Making your ideas happen

While a very serious subject with very real consequences for the nonprofit sector, burnout deserves a laugh before it earns a resignation letter. These 8 tips mix real self-preservation with the kind of dark humor that gets a burned-out staff member through their Tuesday.

Donor stewardship is always important but letting your donors know that you appreciate them and how they make a difference for your mission has become more important than ever in today's highly competitive philanthropic landscape.

A strong grant report accomplishes more than compliance. It demonstrates impact, builds trust, and often opens the door to renewed or increased support. These 8 tips will help you write grant reports that inform, persuade, and strengthen your relationship with funders.

In today's competitive and challenging fundraising environment, what can you do to continue to raise the funds you need and to raise even more money? These three tips will help you meet and even exceed your goal.

The nonprofit community faces two unprecedented threats from the federal government that deserve your attention and your action. Make your voice heard. Every comment counts.

The number one way that you can raise more money? Get out of the office! Go where your donors are and meet them face to face to develop a real relationship.

How do you move your board from operational focus — or disengagement — toward active oversight? Start with these 4 steps.

AI is ubiquitous. So much so that you might feel overwhelmed by the pressure to use it - or not use it. My advice - try it and see how it might help make your work more efficient or effective. If it doesn't, then don't use it. If it does, then find the way that best integrates into your workflow. These 6 ways that we have found AI to help with our grant development work can get you started.

When a legislator visits your organization, having a specific policy can help clearly draw the line between advocating and lobbying by ensuring everyone knows what they can share, who approves it, and how to avoid accidentally misrepresenting the visit, supporting legislation, or endorsing a candidate. The following 12 questions will help you develop your own social media policy specifically for legislative visits or other potentially political content.

Grant reporting often becomes an afterthought to planning and writing the application and the celebration that comes when you receive an award. However, good grant reporting starts long before you start to write your application. Learn how to plan for and ultimately create good grant reports.

A well-planned site visit does more than educate a single legislator. It positions your organization as a credible, reliable resource, the kind of organization a member’s office calls when they need perspective on the issues you know best. That relationship, built one visit at a time, produces better policy for the people you serve. The process of scheduling that visit requires patience and persistence, but it follows a clear path. The following 10 tips will help you navigate it.

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One of the best ways I know to improve your chances of grant success is to contact the funder before you submit an application to develop a relationship with them. Learn four reasons why this is true in this week's Fundraising Friday.

In listening to advice shared at our recent OneTable QC workshop on Advocacy and talking to policymakers and their staff, mostly at the federal level, today's blog post highlights 10 tips for effectively engaging with them to help inspire better policy and improved access to the resources your organization and constituents need to succeed.

At our OneTable QC event last week, we learned how to turn your everyday work into advocacy for your organization. Today we talk about one way - telling your organizational story - and how you can turn that story into effective advocacy.

Why do we make assumptions? Our brains process billions of pieces of information every day, sorting them into categories by connecting the unknown to the known. Because we know our own feelings and reactions best, we tend to project them onto others. This blog helps identify how to overcome, or at least minimize, your assumption bias.

The question I hear most often about boards is "how can I get my board more engaged?" or "how can I get my board members to engage?" It takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work to turn an ineffective board into an effective one, but it can and does happen. These four tips will help you start your journey toward a more effective board.

Writing an effective professional email takes more than good grammar and a polite sign-off; it demands clarity and intentionality. These 8 tips will help every email you send land with greater impact.

Many options exist for paying your grant professional or staff to write applications on your behalf. A commission or percentage of the revenue they raise should not and cannot ethically be one of them. Learn why in this week's video.

Back in 1964, communication theorist Marshall McLuhan famously declared, "the medium is the message," meaning that the way information gets delivered shapes its impact on the recipient just as powerfully as the words themselves. Why does the medium matter? Let’s dive into it!

You may have seen on an application that you can add indirect costs to your budget and request. Learn what that means and why you should take advantage of these opportunities to raise more operating funds for your organization.

These 7 themes serve as good reminders to more seasoned grant professionals and good lessons for more novice grant seekers.

The board guides both the thinking and execution in the strategic planning process to guide the organization’s future. Five actions fulfill this role.

With 30% of all donations made during the month of December, how you finish the year with your appeal strategy might make or break your fund development goals and your organization's budget. These tips can help you end the year strong to maximize the revenue you raise.

At this time of year, a good digital strategy becomes even more important. With nearly 40% of gifts made during the month of December, a robust digital strategy can maximize your revenue, especially important as we conclude this tumultuous year. Here are 6 ways you can you best integrate digital tools this giving season.

As described in our last post, a strong board-led evaluation process transforms how a board and its executive director work together. It ensures alignment, builds trust, and keeps the organization moving forward with clarity and purpose. While each nonprofit may tailor its process, the best evaluations share the following 7 steps that combine structure with respect.

A 30-45 second explanation of your organization and why it's important, an elevator pitch provides an important tool for educating the public about your organization. When created with your leadership team, board and staff, it also empowers them to both better understand your organization and to share a consistent message with their friends and network.

Effective leadership drives mission success. When the executive director leads with clarity, integrity, and purpose, the organization thrives. Like every employee, even the most talented leader needs regular and structured feedback, direction, and accountability to continue to grow personally and professionally and strategically move the organization forward. For a nonprofit, the board alone carries that responsibility. These five reasons explain how board-led evaluations of your chief executive will reap long-term benefits for your organization.

Last time we talked about why you need a fund development plan. This video walks through the steps to gather the data that will inform your plan and how to use that data to develop the strategies to move your organization and its fund development work forward.

Nonprofits don’t exist to make money — but they do need it to make an impact. A social enterprise can help you do both. Read more to learn how to build a mission-driven business venture that strengthens your sustainability, credibility, and connection to your cause.