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Want Equity? Then It’s Time to Break the Rules!
Back in June, we wrote about the need for nonprofits to better understand what it really costs them to deliver services, and on a related note, how funders can adapt their grantmaking practices to better support work around equity, inclusion, and oppor …
Social Enterprise & Earned Income: A Key To Revenue or a Distraction?
Have you been in a board meeting discussing funding and the challenges of growing revenue and heard someone say, “I know, we should open a for profit venture!” In an era of continuous government funding cuts and foundations seeking “innovation,” many o …
Empowering Next Generation Leaders through Crowdfunding
Just about all nonprofits struggle with fundraising, and nowadays many are also concerned with enlisting the support and engagement of the next generation of donors: millennials. Well, what if I told you that you can solve both these challenges simulta …
Some Say Fundraising Is Just Sales: They’re Wrong!
Early in my 30-plus year career in the philanthropic arena, I was looking for a major gifts officer for a reproductive health clinic in Los Angeles. Of the many résumés I received, one was from a candidate with ten years of solid experience—but for eig …
Fundraising for “Friends of” Organizations
As a lifelong animal lover and longtime advocate, I knew I liked the sound of a nonprofit called “Friends of Oakland Animal Services”—after all, I live in Oakland and I love animals! Sold, right? But while I figured this was an organization I’d likely …
Scarcity or Abundance? An Experiment in Collaborative Fundraising
As a recovering lawyer, I wasn’t professionally trained in development when I became an executive director three years ago, yet my Board expected me to get to work fundraising…fast. When I began exploring the field, I quickly learned there are a lot …
The New Fundraising Frontier: Impact Investing
Capital campaigns can be a slog! Most organizations face similar challenges: donor fatigue, the time it takes to raise funds, rising development costs, and concerns about falling short of your fundraising goals. But what if there were another way to ra …
In-Kind Fundraising: A Great Way to Expand Your Budget
You’re desperate. You’re planning a fundraising event but don’t have the funds to book a venue or a caterer. So what do you do? First, breathe! Then, start thinking about options for support in a new way. The truth is, often your problem is actually an …
Achieving Equity: We Need a New Approach to Funding
Lately there has been a lot of focus on the issue of equity. “Equity” is obviously a broad term that encompasses a range of issues including income and wealth inequality, as well as economic opportunity. But at its core, equity is ultimately about crea …
The Best Route to Approaching Donors: Hand-Head-Heart
As someone who began her career as a fund raiser and migrated to become a funder as head of a large corporate foundation, I have a somewhat unique vantage point on the struggle many nonprofits endure when engaging funders and major donors to support th …
