Amidst the country’s ongoing shelter-at-home restrictions, the economy remains in flux, and everything seems very unsure and unstable. It’s hard to watch the evening news without feeling your stomach tighten. You may be feeling like life has gone from a sprint, to a marathon, to a double marathon. And you’re [...]
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 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 [...]
What is the toughest job in the world? …Negotiating with a toddler? …Managing a board of directors? …Running a nonprofit? …Asking people for money? …Being a teacher, paramedic or police officer? Look, they’re all hard. I can personally vouch for the first four. Starting a nonprofit, running a nonprofit or [...]
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 [...]
A donor-centric culture is the essence of a highly effective nonprofit organization, driving its operations and fundraising. Donor-centricity is more than an industry buzzword, it’s a way of being, a way of operating. But what exactly is a donor-centric culture and how can your organization develop it? Simply stated, a [...]
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 [...]
Every now and then, I get a call from the executive director of a nonprofit organization that goes something like this: ED: Hello, Erik. How have you been? How about those Chicago Bears? ME: Hey, I’m fine. Way better than the Bears are, at least. What’s up? ED: Well, we’re [...]
In the fourth quarter of each year the National Philanthropic Trust releases their annual Donor Advised Funds Report. This is significant for every nonprofit engaged in fundraising to take notice because donor advised funds or DAFs for short, are truly changing the landscape of major gift fundraising and therefore [...]
You, your board, your staff or other key stakeholders at your nonprofit might be itching to put together a new strategic plan. After all, a strategic plan covers the why and how of your being and encompasses broad strategic goals and strategies. It defines what an organization should do within [...]
Ready to have your mind blown? There’s a super simple thing you can do to dramatically increase your contributions. You can easily put this in place before the end of the calendar year — when most donors make their gifts. Trust me. You’re going to want to read the rest of this [...]