There is a question that surfaces in nonprofit circles more often than most people in the sector would like to admit: Is this bad management, or is something else going on?
It is a scenario many nonprofit executive directors will recognize immediately: A fundraising proposal lands on the board table. The numbers are sound: a modest participation assumption, a realistic cost structure, a meaningful net return. For an organization facing a significant budget deficit in a year when grant funding has contracted and individual giving has softened, the proposal is not a luxury. It is an answer to a real and pressing problem.
Yet the board votes it down. The reason offered: "That's just not who we are." No elaboration follows. The meeting moves on.
Subscribing is just the beginning. Here's how to turn every episode into a conversation that actually changes things at your organization.
The idea that nonprofit executives couldn't cut it in the corporate world isn't just wrong. It's exactly backwards. Here's the evidence.
One organization's audit experience raises important questions about proportionality, funder expectations, and how to protect your capacity before you apply.
There is a unique kind of heartbreak that comes with leaving a nonprofit organization you deeply love.