Good planning is the foundation of good fundraising.  Far too many non-profits “fly by the seat of the pants” when it comes to fundraising.  They try to do too much, they incorporate every idea they get from their board, management, and major donors, and they fail to evaluate the return on investment for their various fundraising programs.  This leads to staff and board burnout, donor fatigue, and a feeling that there’s got to be a better way to fundraise.

You know how crucial it is for your board to be engaged in your development program.  Countless books, articles, and webinars have preached the importance of a board that is active in fundraising, helping you identify and connect with new donors on a regular basis.  That’s good advice… and like most good advice it is easy to understand but hard to implement.

Large software implementations are prone to failure and for good reason. They are typically long, drawn-out processes that for many are akin to a heart transplant. Over the years as an industry we’ve learned “best-practices” that every organization should apply towards a successful implementation project. Ideas like executive buy-in, change management, RFP consultants, and team participation are all concepts that are well accepted and practiced in most projects today. With all the advances in implementation best-practices you would think software projects are having a much higher success rate. Unfortunately, the data does not support this and if anything, the failure rates are getting even worse. How can this be? After spending the last 15 years serving nonprofits and being part of many implementations, we have observed a number of things that the average nonprofit may not be aware of:

The backbone of any non-profit organization is its staff and volunteers.  Without your team working together, effectively and efficiently, everything will suffer at your organization… including programs, operations, and fundraising.

The vast majority of non-profits are struggling when it comes to fundraising. They may be raising enough money to keep their programs going, or even growing… but they’re doing it with too much stress, constant staff turnover, and constant friction in their development program.

Top 20 Non-Profit Leadership Blogs and Podcast
Over the past 10 years, there has been an explosion of blogs, podcasts, and websites dedicated to non-profit leadership and development.  These resources offer everything from simple tips to in-depth strategy advice, best practices, data analysis and more.  It can be hard for non-profit leaders, board members, and staff to keep up with all of the information available to them.

Strong, thriving non-profits require great leaders.  This includes not only the CEO or Executive Director of the organization, but also skilled leaders in all areas, including programs, development, communications, and operations.  While leadership comes in many different forms, there are five key things that you as a non-profit leader need to do every day in order to be successful:

I was recently talking to a long-time friend who is the founder and president of a large electrical distribution company. We covered a lot of topics, and eventually wound up discussing the pros and cons of different types of software.

What's in it for me?

In this "what's in it for me" world, you can usually tell when someone only wants something from you.
Well, guess what. So can donors.

The nonprofit overhead debate rages on as organizations and their rating agencies take a closer look at what it means to be an effective nonprofit.

 In 2013, three major agencies that evaluate and serve the nonprofit industry co-authored an open letter to the American donor. GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and the BBB Giving Alliance wanted to address "the false conception that financial ratios are the sole indicator of nonprofit performance".