where we review the ambitious goals we set, the progress we’ve made and the effectiveness of our performance. Our 360-degree reviews often keep us focused and on [...]