The More Than Giving Co. Blog

As part of any strategic planning session, I will ask a nonprofit’s leaders, “Who is your nonprofit’s primary audience?” There is often a palpable pause. I can almost read their minds: “Of course we know the answer! Surely it is obvious?” Then they realize they don’t have an answer on the tip of their tongue. Sometimes they’ll begin listing audiences and then have difficulty narrowing it down. Or, just as common, they will describe their primary audience and then realize that they are describing their funders and not the people they serve.

Accountability is central to nonprofit board service. After all, boards are accountable to the organization’s constituencies; boards are accountable for complying with governmental regulations; and boards are responsible for holding the CEO/executive director accountable. But beyond that, your board also has a primary responsibility for holding itself accountable.

Recently, during a client’s 3-year strategic planning process, their Executive Director revealed her goal was to step down at the end of year two. This was a bit of a surprise and a shock to the board, but fortunately two years of notice enabled us to help them plan for a successful recruitment process and transition. Unfortunately, a two-year cushion is a luxury most nonprofits won’t have when an Executive Director or President steps down. A change of career priorities, a sudden illness in the family … there are countless reasons a leader may need or want to move on. Are you prepared for that day? You can be with a succession plan for your nonprofit’s Executive Director/top leadership role.

Last month, I was delighted to be a guest on the Scaling Impact podcast hosted by Sean Boyce. As the name implies, Sean focuses his podcast on tools that can support nonprofits in growing their programs. We chatted about how fractional staffing can help nonprofits access the right skills at the right time to support their evolution. 

This fall, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Stephen Garten, founder and CEO of Charity Charge and producer/host of the Charity Charge podcast. Through our own experiences as entrepreneurs, Stephen and I have faced many of the same challenges as the nonprofits we serve – how to shift from “survival mode” to “growth mode.” We share takeaways from our own experiences and dive into the staffing solution The More Than Giving Company offers to help nonprofits access expertise and add infrastructure in an affordable way.

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.

Fewer, more efficient meetings drive your organization’s goals forward – and leave more time for inspired, independent work.

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.

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).

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.

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?

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.

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!”