So many nonprofit board members are enthusiastic and well-meaning but too often they back out of their commitments.  Bet you have run into this problem! And I have been on the other side too, as a board member. In the heat of an exciting discussion, I suddenly found myself making personal commitments. Then later, in [...]

Occasionally I will get an email asking how to start a nonprofit organization.  There are several great resources online that can help, but before I get to that I always kindly caution them on a few points. It is very time and labor intensive to start a nonprofit.  You should be certain that this is [...]

I sent out a special email on Monday to those who are signed up for the Step by Step Fundraising newsletter.  It included some of the tips that I also posted here:  Annual Fund Drive, End-of-year Fundraising Success Strategies. I got an email back from Tony with some great comments that maybe you can relate [...]

National Volunteer Week is coming up April 19-25, 2009 (thanks to Joanne at About.com for the reminder!)  This could be a great time for your nonprofit to recognize, show appreciation for and step-up your volunteer organization efforts. For many groups volunteers are a crucial part of keeping the organization funded. Here are some articles with [...]

In the first part of this series, I introduced the topic of how to handle bad behavior from your board members. With this continuation, I’m throwing out five more examples of how board members can hurt (rather than help) your non-profit and, of course, what to do about it. 6. The Board Member Doesn’t Respect [...]

After having spent many years working with non-profit boards, I know enough not to be personally disappointed by any one individual board member. Non-profit board service is a volunteer gig, and it’s tough to get down on someone who is giving of his or her time. Besides, as a leader of a non-profit, we are [...]

Today’s Appreciation Challenge is all about board members. I’ve been active on two different boards for several years now. Now in my role as president of one board, I’m especially interested in how to make the experience of serving on a board a positive one for all of the members. Blue Avacado has a great [...]