When I was in graduate school (more than 20 years ago) I wanted to be the CEO of a big, international nonprofit. I took my first fundraising job because I knew that fundraising was one of the keys to successful nonprofits. In other words, if I was going to be an impactful CEO, I would need to know how to raise money. The same is true for … [Read more...]
4 Strategies to Better Manage Your Nonprofit Board in 2024
If you're a nonprofit leader, managing your board is likely a challenge. Although most nonprofit boards technically manage the ED/CEO, there’s a lot of opportunity and rationale for managing up. If you don’t work to manage your board, your board members may become unruly and make your organization more difficult to lead. It’s important to … [Read more...]
8 Ways Men Can Support Women in the Nonprofit Sector
Last week, I wrote about women supporting women in nonprofit leadership. If you haven't read that yet, give it a quick look. This week, I wanted to shift the focus to men. (Truthfully, both articles apply to all genders, but I’ve tried to highlight some places where specific support in one area or the other would be especially … [Read more...]
Calling All Women: Supporting Other Women in Leadership Matters
It’s no secret that strong women leaders are often looked upon negatively and as aggressive. It’s a no-win situation. So, when you see this happening, stand up. Make every attempt to encourage other women, even when you may not agree with them 100%. Let them know you’ve got their back. Why Supporting Women in Leadership Matters I sit on … [Read more...]
How to Hire a Great Consultant for Your Nonprofit
As a fundraising consultant, I often sit across from nonprofit leaders, staff, and board members, who are struggling to determine whether to hire Capital Campaign Pro (my capital campaign consulting firm), another consultant, or no one (i.e., do it themselves). Luckily, sitting on a nonprofit board enables me to get a sneak peek at the … [Read more...]
9 Soft Skills Every Fundraiser Needs and How to Improve Them
Like most professional careers, fundraising requires a set of hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are the fundraising techniques and best practices learned through schooling, trainings, webinars, and at conferences, as well as on-the-job experience. Soft skills, on the other hand, are often harder to learn if they don’t come … [Read more...]
Assess Yourself and Your Fundraising: 5 Profound Questions
As we head into the fall fundraising season, I thought it might be interesting to do a personal and professional assessment of where you are and where you'd like to go. There’s no reason to wait until January for New Year’s resolutions -- you can make changes right now. Personal and professional improvement should be ongoing. The good news … [Read more...]
Simple Stress Relief for Busy Development Directors
Have you ever been so stressed that you can’t get any work done? It’s a refrain I hear from development directors all the time. It’s like overload paralysis. The more work you have, the less you get done. I know how that feels. This week is especially busy. A few years back when I originally wrote on this topic, I found myself pacing in … [Read more...]
Empowering Women Fundraisers: 9 Tips to Excel in Nonprofit Leadership
Fundraising is an amazing profession for women and men, alike. However, fundraising is not immune to the challenges that women workers face across all sectors. While women tend to dominate the field of fundraising in numbers, we still lag behind men when it comes to high-paying leadership positions in fundraising and in the nonprofit … [Read more...]
Help Your Executive Director Embrace Their Role in Raising Major Gifts
Executive Directors have unique roles to play when it comes to raising major gifts. It’s not a role they can hand off to a Director of Development. It’s not a role a board member can play. It’s a role uniquely held by the CEO at your organization. Think about a leader or a boss you’ve been excited to follow. That’s the kind of person who … [Read more...]
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