Organizations that commit to cultivating their board members enjoy benefits that other nonprofits can only dream about. Here are our tips for creating a high-functioning board capable of giving you the support you need.
At a recent session of our popular board development workshop, The Board Series, one of the hot conversation topics for nonprofit leaders was succession planning. That’s right. They wanted to talk about how to best groom the next generation of leaders for their organizations. The timing is certainly right for this discussion. Most of us have noticed…
By Jen Pendleton, vice-president, Aly Sterling Philanthropy
Don’t worry, this isn’t another article about the strategic plan that sits on the proverbial shelf.
But it is an article about the BoardSource study, Leading With Intent 2017, that reports that “boards are not fully engaging in strategy.”
Let that statement sink in for a minute. If you’re a board member or executive director, this is probably not surprising. The truth is…
At the core of many nonprofits’ fundraising strategy is the goal to acquire new donors. Why? Because finding more donors just seems like the right thing to do. It feels good to share in your annual report that you’ve spread the word about your cause to new people and convinced them to donate.
As a matter of fact, the phrase “we need to find more donors” is one of the most common things I hear spoken around board tables. This is because donor acquisition numbers have somehow become the standard by which we judge fundraising success. And while donor acquisition is vital for the sake of your donor pipeline, it’s not necessarily the best way (or the easiest way) to raise more money. Instead, you should focus heavily on…
A report released last month by the IUPUI Women’s Philanthropy Institute validates what we’ve long observed: Generosity is not limited by race, ethnicity or gender.
The report, Women Give 2019, finds that generosity is a value shared by all communities, and that women across race and ethnicity are leading through philanthropy.
There’s more to the study, including the unique perspectives of women of color as well as information about how income and wealth disparity affect giving. However, the overall message is an important one: the face of philanthropy is diverse.