Management|Productivity

Leaving New York to come back to Columbus, Ohio, was one of the easier decisions I’ve made in my life. A continually growing city with a heart of gold, the community is one where collaboration not only happens, but continues to make the city stronger. I’ve written a few times about collaborating with like-minded organizations and individuals who can help you further your mission. When I get to experience the amazing results that this provides, I often wonder why this isn’t happening more. Upon my return to Ohio, I rejoined one of my favorite organizations in the entire world – The [...]

When Math Meets Creative: Defining Your Nonprofit Financial Terminology   Unless you are the chief financial officer or the accountant/bookkeeper at a nonprofit, you may not be aware of how financial transactions work. Perhaps you are the graphic designer and your mind is swelling with visual ideas. Aside from making the cost of the upcoming fundraiser look fancy on a flyer, you may not have the head for figures. How does a nonprofit join together the math and the creative forces on its team? Words are a good place to start. Development associates deal with words to encourage donors to send [...]

Does your organization have great upcoming events but lack the volunteers needed? Or do you have the volunteers but need the most efficient tools for keeping everyone up-to-date? There are thousands of tools organizations can use to gain and manage their volunteers. Here are 8 popular tools for organizing your volunteer needs. Google Docs is a universal tool that is ideal for connecting and sharing information. Users can share documents, spreadsheets, schedules, and presentations for free and have access to their information from any computer. VolunteerSpot is a free scheduling tool that allows you to coordinate volunteers. You can post calendars [...]

  The quality of research and data is important for today’s nonprofits. From gaining useful information to using research in daily operations, great resources can help improve your organization.   The Council of Nonprofits provides Research, Reports, and Data on the Nonprofit Sector, a list of resources for individuals in the sector.   10 Great Nonprofit Research Resources Digital Giving Index provides resources to strengthen relationships with donors and companies. The index reviews the behavior of donors through online surveys. Foundation Center offers up to date resources for fundraisers and provides tools to support organizations individuals in the sector. The Nonprofit [...]

What’s a Nonprofit to Do About Employee Turnover? Part 1 discussed how employers could prevent having a company that becomes a revolving door. What can an employee do to prevent becoming or accepting a revolving door position? A nonprofit employee may have many reasons to look for new job. They may be a recent graduate, an individual who is burned out, or someone who realizes that their own position is the one that is constantly turning over their organization. And aren’t employees the first to react when a company starts to have problems. A nonprofit staffer can apply some good advice [...]

  Let’s Get Professional   When you’re surrounded by people who are motivated by the same things you are, conversations are filled with passion, knowledge, and new ideas. One of the reasons we started covering events around the country is to help bring new ideas to you, but also to help invigorate our writers and inspire great content.   Last week, I attended an event hosted by the 501 Tech Club NYC. The discussion focused around Social Media Metrics. Incredibly informative – if you didn’t catch my live tweets, look back at #3STTNPEvents – I think the best part was hearing [...]

At the start of each new year, we all vow to be more productive and accomplish the goals leftover from last year. Let’s make this the year we actually do those things!   There are many ways to increase the productivity at your nonprofit, so get ready to benchmark new achievements to share with your donors and supporters. Alex Neuhoff and Robert Searle, who appear in the Stanford Innovation Review, offer some helpful tips to put you on the right track to a successful 2015.   Here are 4 Top Productivity Tips:   Standardize Best Practices - Instead of trying to [...]

  When you’ve got a team of people who don’t work in close proximity to you, it’s almost impossible to avoid the conference call. A few years ago, when remote working was a new concept, conference calls were seen as the way to make sure your remote team remained engaged with office culture and collaboration.   Now – just like most other means of communication that stem from the 90’s – they’re overused, misused, and often seen as a waste of time. But with a few tweaks in how you strategize, run, and follow up on your conference calls, you’ll hear [...]

Congratulations, you are now the new executive director of a non-profit organization. One of the most challenging things you will have to do is to effectively “manage up” and work well with your board of directors. As an executive director, it is critically important to set the right tone from the outset and strike a balance that will allow you to do your work and productively collaborate with your board in the best interest of your charity. First, it is important to understand the role of your non-profit board. The most critical functions of a board are the following: Ensure the [...]

  The growth in nonprofit management degree programs on the nonprofit sector supports the need for the United States’ nonprofit growth sector, up 11.3% over the decade from 2003 to 2013, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. So Top Nonprofits’ list of Top 100+ Nonprofit Degree Program by State is a great resource when considering an undergraduate or graduate degree program for bachelor’s or master’s credentials.   While nonprofit administrators often move to the sector from business and specialties, many seeking careers in nonprofit prepare by earning a focused degree, usually at the undergraduate level.   Very often the [...]