Jennifer E Goldman, Nonprofit Consultant

By Jennifer E. Goldman, President of Resonance, LLC   When I was the Executive Director of a Main Street community organization, I put together a black tie gala fundraiser every September. It was the most fun I’ve ever had! I loved planning that event – everything from snail mailing out the invitations and selling tickets, to driving a truck to pick up rental tables and chairs, to dashing up and down Main Street in my evening gown and heels to make sure all was well at both ends of the event. BUT I would never have called it a fundraiser. Yes, it was a successful event that hundreds of community members enjoyed and looked forward to every year. Yes, it made us more money than any other fundraiser or event throughout the year. Until you factored in my time. It was such a huge undertaking that I spent, on average, three solid months of my time (spread over nine months though). That’s one-quarter of the year. To make the math easy, let’s say my salary as ED was $48k for the year. One-...

By Jennifer E. Goldman, President Resonance, LLC   If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that even the best of plans can go up in flames in an instant. Rewind the calendar to 2019 and even at that point I was counseling my clients to NOT ask me to create a five-year strategic plan for them. Many didn’t understand. Mostly because many consultants were all gung-ho about making five-year plans. I am an advocate of planning ahead and having a long-term plan, but I’m a bigger advocate of being flexible, of understanding that “we plan, God laughs”. What I tell people is that it’s great to have long-term goals and strategies for getting from where you are to where you want to be, but when you put it all in writing too many people chain themselves to the plan; believing that there’s only ONE way to get from A to B, or that point B is the only destination to work toward. But what if you fall behind? What if you forge further ahead than expected? What if your goals change? What if...pandemic?...

By Jennifer E. Goldman, President of Resonance, LLC As a nonprofit consultant with a degree in business management, I am constantly looking for ways in which organizations can improve their processes to align more closely to those of a small business. An overwhelming majority of smaller nonprofits overlook the need to prove their value, thereby seeming unimpressive or even unimportant to potential donors and volunteers. One of the first things required of a startup business is to create a plan. This plan includes exhibiting, in fine detail, the products or services the business will offer and making a case for the value of those products or services. This is often lacking in the planning stages of a nonprofit, or is overlooked later on and never re-evaluated and restated. Without proving the value of the services your nonprofit offers, why should a donor invest any money? Why should a volunteer invest any time? To get you started, here’s a list of ways to measure the effectiveness of...