Nonprofit leaders face countless challenges — particularly during these darker days:
- Not enough time
- Not enough resources
- Not enough staff
- Not enough money
- Old technology
- Disengaged boards
But beneath all these obstacles lies something deeper.
Your #1 Challenge And Nominal Change
When it comes to fundraising, many nonprofit leaders lack the confidence and know-how to engage their biggest potential donors. A scarcity mindset — one often shared by both leaders and boards — limits what’s possible.
Instead of bold, transformational plans, most organizations settle for incremental, nominal change.
I’m developing a keynote talk and future blog content to help nonprofit leaders and fundraisers like you break through these barriers and raise more money with confidence and clarity.
I’d Love Your Input
You could really help me out in a BIG way!
All you need to do is take two minutes and leave a comment below. Ask yourself:
- Which of the challenges listed above resonates the most with you personally?
- What’s the biggest obstacle your organization faces right now?
Answer those questions below and I’ll develop some new content to help you through your challenges. It’s my sincere hope that we’ll get through these challenging times, together.
Thanks in advance!
1. Not enough resources – time, money, staff, capacity
2. Biggest obstacle is getting our message out to the right people with the right tools
Scattered attention – hard to stay focused on the activities with greatest ROI.
More than anything boards lack proper training and development regarding their role overall, and best practices regarding the many aspects of fundraising. It leaves the one development officer with all the tools and little time to show the board how to use them. In fact many of the boards don’t think it’s their responsibility to use them.
It’s time and staff.
1. Time
2. Lack of funds
Interesting post. So many of the items listed resonate. One I had not considered previously was Confidence. To try and answer your two questions…
1) Resonates personally?…a seemingly disengaged board which results in challenges raising money which impacts resources and staffing and ultimately the ability to fulfill the mission.
2) Biggest Organization obstacle currently?…lack of board understanding and passion for the mission. Of course as I point a finger at “the board” I have to remember the three fingers pointing back at me. Have I not done a good enough job articulating the mission and vision? Is their lack of understanding and passion a reflection of my ability to communicate with them and is that possibly a lack of confidence on my part?
Oh my…the rabbit hole just gets deeper. 🙂
Frist thank you for your important information 🙏 about nonprofit leaders challenges that can they faces,
Really if I tell you about my organization faces right now , it’s still i didn’t sure timeline of capital campaign phase to phase and totally timeline will continues offer funds,
For example tell me phase one how much months and much the funds you were planning
And also phase two, phase three, until ending
The why I ask that questions it’s to manage and planning well funds of organization and increase board members if a possible according funds limit .
Thanks yours sincerely
Hope you will understand well 🙏
Also I would like to send me your answers about this as message not as webinar .
You’re be thanks.
1. Disengaged boards.
2. Disengaged boards.
I propose a different word than disengaged, though. “Under-achieving” comes to mind, among others.
My feeling is that, in far too many cases, board members are simply “on the board;” whereas, they should “work for the board.”
I could expand on this topic greatly, but I’ll just use one example as an indicator.
Boards are, as a body, classical “under-achievers” as fundraisers. There are many reasons for this “lack,” and NPO leaders and staff know all too well what they are.
I understand why people (board members in this case) fear the idea of “fund raising.” This topic, generally, speaking, conflicts with their comfort zone.
However, every NPO in existence needs and deserves the work of its board members to provide the funds the NPO must have to operate. To raise funds is, in fact, a requisite part of any board member’s job.
Too many NPOs don’t make this “job requirement” known to prospective board members, and do too little to enforce the requirement for the current board members.
I like the idea that board members are “friend raisers.” I could expand on this topic, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll just say that “The more friends an NPO has, the more funds it’s likely to receive.”
Friends and funds go together hand-in-glove. I have a phrase I use: Funds Flow From Friends/The Four Fs.
So, board members must be encouraged to always seek to always make friends for “their” NPO.
I’ll close with what we call “The Two Principal Principles of GoldenRuleism”:
“Do for all others, both directly and indirectly, what you would want done for you. “Don’t do to any others, either directly or indirectly, what you wouldn’t want done to you.”
In the first of these two elegantly simple and easy-to-say-and-remember sentences, we “friend raisers” seek to make and retain our circle of friends. What we do with and for them is “personal.”
In the second sentence, we make sure we don’t ignore or otherwise offend our ever-growing circle of friends. We take pride and care in ensuring that we retain those valuable friendships.
If any of Amy’s readers want to get what we call “the little booklet of GoldenRuleism,” which expands on “The Two Principal Principles,” our Team offers the e-book FREE in English, Spanish, and Arabic on our website. Check it out!
And GOOD LUCK to all of you and your board members in your present and future “friend raising.” FFFF!
Resonates? – Lack of time, resources, staff and board engagement – yes, for sure, always. However, technology – managing it and paying for it – has been one of the largest ongoing pain-points for me and many of my colleagues. CRM’s and the endless number of $5K+/year add-ons to get the most out of your tech, plus how to afford the admin resources needed to keep things working – that’s been a tough issue that impacts all the other challenges. Getting this in-hand reduces all the other common challenges and issues.
Right now? – staffing – finding and retaining the right talent for the right strategy, period.
Resources – money – time – staff
Mom and pop mentality that things can continue to operate without resources and be done the way they always have previously.
Certainly a lack of resources, but increasingly a feeling of campaign burnout- the nearly constant feeling of being in or preparing for a campaign is weighing on staff more and more
The #1 challenge that resonates with me personally is time. I’m doing too many things. And I don’t have the stuff I need to delegate out, because I’m having trouble fundraising enough to cover additional staff costs in addition to the rising operational costs out of our control. I’m having trouble (in fundraising) getting out of the mindset of asking for an incremental $ increase instead of asking for partnership in making big things happen by funding staff positions that will help us work toward the goal.
The problems begin with the mentality of the organization – board and staff leadership. They can be basically uncomfortable talking about money, as if all they should be focused on is the mission. So philanthropy is not given the respect and resources it needs to fund the mission. Hiring freezes include development staff, hindering their ability to meet goals, and leading to “not enough time, resources, staff and money.” Those are results of a failure at the top to recognize and communicate the critical role of fundraising.
Too much work and too little time
To me lack teamwork in fundraising is a challenge, staff look at leaders as problem solvers, staff think the leader knows all at all times. Staff also do not embrace the nonprofit vision as they feel that they can always make a transition somewhere else if there is no money to pay their salaries. Time also is a limit as a leader; you play many roles at the same time. Boards also are challenged by their own engagement, they are not always available to pay attention to fundraising, sometimes we are competing for the same small cake.
Although difficult to choose, a root issue seems to be underperforming Board , some of this is due to their capacity. And yes, short-staffed always, but qualified and competent, emotionally and physically healthy ( not just well meaning) staff is where our org is lacking. It seems all other aspects would improve as the critical ” root” health is transformed. Easier said than done!