Leadership & Management Archives - The Giving Collaborative

Don’t Wait: Start Planning Your Next Capital Campaign Now! (Part 1)

July 20, 2019 in Fundraising, Leadership & Management

Keep smiling, you tell yourself.

Your CEO is informing you, the chief development officer, that your organization’s board just approved a major building project that hadn’t been on your radar. What also wasn’t on your radar: a $10 million capital campaign (or $25 million or $50 million) that’s needed to supplement other funding sources.

Maintain a good poker face, you think. After all, a well-planned, successful capital campaign will take your philanthropy program to a higher level.

And there’s more news: your CEO wants to break ground in six to 12 months if fast-tracked approvals can be secured. And who, she asks, should lead the capital campaign? Continue reading »

Take Steps Now to Keep Continuing Education in Your Budget

April 4, 2019 in Fundraising, Leadership & Management

Are you doing that annual dance with your CFO to keep professional membership and conference fees from being cut from your development/advancement budget? One CFO I worked with years ago eliminated the money from my budget, never to be seen again. He reasoned that since I didn’t need the funds that year (because he wouldn’t let me spend the money), then I certainly didn’t need them in the future. Okay then . . .

It Takes a Village…

August 4, 2017 in Fundraising, Leadership & Management

A few years back, a very good friend of mine and his brother decided to start a non-profit to honor the memory of their mother, who had recently passed away after a long battle with cancer. Both my friend and his brother are extremely intelligent, well educated, and have great jobs in which they are very successful. They had a fantastic idea for their organization and put together a very solid mission statement, vision statement and strategic plan.

How Flexible and Creative is your Organization?

July 10, 2017 in Leadership & Management, Marketing & Communications

While it’s not very common in the not-for-profit sector, partnerships between two organizations is becoming a more popular method of attaining a specific goal. When two groups come together, they frequently bring with them two different pools of potential donors from which to draw. In addition, the two organizations bring twice the resources (human and otherwise), the experience, and the enthusiasm. And don’t forget twice the policies, the history, and the personalities.
Continue reading »

10 Tips for Working with Your Board

May 24, 2017 in Leadership & Management

The development office’s relationship with its board has a huge impact on its philanthropic success. Unfortunately, fundraising is often a board’s greatest area of weakness. According to BoardSource, many board members are intimidated by the thought of asking for money and others are surprised they are expected to participate in fundraising at all. Yet we all know that successful fundraising is driven by a philanthropic culture that starts at the top. Below are 10 tips for making fundraising a more positive and proactive experience for your boards.