Readings on Rethinking the Nonprofit Sector
Originally published by the Community Resource Center
I spent last week on a landscape photography tour in Oregon. I signed up for the tour to experience watching a professional photographer working in the field and to get to some great photo locations at the right time. What I got instead was a huge kick in the pants. For the first time in many years, I felt constantly challenged and inspired. With horrible weather, challenging conditions for photography, excruciatingly long days, and lots of tiresome physical activity, I created some of my favorite photographs…ever.
So what does this have to do with nonprofit management, you ask? For me, this trip pushed me beyond many of my personal boundaries and at those points, I found a lot more success and learning than I anticipated. This can be an important lesson in leading and managing an organization, especially now. Read more
Smart Strategies for Sustainability: Grant Fundraising
Originally published by the Community Resource Center.
The realities facing the foundation community are stark. According to a recent Council on Foundations report, the foundation community in the United States lost $150 billion in assets during 2008, leaving total foundation assets around $530 billion. This decline is being felt in Colorado. At least a few community foundations across Colorado have or plan to entirely curtail their grantmaking. A number of private foundations have announced that they will not accept applications from organizations that they do not already fund. Others have not announced plans, but are faced with making decisions about what to do with endowments that lost up to half of their value. Yet, many of the nonprofits CRC serves have not changed their fundraising strategies in response to these realities, in part because they assume that they have special relationships with their funders that will insulate them from the cuts that others will face. Read more
So, Why Should I Care About Facebook? Choosing the Right Social Media Tools for Your Organization
Originally published by the Community Resource Center
For nonprofit organizations that are not already using social media and web-based communication tools, the reasons to embrace them are continuing to pile up. Now, the impact of the current economy is providing a strong incentive for many previously reluctant organizations to think about utilizing some of these tools. Choosing the right tools for your organization can mean cost-savings and increased effectiveness, and getting started now will mean that your organization will be able to stay current with today’s communication practices. Read more
A Detailed Guide to Getting Started: Mentoring, Networking, and Young Nonprofit Professionals
Originally published by the Denver Young Nonprofit Professionals Network
I have had four jobs in the nonprofit sector. With the exception of my first job in which I was hired to be a “secretary” in a development office, my professional network helped me get the other three jobs. In each case, I had either a direct or a strong indirect relationship with the person making the hiring decision. More importantly, I do not think my resume would have made it into the “yes for an interview” pile without those connections. While people get good jobs every day without such connections, it is a fact of life in Denver’s nonprofit sector that connections can give you an important advantage in job seeking and career advancement. Based upon my personal experience and that of many of my peers, these types of connections are especially important for young professionals who have strong transferable skills, ambition, and leadership ability but do not necessarily have the on-paper experience necessary to get through a traditional job screening process. Read more
Redefining Nonprofits and the Leadership “Crisis”
Originally published be CausePlanet.com
Whether you think the nonprofit sector is facing a leadership crisis or a leadership transition, the issue is difficult to ignore and is likely already affecting your organization in some way. It may look like generational differences that are causing workplace disharmony, a founding executive director preparing to retire, or a talented young employee leaving because of a lack of opportunity for advancement. From a more academic perspective, most research on this issue focuses on how generational differences and structural issues within the nonprofit sector, along with demographic shifts, have created something of a perfect storm that will leave the sector without strong leadership in coming years. Read more
Capacity Building During Challenging Times: Start with Financial Management
Originally published by CausePlanet.com
Along with the recent economic meltdown has come the question for nonprofits of how organizations can survive or continue to thrive during these challenging times. One answer is to invest in capacity-building activities that are proven to make organizations more effective and sustainable, such as strengthening fundraising activities and focusing on programs that are proven effective. Of all capacity-building activities, however, enhancing your organization’s financial management abilities is likely to be one of the most important, because information about your organization’s financial health is essential in making decisions in other areas, such as fundraising and prioritizing organizational activities. Read more
Enhance your Organizational Adaptive Capacity to Build Effectiveness
Originally published by CausePlanet.com
Adaptive Capacity: the ability of a nonprofit organization to monitor, assess and respond to internal and external changes.
This definition of adaptive capacity comes from the New York-based TCC Group, the consulting firm that introduced this concept to the nonprofit sector in High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Nonprofit Impact (1999). Others in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors have built upon this concept, and it is now considered by many in the field to be one of the key components of building nonprofit capacity and promoting long-term organizational effectiveness. Read more