Jennifer E Goldman, Nonprofit Consultant

When was the last time you got an appeal letter at home that included a self-addressed, stamped envelope...so you ran for your checkbook? I can’t remember either. It may have been enough to get you bonus donors back in our mothers’ day, but today the extra money spent on double the envelopes and double the postage is just an added expense to an already low-netting fundraiser. On average, fundraising appeal letters see a return of around 5%. That’s not a lot. To put it into perspective, here’s a little math I did for you. You’re welcome ;)      100 = number of letters you sent out          5 = the number of donations you receive If your ask in the letter was $100, then you may (or may not) have grossed $500 for that fundraiser. Total. And here’s likely what you spent on this “fundraiser”: 5-10 hours of your time creating, composing, collating, and mailing out – if you make $30/hour that’s $150 - $300 of your time $126 on posta...

If you’re struggling to find support for your nonprofit organization, you may want to begin tracking certain data to help you build a more compelling narrative. The more you understand what your organization has accomplished, in specific quantitative measures, the more your stakeholders and prospective supporters will be able to grasp the magnitude of the importance your nonprofit has in the community. Nonprofits that aren’t able to show their value, in both quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (narrative) ways often find support lacking in the following ways: Board member disengagement and/or dysfunction Not enough volunteers signing up Volunteers who step forward but don’t commit or follow through Donations waning in number and/or amount Grant applications rejected Partnerships dissolved or waning in commitment The more data you can collect during your fiscal year, the easier you’ll find it to tell your organization’s story. The method of data collection isn’t important – it can be...

Many nonprofit leaders feel as if their board isn’t engaged  *, or not as engaged as they’d like. On the flip side, many board members feel useless, like they want to do more, they just don’t know what to do and no one’s asking them. So, how can we get our directors to go from sitting on a board, to serving the board? It’s really quite simple. Talk to them! I invite you – either the head staff member or the board chair – to meet with board members one-on-one and find out how each member would like to be involved and at what level. The results may surprise you. Some board members will jump at the chance and some may not, but I believe they will all feel good about having had the conversation and the opportunity to be heard. Here's a list of questions or conversation starters you might want to use in these conversations: What first attracted you to our organization? What’s the biggest challenge you feel our organization is facing? And what suggestions do you have for resolving it? Wh...