Nonprofit YEAH!

What's happening in the economy? It's really hard to say. And it's hard to make decisive moves when you really don't know what's up. What we do know is that things are shifting, and we need to make a Plan A, B... and C. This episode addresses the need for planning, and how to engage your board's deep hidden talents.

You can't fake authenticity. In our nonprofit work it's the backbone of our storytelling and our ongoing relations with the world we serve. This episode talks about authenticity and signs of when that may be waning. Keep it real to stay engaged.

I've been working with an organization on their grant-getting, and it reminded me of some things that may be helpful for you and your organization. Check it!

In many smaller nonprofits the people involved are too busy to make communicating to the public a consistent priority. Yet by simply outlining a plan for an entire year, it all gets much easier. This episode is about the 'how' to talk about the 'why' of your organization.

Give Big is a statewide effort in Washington to get alll the nonprofits involved in a short sprint for gifts. It has morphed into something that I believe is destructive for healthy nonprofits. It's creating a dependence on a big organization and making the Scarcity Mindset the paradigm. We need to break that. Listen in to my totally biased take on this!

Jim Mueller of JMuellerandassociates.com is a consultant in Florida who has published a book all about defining the roles you need on your board, finding the right people, then assuring they have a good experience on the board. It's a great read, and Jim tells us a few gems in this interview.

There is risk of all kinds that we must prepare for. Risk can be not only bad, but also good. We should be prepared for anything that may come the way of our organization. Let's plan ahead!

For fun, I hammer out a few annoying clichés in this episode, and then focus on the real reason we do strategic planning: because we can't afford not to.

How do you do strategic planning with your nonprofit board, staff, and stakeholders when the future is so unpredictable? Plan for a lot of different possibilities - both the bad ones and the good ones! 

How are you relating to your donors? Are you doing it on their terms or on yours? You'll have a lot more success if you listen to donors... and then tell their story to the rest of the community. Donors need to be engaged on their own terms, and it really helps when we listen to what they have to say about our organizations. You'll hear why they love you, not why you love yourself!

Risk management is a really important part of what a board should be doing. We need to think of what CAN go wrong, not what might go wrong that we're pretty sure we can manage. The pandemic has shown that we need to think about the worst, and build it into our future plans.

This is the Covid-19 episode.  How to you move ahead now? What can your organization - staff, board, and funders do to get to the other side of this unimaginable chasm? This episode will give you a few ideas to get people unstuck and start moving. Bonus content: soothing creek soundtrack in the background.

I tend to err on the side of kindness - I presume everything is going okay. What I know, however, is that we have to be on the lookout all the time for problems on the horizon. In this episode I investigate what it means to be a board member skeptic. A guardian of the mission and protector of the good. Sounds pretty righteous. Check it out!

Are you building your board with an eye to the next 2 - 7 years? What programs do you have coming up? What growth? A capital campaign maybe? This is a story about an organization that started with a vision on the back of a napkin eight years ago, that is now proactively building their board for future success. Strategic planning, governance, leadership, and followership all play a part.

The first time you become the chair of an organization can be daunting. You've watched someone else manage the nonprofit, so should you just do it that way? This episode talks about the wide range of chair styles, and how you can make a difference. You were chosen to lead, so do it the way that feels right to you. Don't be afraid to stir it up!

We are involved in nonprofit work usually because we're passionate about a cause. Because of that, one might think we'd speak passionately. With verve and style, not with terror and sweat. But public speaking is still... speaking in front of large groups. In this episode I'll help with a few tips on how to get up and seize the moment, pace your presentation, and assure people leave with a good impression.

Nonprofits are usually filled with all kinds of excitement, because we do it from passion. Action without some kinds of procedural overlay, however, can lead to messy or even disastrous unintended consequences. We need both process and procedure thinkers and action figures to get it all done. How do they work together? Listen to this episode to get some ideas.  

This episode is a mix of good things. Partly it's about when to get stuff done - don't fundraise when people aren't in a giving mood, but do throw parties when people can attend! It's also about the Big Ask - timing, remembering past promises, and making sure you have another person from your board and staff to keep you on track. Check it out!

Tough question: have you outlived your usefulness on a board? Have you lost the passion as a staff member? Nonprofit is different from for-profit in yet another way: if you've lost the thrill, it's time to step aside and make room for new blood, for others excited to carry the organization to the next level. This episode deals with endings, loss, beginnings, and bright futures. Figure out when it's time to make some space.

Two Scoops! This is two topics in one episode, both dealing with your board and money. First is the issue of the old term Give, Get, or Get OFF! Your board should be involved in not just getting gifts, but giving every year as well. We dive into the nuance. Second is setting a gift policy for your board and organization. Check it out!

Your board seats have terms. I presume. But do you have term limits? Should you have term limits? This podcast is a look at why term limits may or may not be a good thing for your board. Believe it or not, there are really good reasons not to have term limits... for some organizations. 

The only thing that's "the same" about every nonprofit is that we all must adhere to IRS requirements, and rules laid down by the Secretary of State. Every organization branches out from there because people - you, me - get involved. We bring our own personalities to the organization. Can this personality be changed? Yes! Should it? You in your organization might want to take a look at what it is you like about your personality, and what you don't. You can change, and the first step is to talk about it.

