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 [...]
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 [...]
What is Founder’s Syndrome? Nonprofit Founder's Syndrome is a common treatable disease. Frequently carried as a recessive gene by passionate, dedicated, dynamic and visionary entrepreneurial leaders. Commonly found paired with groundbreaking new ideas to solve social problems. Often associated with new fledgling organizations. If seen in an established organization, it [...]
Shining a light on the future of your nonprofit, and how you can shape it, requires looking at big picture strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) from many perspectives. When was the last time you did a simple SWOT analysis? Charities tend to have a lot invested in doing what [...]
Each of us has different issues that subconsciously drive our behaviors at work (and in our lives generally). Some behaviors are useful; others, not so much. If you find certain behaviors stressing you out, diminishing your performance, making you unhappy or otherwise holding you back, it’s time to STOP these [...]
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 [...]
“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, [...]
The recently released Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report summarizing the fourth quarter of 2018 provides numerous insights, that not only put the full year of 2018 into perspective, but also sheds insight into what 2019 should bring for the fundraising profession. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project continues to be the most reliable [...]
There’s been some excellent talk recently in the nonprofit community about how difficult it can be for some nonprofits to gain access to credit card information. Many companies use the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) as a barrier to allowing organizations to make changes to how collected credit [...]
I get asked all the time about what non-profits can do to stand out in fundraising and communications. For a long time, my understanding of why people ask me for advice about this boiled down to the increasingly noisy space non-profits are operating in. We’re all on the same social [...]