Thoughts on Nonprofit Leadership
Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known as a prominent civil rights leader of the 1950’s and 60’s. In 1964 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent activism. He is probably most famous for his moving speeches, most notably his I Have a Dream speech.
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Is your board excited about fundraising? Probably not. They may think that fundraising and governance don’t have anything to do with one another. They may see fundraising as management’s responsibility, with their role only holding staff accountable for financial results. Or they may...
A nonprofit board has a fiscal duty to make sure that resources are raised and allocated to meet the organization’s missions. Often, however, boards have unrealistic expectations about how much money can actually be raised. They have no way of knowing, and thus planning for, how many...
I know what it’s like - sweating the finances – when not as much money is coming into your nonprofit when it was expected to come in. Government payments are delayed yet you are still expected to run the programs they fund. Grants were submitted later than anticipated. A major gift...
In any one day, a nonprofit executive director’s duties can include managing operations; satisfying funders and donors; informing and inspiring board, staff and volunteers; listening to clients; communicating your mission and accomplishments to the public; assessing community needs;...
The usual nonprofit fundraising strategies generate revenue through individual giving, foundation requests, corporate contributions, special events, and government contracts. Each comes with its own set of financial costs and benefits.
Raising Money from Individuals
According to Giving USA,...
If you want to make as much money as you can while advancing your mission, you need four things: 1) strict adherence to mission; 2) revenue-generating activities that make more than they cost; 3) a lens that will help choose among the numerous fundraising options available and 4) a calendar that...
We’ve all heard it, “No mission, no money.” But what does that mean exactly? After all, sometimes you just need to make money to get through. It doesn’t always have to be related to your mission, right? Wrong. If you want to stay within the purposes of your Articles of...
One of the most difficult tasks an executive director undertakes is to get his or her nonprofit financially stable and grow. The task is especially hard during times of economic distress, when money is hard to come by and the need for services rises exponentially. To get your agency on a...