When you make the "Ask" for a nonprofit, there are two responses. There's "yes!" and it means your donor has moved from prospect to donor. Yes means yes. If your prospect says "no" it usually is a nuanced answer. It's either "no," or it's "no... I need to think about it." There are a lot of meanings to 'no,' and it's your job to take a no as an opportunity. You can learn and become stronger for the future. And by treating the 'no' as a possibility, you might even get this donor prospect to become a donor in the future.

Your nonprofit organization needs a strategic plan. It guides you for the year, or three, or five... it's your road map to the future. It holds your feet to the fire, assigns responsibilities, and helps you budget. Supporters love to hear you have a plan, too. How do you create one? This episode dives into the steps and reasons. It takes a concerted effort by staff and board, and it's work that really pays off. Take a listen and pass it around!

Mark Twain has a couple of good quotes about doing hard things. The essence of his guidance is that if you have to do something hard, do it first thing in the morning. The rest of your day will seem easy! We do lots of hard things in nonprofit, and often they're messy, and we don't exactly know what we're doing. This episode is about getting down and dirty and eating that frog, even if you don't know how to do it.

It doesn't occur to many small and medium sized nonprofits to get their books audited. It didn't to me when I started one 20 years ago. But it turns out to be a great exercise to understand where your organization is under-performing, and even over-performing. It covers you if the IRS comes knocking, and it impresses those donors who ask to see your financials. This episode explains the why's and how's of organization auditing.

Sometimes we get lost in the urgency of the work, or we become to routine and staid. In this episode I urge you to shake it up a bit, reintroduce some fun, food, and a little French into your meetings and other work.

Boards and staffs are filled with all kinds of people. We all have Super Powers. Often, however, one or a few voices are heard again and again. Whether it's a founder (thank you for being a founder!), or an overly-assertive board member, the cost of them being heard a lot, is that others are rarely heard. In this episode I urge you to 'show up, listen up, and speak up!'

I had the opportunity to sit down with Beth Stipe, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of North Central Washington. Don't worry if your organization isn't in one of the three counties her organization serves - CFNCW is one of 700 community foundations across the country. One of them almost certainly serves your area. Beth talks about how they do their work, why it matters, and how you can be successful in working with a community foundation to further your mission and programs.

The very last week of the year should be a time that you give donors a chance to make a gift. These are the ones that may say, "You know, I meant to give them a hundred bucks this year..." and it's an impulse gift imbued with the holiday spirit. (It's also imbued with the IRS if the donor itemizes.) This is how to make it easy.

We enter nonprofit work - frequently - with no training. Employees, volunteers, board... often we have passion but no education or training. This episode explores that deficit, and how to address it. (The answer is: passion will drive your will to fill the holes!)

In this episode I explore the tricky question of donor tracking. I want to learn as much about a donor as I possibly can before I have a conversation with them, and in this episode I give some examples of things I like to know. We also explore ways to get to know your donors, track them for the future of your organization, and why we do this. There's a lot to know, and it's just good relational juju to keep it all in one place.

One of the holy grails of nonprofit work is to establish an endowment. We frequently hear from boards and staff of small and medium sized nonprofit organizations that they would love to have an endowment. In this episode I explore some aspects of what this really means: how big does an endowment have to be to be useful? What does it take to establish one? How do you manage funds in an endowment so they don't diminish over time? Check it out and contact me with any questions or ideas: www.firstcreekpartners.com

Most of us have been in the situation where we know a fundraising letter or other big communication has to go out. We've kind of known it for a long time, and then suddenly the day is tomorrow. It has to go out! And you have no idea what you're going to write in this important letter, so you just write something.  Spending quality time at year end planning for all your organization's communication in the year to come will de-stress you and your volunteers and staff. Putting it all in the calendar before the year starts gives everyone clear expectations, and you know what you're going to do when the day comes. Plans may change, but you have a solid starting point to keep you on track through the year.  Here's how to do it.

The granting process is interesting - funders have very specific goals for the grants they provide, so they're looking for the best organizations to achieve these goals. Is yours the right organization? The grant application is the only way you have in to this opaque opportunity. You'll learn about what granters want, what they don't want, and how to improve your odds. For more information, check out my website firstcreekpartners.com.

Big events your organization put on take a lot of work. It's taxing on staff and volunteers, but it should have a great payoff. Planning for the results is the key. This episode has thoughts on why you do parties, and ways to make them work for your organization.

Boards take a lot of care and feeding. And it's worth it! Paying attention to how you build your board, how you manage the board you have, and preparing for the future with new board members waiting in the wings all takes time. It'll make your organization perform way above others. Check this out and learn some tricks to optimizing your board culture.

Making "the ask" in nonprofit work seems to freak a lot of people out. But you don't ask someone to marry you without going on some dates. That's how the ask works - you need to meet, date, court, charm, and assure *both* you and the potential donor that it's a match made in heaven. Check out this episode!

Why do some people hate committee work? Meetings. Time wasting meetings. At least that's the perception. If you've got board members or others from whom you need expert advice and targeted effort, consider enlisting them in a disappearing task force. Check it out.