Thoughts on Nonprofit Leadership
If you want to make as much money as you can while advancing your mission, you need four things: 1) strict adherence to mission; 2) revenue-generating activities that make more than they cost; 3) a lens that will help choose among the numerous fundraising options available and 4) a calendar that...
We’ve all heard it, “No mission, no money.” But what does that mean exactly? After all, sometimes you just need to make money to get through. It doesn’t always have to be related to your mission, right? Wrong. If you want to stay within the purposes of your Articles of...
One of the most difficult tasks an executive director undertakes is to get his or her nonprofit financially stable and grow. The task is especially hard during times of economic distress, when money is hard to come by and the need for services rises exponentially. To get your agency on a...
Several times over the course of my career I have been asked to implement a particular fundraising activity because Organization X raised hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing it. While I, too, want to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, I do not want to do it solely based on what worked...
By Katherine Spinney, ACC, MT, MSW
Since I was nine, I have had some type of paid work. From newspaper delivery to babysitting to nonprofit executive-ing, I have had more jobs than most people have in a lifetime - which means I have gone through countless different hiring processes along the way....
Every nonprofit I know has suffered greatly under COVID-19. As revenues declined and expenses went up, many nonprofits have had to reduce services. There may be people who were getting services who aren’t now. Or people aren’t receiving the same level of services as they did before....
In some nonprofits, the fundraising goal is determined by a budget deficit. Expenses are set first, then committed revenues are put in. The deficit is the fundraising goal for the year. For other nonprofits, the annual fundraising goal is last year’s budget increased by whatever percentage....
We’ve all been hit hard by COVID. Every nonprofit I know has experienced some kind of negative financial impact because of the pandemic. Expenses went up as cleaning guidelines got stricter. Your nonprofit may have had to invest heavily in personal protection equipment. Revenues are down as...
Morale has waned as staff and board struggle to cope. Staff may feel insecure in their jobs, Board members may fear organizational nonexistence. Trust has eroded amidst layoff’s and downsizing. Staff are angry. Board members feel helpless. Emotions are high. Productivity is down. Customer...
