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The Hidden Cost of ‘Scrappy’ Nonprofits Read time: 3-4 minutes As a nonprofit, being “scrappy” is often worn as a badge of honor. Doing more with less. Keeping overhead low. Stretching every dollar as far as it can go. Resourcefulness is absolutely a strength. But… there’s a point where investing too little in your organization starts to hurt the very mission you’re working so hard to advance. Saying it louder for the people in the back: 📢 Healthy infrastructure doesn’t take away from your…

The Most Important Skill in Nonprofit Fundraising Read time: 3-4 minutes What if the most important fundraising skill has nothing to do with how well you write a grant or how confidently you make an ask? The most important skill in nonprofit fundraising is something much simpler and much more powerful: It’s listening. I know it sounds trite – but hear me out! 😁 In this week’s Changemaker Mondays ☀️ ☕ 🌍, I’m sharing why listening is the most underrated skill in fundraising and three simple…

Volunteering Has Changed Over The Past Decade. Tips for Recruiting Volunteers Read time: 3-4 minutes Has volunteer recruitment felt a little harder for your organization this year? I’m hearing it across organizations. It’s not just you. Something has been shifting. This week, I’m actually in D.C. helping present a special project I’ve been consulting on for a global nonprofit, Points of Light, over the past 18 months: Designing a National Volunteer Strategy to increase volunteerism across the…

3 Things Funders are Quietly Asking Themselves as They Read Your Donation Request Read time: 3-4 minutes Feel like you’re hitting a wall with your grant funding requests? Even organizations with the most overtly compelling missions get rejection letters. It might not be about the quality of your writing. Sometimes it comes down to the answers to a few key questions funders are asking themselves as they read your request. …And once you get a handle on these questions, you can start building…

3 Mindset Shifts We Need to Make as Nonprofit Leaders if Our Orgs are Going to Thrive Read time: 3-4 minutes What if some of the biggest obstacles holding your nonprofit back aren’t external at all? Sometimes the thing standing between your organization and its next level of growth is a mindset — A belief about how nonprofits are supposed to work, what leaders are supposed to do, or how boards are supposed to function that just isn’t serving you anymore. But mindsets can shift. And when they…

3 Ways To Start Preparing (Early) For Year-End Giving Read time: 3-4 minutes It’s June. Half-way through the year (how, I ask?!). And that means year-end fundraising might be quietly starting to creep back into your mind. You know it’s coming. You know it matters. But it still feels far away – and then bam! Suddenly, it’s November, and teams are trying to figure out what to say, what to ask for, and how to pull everything together at once. The organizations that feel more confident going into…