Whether your organization’s work life has been stay-at-home and online or essential workers taking temperatures with protective gear, or a mix of both, COVID-19 has brought change and there’s no end in sight to making adjustments as we gradually return. How should nonprofits manage their COVID-19 changes? How can they [...]
A while back, I led a strategic planning meeting for the board of a social service nonprofit organization. We first honed in on the organizational vision for work for the next year. We then discussed blockages to accomplishing the work. Then, we moved from vision to plan by agreeing on [...]
Everybody knows them: People who know everything. At least, that’s what they believe. It’s tempting to ignore these people. Because it seems so hard to change them. But if know-it-alls are leading your nonprofit, you’ve got a serious problem. Because know-it-alls are insecure. That’s why they’re so insistent on taking every opportunity [...]
"The only constant is change." How cliché and how true! Everyone and everything encounter change. Nonprofits experience this regularly with turnover on their Board of Directors, new executive leadership, collaborations and partnerships…and during a global pandemic. While some changes come with plenty of planning and strategy, not every time offers [...]
The late Jerold Panas, fundraising guru and author of Born to Raise: What Makes a Great Fundraiser Great, wrote about traits (he calls them “verities” or truths) that distinguish consummate fundraisers from those who, I presume, just dial it in. Today I’d like to talk about one of these important [...]
I direct online meetings, trainings, and conferences. I’ve done this for over 10 years, and it’s fun for me. I enjoy not having to run out, get on the airplane or in the car to engage with someone. I’ve done it all; online masterclasses, webinars, e-courses with live teaching components, [...]
In Part 1 of this two-parter we discussed why you need to build a culture of philanthropy as a management system. You can’t simply pay lip service to ‘culture of philanthropy.’ It has to become the air in your nonprofit that you breathe. When culture becomes the air in your [...]
I once had a boss who insisted employee morale didn’t matter. She even sent me articles from Harvard Business Review purporting to prove this (if you read them closely, they didn’t). Her insistence on this was directly related to her management style. Top down. Holding information close to the vest. [...]
No matter how large or small your nonprofit organization may be, it is imperative that every Board member, staff and volunteer enthusiastically embrace both a donor-centric approach and an enthusiastic role in the overall fundraising effort. The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. Everyone associated [...]
During tax season, when you use the word “audit” you may think of a CPA spending several days combing through your financial paperwork and records. What I want to talk about is nothing like that but yet it is quite similar in many ways. A development audit is an assessment [...]
The worry in Howard’s voice came through the phone line. Howard, the board president of a medium-sized arts and culture organization, reached out to us to work with the organization’s board of directors. From the outside, County Theatre Co. was having a banner year, bringing record crowds to its signature [...]
You do good work. You help the illiterate to read. You put paintbrushes into frail seniors’ hands. You organize programs to solve pressing public problems. You do a myriad of things to make lives better. Moreover, you often do this work under serious constraints. Too often, you operate in a [...]