Fundraising hasnât been this hard since the Great Recession. It seems like just about everyone, everywhere is exhausted by the two pandemics facing our country, coronavirus and racism. There is an underlying sense that we are in the midst of a great shift in mindset and values. All while the [...]
"It's not what happens to you, it's how you respond to it."Â -- Epictetus, Greek philosopher How you define the problems facing you matters, because it affects how you respond to it. There are two basic ways to define the largest problem most nonprofits face during an economic recession: Expenses [...]
Amidst the countryâs ongoing shelter-at-home restrictions, the economy remains in flux, and everything seems very unsure and unstable. Itâs 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 youâre [...]
Everybody knows them: People who know everything. At least, thatâs what they believe. Itâs tempting to ignore these people. Because it seems so hard to change them. But if know-it-alls are leading your nonprofit, youâve got a serious problem. Because know-it-alls are insecure. Thatâs why theyâre 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 âveritiesâ or truths) that distinguish consummate fundraisers from those who, I presume, just dial it in. Today Iâd like to talk about one of these important [...]
What is the toughest job in the world? âŠNegotiating with a toddler? âŠManaging a board of directors? âŠRunning a nonprofit? âŠAsking people for money? âŠBeing a teacher, paramedic or police officer? Look, theyâre 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 âauditâ 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 Howardâs 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 organizationâs 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, itâs 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 seniorsâ 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, Iâm fine. Way better than the Bears are, at least. Whatâs up? ED: Well, weâre [...]
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 [...]