What I learned: April 22-26
Each week, I share my favorite resources that I found while helping organizations make a LEAP to support leadership, increase engagement, improve accountability, and foster philanthropy.
Leadership
Podcast (Nonprofit Leadership Podcast): The Power of Generous Leadership
I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership in the nonprofit sector and how we can better support staff members so they feel included, understood, and supported. This podcast about empathic leadership and showing vulnerability in the workplace really resonated with me.
Engagement
Podcast (Nonprofit Nation with Julia Campbell): How to Turn Event Attendees into Lifelong Donors
While doing prep work for the nonprofit leadership course that I lead at our local technical school, I listened to this podcast episode. Our class last week talked about communication, marketing, and community engagement and while we have two different weeks focusing on fundraising, we don’t talk about special events until that session because I believe if they are used well, they can do much more than help raise money. (In fact, they’re a pretty bad way to raise money for most organizations.) If events are leveraged as one of many engagement tools to help expose attendees to your mission, they will be much more successful as a long-term strategy.
Accountability
Article (Candid): The overhead myth: crash course to fundraising transparency
I found this article from Candid about the overhead myth particularly helpful for anyone who is trying to combat the idea that nonprofits should put all of their money “directly” into the mission. I see far too many nonprofits - especially small ones - struggling to attract and retain talent and am a huge advocate for transparency around overhead and salaries. Plus, as a sector we need to be better about telling the story about how overhead directly impacts our mission! For many organizations, the mission is tied so closely to paying their staff to provide programs that it would be incredibly short-sighted if we simply cut staff to meet an arbitrary benchmark. Instead, I think we need to set appropriate target for our organization and improve transparency in the sector as a whole.
Philanthropy
Webinar & Research Report (Capital Campaign Pro): The State of Capital Campaigns 2023-2024
Last week I tuned in for a recap of a research report led by Capital Campaign Pro on the state of capital campaigns and immediately downloaded the report itself (which I linked above). There was a lot that jumped out at me but the two most notable included:
Feasibility studies are beneficial for fundraising and donor relations
A high-powered/big-money board is not necessary for campaign success
I know from my past experience that this is true but it’s validating to see it backed up by research. The fact that 72% of respondents said that the campaign strengthened relationships with major donors is reason enough not to be afraid to dream big and consider if a campaign is right for your organization.
