Fundraising - Nonprofit AF (Page 8)

ED Life

10 reasons being an Executive Director is still awesome

Hi everyone, this blog may have more typos than normal because it is (was) Father’s Day, and instead of spending it writing and “editing,” I hung out with my kids. They are in bed now, so I can finish this post. Before we launch into the subject, though, this

Board Relations

Why more and more executive directors of color are leaving their positions, and what we need to do about it

Hi everyone. This post will be longer than normal, so to keep your attention, I've added pictures of pandas. The pandas have nothing to do with the content of this post. They are just pandas. Some of you may know, if you are on our mailing list, that

data

If progressives want change, we must play the game differently. Here are five things we must do.

Hi everyone, apologies in advance, this post will be more serious and political than usual and I am sure will be polarizing. The Virginia Beach mass shooting has been on my mind. I am thinking of how New Zealand was able to pass gun-control bills within a matter of days

Funder Relations

The roles of foundation board trustees and foundation staff must radically change

Hi everyone. Thank you so much to all of you who have filled out the Fundraising Perception Survey, which is a quick scan of how folks (fundraisers and non-fundraisers) are feeling about the way we do fundraising in general. This is critical information, so please take 10 minutes to fill

Funder Relations

NAF, GPA, and GrantAdvisor Team Up to Launch Fundr, a Tinder-like App to Match Nonprofits and Foundations

Hi everyone, I have super exciting news. As some of you know, for the past year, I have been on the Leadership Panel of GrantAdvisor.org, which is basically a TripAdvisor-type site where nonprofits can anonymously provide feedback about funders. So far the site has had over 1700 reviews of

Capacity Building

The urgency of making big funding bets on organizations led by marginalized communities

Last week, SSIR published a case study I co-authored with David Bley of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation detailing Gates’s significant investment in my organization, Rainier Valley Corps (RVC). Our partnership started with 1.1 million over four years to launch RVC’s fellowship program to bring more

Funder Relations

Can we stop assuming that people with corporate or academic backgrounds can run nonprofits and foundations better than nonprofit folks?

Recently I learned that a colleague of mine didn’t get a job leading a major organization. It was confusing, since all signs had seemed to indicate she was a good fit. After weeks wondering, she got a you-didn’t-hear-this-from-me from one of the hiring team members that the board

Cultural Competency

Sometimes the best thing we donors can do to advance social justice is to just write the check and get out of the way

Hi everyone. This post will likely be controversial, so grab a bar of dark chocolate, or, if you are in Seattle, a warm cup of hemp milk and some kale chips. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about our philosophy on donor engagement, and I think we need to

Cultural Competency

Happy Lunar New Year! Here's your organization's fortune for the Year of the Pig

Hi everyone. I was going to write a Very Serious Post about something Very Serious, but then realized that this week (beginning February 5th) is the start of the Lunar New Year, an important celebration in many cultures. This is a time for new beginnings, joy, celebration, and, for some

Funder Relations

How funder fragility is similar to white fragility and what funders can do about it

Hi everyone, if you are in Seattle this Thursday evening (1/31/19), come to RVC's "Inside the Activist's Studio" event, where one of our fellows interviews a community leader. This time, we're featuring the legendary Trish Millines Dziko, co-founder of Technology

Funder Relations

Imagine if we talked to other professionals the way people talk to nonprofit folks

Happy Monday, everyone. Before we get into today’s post, a quick announcement: My organization is now accepting applications for our first-ever Green Pathways Fellowship program, which we are launching in collaboration with our awesome partner Got Green. This cool new program will diversify the environmental movement by finding awesome

ED Life

Being thankful is not enough. Here are 21 tips to help you do a better job thanking people

Hi everyone, before we get into this week’s post, please take a moment to help people affected by the wildfires in California. Your donations and support in other ways make a difference. -- Thanksgiving is coming up this week, and all of us in the US will likely be