Nonprofit Tips & Tidbits
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8 Tips for Combating Burnout (Before It Combats You)
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
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.
8 Tips for Writing Grant Reports That Strengthen Funder Relationships
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.
Navigating a Challenging Funding Environment
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.
Federal Funding Cuts and Policy Changes: A Warning to Nonprofits
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.
Get Out (of the Office!)
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.
Finding The Sweet Spot: Moving Your Board from Rubber Stamping or Micromanaging to Oversight
How do you move your board from operational focus — or disengagement — toward active oversight? Start with these 4 steps.
Using AI in Grant Development Work
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.
Creating a Social Media Policy for Legislative Visits: 12 Questions to Ask
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.
Writing a Grant Report
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.
How to Invite a Federal Legislator to Visit Your Nonprofit
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.
Developing Relationships with Grant Funders
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.
“Once Upon a Time” Telling Stories to Make Your Grant Applications More Persuasive
Stories make your application and case more relatable, interesting, and memorable. Reviewers will read your application longer, pay closer attention to it, and remember it when it comes time to evaluate all of the applications sitting on their desk or inbox for funding.
10 Tips for Engaging with Policymakers
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.
Telling Your Story for Advocacy
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.
Ask, Don’t Assume
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.
Turning Around an Ineffective Board
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.
8 Tips for Writing Emails That Get Read
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.
Why We Don’t Take a Commission on Grants
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.
How You Communicate Matters
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!