Thoughts on Nonprofit Leadership

      This article is about understanding and dealing with people’s reactions to change. People react to change in predictable ways, as do organizations, and they generally don’t like it, even if the change is for the better. Be ready for change. Change will happen if...

     This article outlines six fundraising principles you can learn from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived a middle-class lifestyle while shaping a movement. He is best known as a prominent civil rights leader of the 1950’s and 60’s. In 1964 he...

     This article is about how to make your vision a reality. Last week in 3 Steps Toward Achieving Your Wildest Dreams we talked about the role visioning plays in achieving nonprofit sustainability. This week we address how to prepare your organization for the changes that will...

      This article is about achieving your dreams and taking the first steps toward sustainability. Imagine your nonprofit attaining sustainability and you accomplishing more in less time and effort, taking a vacation and spending your nights and weekends with family and friends....

     This article is about empowering you to raise big money while still having a life outside work. Imagine having enough money to not only meet expenses and get past the status quo but grow. Imagine on-the-job stress and exhaustion are gone. Imagine time for friends, family, and...

This article is about how we, as nonprofit leaders, can ensure staff perform at their best. Leadership is fundamentally about facilitating performance, getting others to do their best, and to do their work effectively and efficiently. One of the most robust, consistent findings in the social...

This article tells you how to get a second gift. According to data compiled by Giving USA, the first-time donor retention rate has hovered right around 24 percent for years. That means that of every 100 new donors you recruit this year, only twenty-four will give again. That’s abysmal.

You...

This article stresses the importance of self-care for busy nonprofit leaders who are working sixty-hour-plus workweeks, have no time to tend to personal needs, and want to spend more time with family and friends.  Although there may seem like no way to do it, you must set aside time to take...

This article is about taming your fundraising fears. To explain, you’re getting an excerpt from my latest book, The ROI Mindset: How to Raise More Money with the Budget You Have.

“Lydia’s stomach was churning. She hated this part of being an executive director—asking...