How two nonprofits achieved award-winning success with fractional staff support
An award, particularly a prestigious one, can raise an organization’s profile, drive additional fundraising, and lift the morale of volunteers and staff. Unfortunately, many smaller, volunteer-driven nonprofits hesitate to even throw their hat in the ring. Many are doing wonderful work but are unaware of award opportunities or too busy to apply. Others may need help to build a new initiative into an award-winning effort. Fractional staff can help nonprofits achieve award-worthy successes and they can support or even manage the award application process.
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End the meeting marathons draining your nonprofit’s morale and productivity.
Fewer, more efficient meetings drive your organization’s goals forward – and leave more time for inspired, independent work.
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Combat the Nonprofit Workforce Shortage with a new Staffing Strategy
You may have seen headlines about an alarming nonprofit staffing shortage propelled by the pandemic. I believe a significant contributing factor to this crisis is that the traditional models for staffing nonprofits have always been inadequate. It was easier for this current crisis to take hold because our sector was already struggling with staffing. The good news is that there is an innovative staffing strategy available that can help nonprofits meet current service demands and grow, even now.
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Nonprofits: Get your new volunteer board members off to a strong start!
You created a robust pipeline, leveraged professional relationships, and finally landed your dream board member(s). Now what? These dedicated volunteers have committed to give freely of their time and talent. They really want to do a good job. However, without the right planning and support, they may never become fully engaged, deliver maximum impact, or stay with you long term. These are my best tips to help your newest board member feel supported and inspired – and to keep your talent pipeline full.
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Use Technology to Make Your Nonprofit Stronger
Efficiency is a must for volunteer-driven nonprofits. You want to ensure every penny and every volunteer hour is well spent in service of your mission. Yet when I begin a new assignment as a Nonprofit Virtual Assistant (NPVA), I often find my clients aren’t using the many technologies designed to enhance efficiency. It’s understandable: unfortunately, the very people who could benefit the most from these tools are so busy and bogged down that they feel they can’t research technologies, roll them out effectively, or learn to use all their capabilities. Others don’t explore their options because they assume they will be too expensive, but these systems may be more affordable than you think.
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Lead your nonprofit to greater financial security with a contingency fund
Nonprofit Boards of Directors have fiduciary responsibility for their respective nonprofit organizations, but what does it look like to fulfill this commitment at the highest possible level? It means more than compiling a budget or signing off on taxes; it means integrating sound financial thinking into every aspect of board governance to ensure the financial health of your organization long-term. One critical aspect of this responsibility is the mitigation of risks. In this post I’ll share how you can mitigate financial threats to your nonprofit by establishing, growing, and managing an adequate contingency fund (aka cash reserve).
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Panic-proof Your Nonprofit and Build Sustainability with a Leadership Succession Plan
I think most nonprofit leaders would tell you that their fondest hope is for their organization to still be doing wonderful, meaningful work a hundred years from today. However, the reality is that without intentional succession planning, many nonprofits cannot successfully weather even a long-term leave by a key leader.
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Four Ways I Help my Nonprofit Clients Accomplish More in Less Time
How I Help my Nonprofit Clients Get and Stay More Organized
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Is Your Nonprofit Healthy? Are You Sure?
According to the National Center on Charitable Statistics, approximately 30% of nonprofits fail to exist after ten years. In other words, almost a third of nonprofits aren’t healthy and will never manage to reach a sustainable level.
So, how do you, as a nonprofit board member, know if your organization is one of the healthy ones?
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A January Jumpstart Can Boost Fundraising All Year Long
It's January. You and your nonprofit’s staff breathe a sigh of relief, happy to have a quiet month to step back and relax. After all, donors have been bombarded with appeal mailings and emails, solicitation calls, and holiday events – they must want some downtime too!
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Ending “Administrative Madness” with Nonprofit Virtual Assistants
This summer, I was delighted to be featured in Episode 26 of groupfinity, the excellent podcast for nonprofit leaders hosted by Anthony Wilson. I’m sharing some highlights below. If you have curiosity about how our Nonprofit Virtual Assistants (NPVAs) are trained, what they can do to help your organization, or how much the service costs, this is the blog post for you! Or grab yourself a coffee and listen to the whole 20-minute podcast here.
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Five Ways This Nonprofit Found New Momentum
Energy, synergy, momentum – these are the goals of every team and organization. As a nonprofit with passion for your mission, getting into this zone is even sweeter because it enables you to expand your impact. Today I’m revealing five things my client, Change is Simple, embraced to accelerate their success. Co-founder Lauren Belmonte shares, “We have so much more productive traction now, and we’re excited to see what’s next!”
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Is this the secret to weaving your nonprofit’s volunteers into a dream team?
Volunteers bring fabulous skills to the table, but many do not have the time, desire or skillset (and you need all three!) to take on the operational/administrative tasks required to make your nonprofit run like a well-oiled machine. I want to share with you how Kids' Chance of North Carolina utilized one of our Nonprofit Virtual Assistants, freeing their volunteer board members to excel at what they each do best.
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Our Virtual Assistant Helped Make KCMA’s Virtual Fundraiser a Very Real Success
The biggest fundraising months of the year will be upon us soon. I’d like to share with you how the support of a Nonprofit Virtual Assistant (NPVA) helped Kids’ Chance of Massachusetts make their first virtual fundraising event an unqualified success. If you’re thinking of taking a fundraising event virtual this year, read on for some great tips.
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The Rule of 7: You’ll Thank Me For It
Saying thank you never goes out of style. It’s simply good manners in all walks of life; especially in fundraising. Donors want to know that their contributions, large and small, are appreciated and will be used for their intended purpose.
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Nonprofit Coaching and Mentoring Converge
Sometimes people use the words “mentoring” and “coaching” interchangeably, but in reality, their intent is somewhat different. Both share the basic objective of helping a professional reach peak performance and organizational success, though the approach used in a coaching relationship varies from that of a mentoring relationship. A bit. Or do they, really?
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Effective Email Management and the Role of Virtual Assistants
We all struggle with out-of-control email boxes. Nonprofits are no exception, often receiving hundreds of emails a day. Reading and responding to every message in a timely manner is a drain on volunteer resources, yet we know that email has become a preferred method of communication for many key stakeholders. Email can be a highly productive and effective form of communication, but it must be managed in a time efficient manner.
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Too Busy to Hire an Assistant?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from busy executives that they need an assistant to help them get caught up but are so swamped that they don’t have time to find one.
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Managing Nonprofit Volunteers and the Role of the Virtual Assistant
Volunteers engage with a nonprofit because they want to support the mission. But whatever work they do for your organization is in addition to their full-time jobs.
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Looking for a Fresh Perspective?
In almost all cases, as a consultant I believe I was able to play an effective role in advancing these nonprofits by addressing their pain-points and challenges, finding solutions to obstacles, and helping their leadership to navigate a path toward growth and sustainability. Have you considered using a consultant to help create a pathway to success for your organization?
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