By: Lidia Varesco Racoma Owner, Lidia Varesco Design You did it—you made it through #GivingTuesday! But your work is not done yet. Take advantage of the momentum of your campaign: Follow up with your donors and supporters, create meaningful connections that will last throughout the year, and use the insights gathered this year to inspire next year’s campaign. Say thank you—and share results Thank your supporters on social media and share the results of your campaign as well as the impact it has on the people your serve. Sharing a video thank you from the organization’s founder or leaders can...
By: Melissa Lagowski Founder, CEO and Queen Bee, Big Buzz Idea Group It happened again last week. A nonprofit organization called to discuss their annual gala, describing how much money they want to raise while lamenting that they have no budget to hire a planner to assist them. Shortest conversation ever. They’re married to this event, though, so who will they find to do the work, and does that appear in the event budget? If they don’t outsource, then they self-produce, which comes at a cost. And staffing costs are a line item expense, so if they aren’t even identified, then...
By: Sherry Quam Taylor Founder, QuamTaylor LLC When I started in nonprofit years ago I had no idea what a Form 990 was - all those numbers and check-boxes seemed like a lot of painful information for someone to fill out. Frankly, I didn’t understand what most of it meant. I’ve put off filing because of “more important” business and have admittedly filed a few extensions myself. But that was before I understood the importance of this little gem of a document. You want your donors to see you as a transparent partner, right? You want them to see...
By: Gail Perry President, Gail Perry Associates Philanthropy Consultants It’s the New Year – and it’s a great time to make smart resolutions for the future! This post is a perennial favorite with my readers – I’ve updated it for this year. Here are some ideas for nonprofit board members – to help everyone get started on the right foot for the year and keep on track as we launch into the new year. You might find that these ideas will open up some interesting discussions – about expectations, attitudes and actions needed from ALL board members. How...
By: Sherry Quam Taylor QuamTaylor LLC The energy and passion needed to successfully fund and launch a nonprofit is not the same energy and passion that will keep it moving forward. Growing your organization takes even more, and most leaders feel this playing out daily. I’ve found that most nonprofits are full of passionate, thoughtful, and sacrificial leaders who have the ideas to make a great impact in the world. But I also know gaining traction and momentum to move forward isn’t easy. Often it takes an outsider’s perspective to bring clarity to problem areas. Whether your organization generates $300K or...
By: Chris Baylis President & CEO, The Sponsorship Collective Events can be great. They can engage your donors, show off your cause, increase revenue and, most important of all (in my highly biased opinion) drive sponsorship dollars. Sponsorship sales can be a major revenue source from events. With a little effort, you can make your next event a sponsor’s dream! MAKE SURE YOUR ATTENDEES LOVE YOUR EVENT What do your attendees have to do with fundraising event sponsorship? Everything. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the people at your gala are excited about another 30 second speech from a donor or sponsor....
8 Ways Social Media Can Further Your Mission By: Melissa Lagowski CEO, Founder and Queen Bee, Big Buzz Idea Group When to-do lists run long, social media management is often one of the first things to fall off a busy nonprofit team’s plate. While it’s crucial to stay focused on organizational strategy, building and maintaining a social media presence is a tactic that can help your nonprofit successfully execute that big-picture strategy and meet next-level goals. Social media may seem small-reaching, especially if you’re still working to build a following, but with consistent, engaging content, it has limitless potential. How...
Part One of a Two-Part Series (Click here to read Part Two) By: Melissa Lagowski CEO, Founder and Queen Bee, Big Buzz Idea Group Be it donors or dinners or annual bake sales, nonprofit organizations live and die by their budgets and funding streams. Finding a steady revenue stream may seem difficult but it also might just be hidden in plain sight: look around to discover that opportunities exist to develop a sponsorship program that can play mightily into your success. Established nonprofits already have an underlying support system in their board of directors, staff members, social media followers, donors,...
By: Stephanie Nivinskus Founder, SizzleForce If you’re like many non-profits, fourth quarter is when you ramp up your fundraising campaigns. After all, Giving Tuesday, the biggest donation day of the year for many organizations, is right around the corner (November 28th, to be exact.) Knowing this, and the fact that more than 30% of annual giving usually occurs in the month of December, there’s no time like the present to prepare your most irresistible fundraising campaign yet. The problem? You may be planning to do fundraising as usual. And because of that, you may miss out on millions of potential...
By: Melissa Lagowski President, Founder and Queen Bee, Big Buzz Idea Group When I first became an Executive Director, I was so excited! I couldn’t wait to roll up my sleeves and dig into the work to make my organization and the community prosper and thrive. But it didn’t take long to realize that running an organization as a team of one was exhausting, though I couldn’t fully understand why the task seemed so daunting. After many years, as I reflect on my first nonprofit role, it now seems so clear: executive directors are expected to wear many hats. How...
