As a new executive director, I’ve set a goal for myself to increase corporate giving to our mission. ”Sounds like a plan,” right? But I have some basic questions to answer first.
“What’s the best approach?”
“Are there red flags to be aware of?”
“What are the trends around corporate giving these days?” and fundamentally,
“What will it take to attract a new business to contribute to my nonprofit’s mission?”
As a new executive director, I’ve set a goal for myself to increase corporate giving to our mission. ”Sounds like a plan,” right? But I have some basic questions to answer first.
“What’s the best approach?”
“Are there red flags to be aware of?”
“What are the trends around corporate giving these days?” and fundamentally,
“What will it take to attract a new business to contribute to my nonprofit’s mission?”
As a new executive director, I’ve set a goal for myself to increase corporate giving to our mission. ”Sounds like a plan,” right? But I have some basic questions to answer first.
“What’s the best approach?”
“Are there red flags to be aware of?”
“What are the trends around corporate giving these days?” and fundamentally,
“What will it take to attract a new business to contribute to my nonprofit’s mission?”
Burnout isn’t just a trendy term — it’s real and it’s widespread. So many of us seem to feel overworked — we take on more and more and more until that telltale feeling of extreme stress takes over.
A few days ago, nonprofit leader, visionary, and lover of unicorns, Vu Le, tweeted the message below about one of the top #badnonprofithabits: advertising how high a percentage of a donation goes “directly to helping the individuals we serve.” Vu pointedly pleaded, “Y’all, please stop putting stuff like this on your website and then complain about how people don’t fund core support like rent and utilities.” He is 100% correct!
The last time the U.S. Department of Labor proposed changing the rules on overtime pay, the second most common question the National Council of Nonprofits heard – after what would the proposed regulations do? – was this: Wait, what, you mean this law applies to my nonprofit; since when? The answer then, as now, is that the law on overtime “almost certainly” applies to individual nonprofits and employees, and it has “for a long time.” That still remains true today, even though a federal judge in late 2016 blocked those proposed changes from taking effect
The phrase “nonprofit tax day” may sound like an oxymoron or punchline of a joke, but it’s real. Tax-exempt organizations must pay significant new taxes to the U.S. Treasury (and to some states) by May 15 if they operate on a calendar-year basis.
On April 23, 2019, in a packed courtroom, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the census citizenship question lawsuit. The line for the public to attend began forming the day before, but I was lucky enough to be the final member of the Supreme Court bar seated in the reserved area of the courtroom, marking the day as one of most exciting I’ve had since arriving in Washington 2.5 years ago.
Every day, nonprofit emails need to compete with everything from the latest sales at local stores and breaking news alerts to neighborhood listservs and family photos and on and on. It’s difficult to cut through all of that noise and motivate people to not just read, but also to engage with your nonprofit. Starting at an even more foundational level, you need to be sure that when someone is cleaning up their inbox, they aren’t clicking to unsubscribe from your messages.
We all use email to communicate to some degree. (We know this because you likely got to this story by reading an email from us and clicking a link in it.) Email is quick. It is efficient. It costs a lot less than direct mail. But it’s also easy to have an email be disregarded or missed by its intended recipient. When you need a recipient to take a particular action, such as to volunteer, to sign a petition, to call their elected officials, or to donate, you need your message to work.
