All in Influence
In the nonprofit and business sector the work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has become a significant focus these past few years. This work is important and challenging. In this blog, I will be focusing on equity. Achieving equity is one of the hardest parts of DEI work. To work towards equity, we must understand clearly what equity means, how to get started in equity work, and how to build equity into our organizations.
Fundraising is like the stock market. Some stock options are conservative or highly volatile. You have to take a risk to gain or lose a profit, but you need to be strategic about it. You can measure an investment’s profitability by assessing its return on investment. Similarly, in a fundraising world, you have to invest in your donors, be strategic and determine which fundraising activities will produce a high return on investment. Read more to find out how.
When you find yourself in need of some high-quality, qualitative data about your programs or projects, a great evaluative tool to use is a focus group. A focus group is a method of gathering meaningful insights and opinions from a small group of carefully selected individuals who participate in a guided group discussion. Its purpose is to identify and understand more in-depth perceptions of a program or service than simple survey questions may answer. Read more to find out how to plan and hold a focus group.
Every organization wants a generous donor base that will sustain the organization for years to come. It’s like building a house; you have to start by compiling a list of building materials to buy (including checking out product reviews and comparing prices). If you have a customer relationship management (CRM) database, creating a donor list from scratch is easier than you think. This article also includes evaluation criteria for making a donor list entirely from scratch, with or without a database.
You’ve likely heard the phrase, Don’t get mad, get even. The idea is that there isn’t much point in expending emotional energy on anger when you can take action. Well, this may be a motto some live by but when it comes to workplace conflict, “getting even” hardly ever leads to a healthy resolution. So what do you do when you are embroiled in the middle of a conflict and neither party will budge?
I’ve heard it said of many businesses and organizations: “Where we work, we are like one big family.” Often it’s the company or organization leadership saying this, and usually with the best of intentions. By calling your workplace “One big family” – you’re likely trying to say something about your work culture or ethos. The message that leaders who say this generally seem to be attempting to communicate is ‘this is a workplace that cares,’ or ‘we all work in harmony together.’ But no matter how good the intentions behind a message may be – it’s important to consider exactly what message behind these words is truly being conveyed to the workplace.
Prioritizing proactive behaviors is the most important factor in achieving greater sustainability. Operating out of a reactive environment means there will always be an emergency attempting to draw your attention away. Prioritizing proactivity is key. For organizations to move from the culture of reactivity to one of proactive planning, they must give up solely focusing on the concrete problems of day-to-day operations and begin to focus also on abstract concepts. The good news is that there are several proactive practices nonprofit leaders can engage in to strengthen their organizations. Here are five proactive practices that lead to increased sustainability.
Things are sizzling up for the summer! Be sure to take advantage of the season, and talk with your staff, volunteers, board members, and supporters to get them fired up for the summer! To inspire your fundraising efforts this summer, here is a list of hot summer fundraising activities that will engage your donors and help you raise money for your organization. Don’t miss out on a fun opportunity to raise awareness about your organization and collect donations for your cause.
Creativity is an often-overlooked skill at work and people often underestimate their creativity. However, everyone is creative and should bring that skill to work. Creativity at work can lead to innovative ideas for problem-solving, programming, fundraising, and increased productivity. Developing your creative skills at work can be beneficial. Here are five tips to harness your creativity at work.
Cross-cultural events can be a fun way for participants to learn more about each other. While many of these events tend to celebrate surface-level culture, to have a successful event it is important to have activities to help participants learn about surface-level and below-the-surface-level culture. Different activities can be done at cross-cultural events to celebrate both levels of culture.
Many of us fundraising professionals have questions about how or when we can host in-person events. Living with the coronavirus for the past two years has taught us new ways technology can support fundraising to coordinate three types of events: in-person, virtual, and hybrid. Most importantly, we should think about what will make for a unique and meaningful experience for donors.
How do you become an exceptional leader in a time of crisis? Start by understanding your default leadership style. Once we know what leadership style comes naturally to us, we can then build a plan for how to improve other aspects of our leadership. Building up our skills in each of the frames allows us to adapt to changes and crises and become exceptional!
You are not alone! Professional networking groups can inspire a fresh perspective or put the ‘fun’ back into fundraising. Here are the top five reasons professional networking groups can improve your fundraising.
Writing a federal grant may seem like an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are 4 tips for greater success to help you secure federal grant funding. Of course, no grant application can ever be 100% guaranteed to be successful (and anyone who tells you differently is running a scam!) But with these four tips in mind, you can feel confident as you write and submit your federal grant application.
‘Tis the season of generous giving! As we wrap up the last two months of the year, there are a couple of things to do to keep the fundraising momentum going through the new year. Take a moment to organize donations, and don’t forget to send out thank you notes.
From the bottom of my heart to the moon and back, you really made my day! Is that too personal or should I be a little more formal? Donor stewardship is everything that happens after someone has made a donation. Your donors should have a positive experience and want to continue supporting your organization’s needs in the future.
There are many parts and stages to a capital campaign but one of the most important aspects is to celebrate your successes along the way no matter how small.
Fundraising professionals use different strategies to fundraise for their nonprofit organizations, but one strategy is always a game-changer, and that is setting up a major gift program. Lately, we are seeing a trend, 90% of donations come from 10% of donors. That small but influential group of donors are major gift donors.
The annual giving campaign is an opportunity to promote your organization’s mission, expand your list of committed donors, and raise necessary funds to support general operations and programs. Below are best practices for a successful annual giving campaign.
COVID-19 forced us to rethink how we operate. Nonprofits shifted their programs, fundraisers, and services overnight to adapt to the new reality. The pandemic also forced nonprofit boards to meet virtually. Rapid change is hard but the good news is, board meetings are extremely adaptable to the virtual setting. Here are four tips to make your next meeting a success.
