Welcome!
Feature About Me on Rosetta Thurman’s Blog
Me: Shameless Self-Promotion
Rockstar nonprofit and social change blogger/consultant/speaker/writer Rosetta Thurman featured me on her blog today. Rosetta has been doing a series on how young nonprofit professionals can get started in consulting, so I wrote up a short piece about how I got started in consulting two years ago. Thank you, Rosetta, for featuring me – much appreciated!
Here’s a sample of what I had to say… Read more
New Article on CausePlanet.com: Four Considerations for Nonprofit Organizational Relevance
Part one of my latest article on organizational relevance for nonprofit organizations has been posted on CausePlanet. Here is an exerpt:
Relevance is a word that has been tossed around a lot lately, both for the nonprofit sector as a whole and within individual organizations. Many nonprofit leaders have been considering their organization’s place in a world that is being rapidly redefined by technology, the impact of the economic downturn and demographic shifts. This, I believe, is a good thing. However, an all too common response to the “Will we continue to be relevant?” question seems to be turning inward, doing a quick review of all the things an organization is doing well, and then proudly reporting to constituents that, “Yes, we are relevant. More relevant than ever.”
Want to read the whole thing? Check it out on CausePlanet.
What do you think will be the top considerations for continued organizational relevance? What is your organization doing to ensure continued relevance (or leadership) in your field? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Using Twitter as a Professional Development Tool
During a recent meeting with one of my consulting clients, we started discussing how the organization could use social media to advance its mission. I brought up Twitter and the executive director’s response was, “I don’t care if someone ate Cheerios for breakfast.” Her response demonstrates a common misperception about Twitter. Yes, there is a tremendous amount of useless noise on the internet and a lot of it is developed through Twitter, through which the ten billionth Tweet flowed this week. If you are not familiar with Twitter, check out this introduction before reading the rest of this article. Read more
Collaborative Culture Index: Where Does Your Organization Fall?
Originally published by the Community Resource Center
With tighter budgets and fewer resources, more nonprofits are looking towards collaboration as a strategy to help leverage resources and increase organizational effectiveness. Collaboration can often result in greater mission impact or better leveraging of resources. However, if they are not well-conceived and properly managed from the beginning, such “collaborative” relationships can also be a drain on organizational resources. There are two critical pieces to setting up collaborative relationships for success: ensuring that each involved organization has an organizational culture that supports shared work, and having deliberate discussions in advance around any areas where a shared approach or values may not inherently exist.
Three Things to Read Next Week
Learn More About L3Cs
Legislation to create L3Cs in Colorado is pending. Since L3Cs have the potential to significantly change the nonprofit sector (for the better, I think), I have been trying to learn all I can about this new business form. Check out this article for a good introduction. Thanks for Caryn Capriccioso of InterSector Partners, L3C for passing this along. Read more
Four Fundraising Resolutions for the New Year
Originally published by the Community Resource Center
As part of the Weathering the Storm project, the Community Resource Center and the Colorado Nonprofit Association sponsored trainings on fundraising, financial management, and collaboration to help nonprofit organizations enhance their sustainability during these challenging economic times. As part of this project over the last nine months, I have taught 15 trainings on fundraising during difficult times for nonprofit organizations of all sizes and types across Colorado and have seen the same opportunities for growth come up again and again. Read more