All in Structure
If you placed all your hopes on #givingtuesday for your year-end campaign, you probably felt disappointed by the results. However, if you see the day as part of a larger year-end approach, it is easier to appreciate the event.
Regardless, here are a few tips to pay attention to today!
Your strategic planning process is one way to check in with the community. In addition, incorporating Human-Centered Design helps facilitate meaningful engagement.
Year-end fundraising is a great opportunity for nonprofit organizations to meet their fundraising goals. Below are four phases for developing your year-end campaign work plan.
Evaluation work is extremely important, and getting it right matters. Good evaluation allows you to know whether or not your efforts are effectively helping you reach your goals, and whether or not you’re making best use of scarce resources. If it turns out your programs aren’t as effective or efficient as you thought – it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. In fact, your evaluation can be used to make any necessary adjustments, learn from your experiences, and improve your offerings in the future.
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!
Nonprofit leaders are looking for ways to get back on track with strategic plans developed before the pandemic. But what exactly Pandemic Recovery looks like for each of us varies from organization to organization. Pivoting responds to a new context. It is not the same as ‘mission drift,’ and does NOT signify failure. It takes an organization firmly rooted in its community to respond to its needs.
Over the past two years, strategic planning trends have been on a rollercoaster ride. Nonprofit leaders started 2020 with shiny new plans and high hopes for the next five years but were walloped by COVID reality. Now, more than ever, nonprofit leaders need to carefully consider what is relevant.
If your team is like ours here at Spark Group, you likely have times when you work remotely and in other situations where you are in person. Sometimes, when working with clients, we work with individuals in-person and virtually simultaneously. Below are our picks for the top tools that help facilitate meaningful hybrid workplaces.
Strategic plans are useless if we fail to create action steps and align our team’s focus. Follow these steps to make your plan work for you!
As the executive director of a small nonprofit, you are likely in the habit of wearing many different hats at your organization – often multiple hats at the same time. It’s time for your organization to set goals for the upcoming year through a strategic planning process. While some organizations bring in outside consultants to lead this process, you are confident the strategic planning process is one more task you are ready to handle. So, where do you begin?
Nonprofit leaders are very familiar with the need and benefits of strategic plans. We hear about them all the time and likely engage in a strategic planning process within your organization on a regular schedule. However, fewer of us in the sector are aware of the term “operational planning.”
According to the United States Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, an estimated 1.4 million people with disabilities live in Michigan (or 14.3%). So, in a group of twenty people, at least three may have some type of disability, which can be visible or non-visible.
Planning your events to be accessible to the disability community is not only the right thing to do. You also demonstrate your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by incorporating accessibility in your services, programs, and events..
SMART Goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Timebound. It’s useful to think of evaluation as part of a cycle. This allows us to consider the evaluation process at the start of a program cycle. There are many benefits to approaching evaluation this way – the most important being that gathering data and information becomes so much easier throughout the program cycle.
You did it! Congratulations on receiving your 501(c)(3) Determination Letter. Let’s review some fundraising fundamentals before your organization can begin accepting donations.
Taking small steps to improve your website's SEO or Search Engine Optimization ranking does not have to be a complicated process. You may be surprised – as I was – that a handful of small, straightforward tasks can do much to make sure more people find your website via an online search.
Plenty of very well-meaning entrepreneurs have an idea and a passion but need help starting out in the nonprofit sector. Here are four tips for avoiding pitfalls and creating sustainable organizations.
Many great initiatives fail to launch due to poor planning but with careful consideration, you can set any program up for success. Below are three tips to consider when engaging in your program design process.
