It’s a great time to be in the nonprofit sector because you’re not alone. That was evident this year with the amount of killer content we saw floating around the web to help organizations outside of our own blog. We wanted to close out 2015 with some of our favorite posts from nonprofit thought leaders around the web.
1. Fundraising Problems are LEADERSHIP Problems
Most people think that fundraising problems start with the people on the front lines doing fundraising. But if you think that it doesn’t apply to you just because you’re a CEO or Executive Director, you’d be wrong. Marc Pitman says that in his 20 years of nonprofit sector experience, he’s found that nearly all fundraising problems start with nonprofit leadership.
The problems could arise because your board doesn’t realize that they need to help with fundraising, especially if leadership relies too heavily on a fundraising professional or a variety of other reasons. Read Pitman’s article to see how you can transform leadership and fundraising.
You can also catch Pitman in January giving a free webinar with us called, “Averting the Crisis in Nonprofit Leadership.” Register today.
2. Why the Sustainability Myth is Just as Destructive as the Overhead Myth
If 2014 was the year of tackling the overhead myth (and into 2015), this year Vu Le of Nonprofit with Balls brought to light the Sustainability Myth. Vu has a wonderful way of breaking down larger concepts into easy-to-understand scenarios. Below is an excerpt from his post explaining the sustainability myth.
“And despite the budding opposition to the overhead myth, we still have resistance to funding things that would increase nonprofits’ chances of succeeding, things like admin and fundraising staff, existing staff at existing programs, professional development, marketing, databases, chairs that don’t suck, etc.,” Le said.
3. Why We Love Taylor Swift (and Why Fundraisers Should Too!)
I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve been to a concert on every single Taylor Swift tour except one when I was out of the country. I’m talking even the very first one where she was an opener for Rascal Flatts (don’t judge me).
As you can imagine, when Pamela Grow shared her post about T. Swift in January and related it to fundraising, I was excited. She talked about how Taylor is completely aware of who and where her fans are. Grow goes on to explain that the type of communication Taylor establishes with her fans builds lasting relationships that you should be striving for with donors.
Plus, Taylor topped the list of 2015’s most charitable celebrities for the fourth year in a row, and we’re always OK with that.
4. 8 Reasons Why I Didn’t Respond to Your Fundraising Letter
We all make mistakes. Unfortunately, some mistakes are more costly than others. Joanne Fritz put together a comprehensive list of reasons that people might not have responded to your fundraising letter. Truthfully, we’ve all been guilty of some of these.
Some of her reasons include not creating a sense of urgency with your fundraising appeal, trying too hard to impress donors and not being specific enough about your dollar amount request. Make sure to check out the other reasons your fundraising letter might not be getting the response you deserve.
5. Classy’s Top 5 Posts in 2015
Wait, is this cheating? Maybe. Because our number five is actually five posts. The lovely Classy folks chose some of their best posts. It’s like they did the work for us. Those posts include everything from creative fall fundraising ideas to an all-encompassing infographic showing the ultimate thank-you for nonprofits. They did a great job in 2015.
We had a good year here in the nonprofit sector, and we thoroughly enjoyed some good reads. Chime in below—what was your favorite article from the nonprofit sector this year?
