Considering Why People Volunteer
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the nonprofit sector. Just about every nonprofit charitable organization uses volunteers in some capacity. In most cases, board members serve without compensation. For many [more…]
Understanding Nonprofit Ownership
No one person or group of people can own a nonprofit organization. You don't see nonprofit shares traded on stock exchanges, and any equity in a nonprofit organization belongs to the organization itself [more…]
Forming a Committee from the Board of Directors
An organization's board of directors is responsible for forming committees when necessary. Committee members must be drawn from the current members of the board itself, so having a talented and diverse [more…]
Introducing Form 990: Tax Forms for Nonprofits
Non-profit organizations are generally tax-exempt and don't need to file revenue forms, but the Internal Revenue Service still requires lots of information — all to be painfully extracted and meticulously [more…]
Handling a Grant Rejection Notice
As a grant writer, getting a rejection letter from a funding source after you've shed blood, sweat, and tears researching and writing your grant application can be a big letdown. Besides coping with your [more…]
Understanding Your Rights on the Board of Directors of a Nonprofit Organization
It's a sad fact of life that volunteer directors of nonprofits run the risk of being sued in the course of carrying out duties for which they aren't paid. Fortunately, many states realize the importance [more…]
Budgeting for Fundraising
Raising money costs money. And no organization receives every grant or gift that it seeks. A nonprofit needs to be sure up front that it can afford its potential fundraising costs and that the costs are [more…]
Getting Buy-In for Your Mission Statement
If you're starting a nonprofit with a group of people, everyone needs to agree on the mission statement. Consider holding a meeting to solicit input from everyone. The important thing to keep in mind is [more…]
Understanding How and Why Nonprofits Face More Government Scrutiny
U.S. nonprofit organizations are entering an era of the most intense federal and state regulation in history. After cracking down on corporate America by enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [more…]
Examining Executive Compensation in Nonprofits
Issues of executive compensation and governance are closely intertwined thanks to the influence of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). The IRS is always concerned as to whether governing boards of nonprofit [more…]
How to Get Going on a Grant Application
Applying for a grant requires plenty of preparation and research. To begin the grant-seeking process, you need to understand the different types of grants, what grant money can be used for, and what grantwriters [more…]
Essential Information to Gather in Your Customer Credit Application
When you compose a credit application for your customers, you want to make sure that application includes certain basic information about your customer. Be sure to get the following information from your [more…]
Raising Money for Your Nonprofit Organization
Every nonprofit organization needs to raise money. Whether applying for grants, searching for donors, or throwing fundraising events, you’re always going to be looking for new ways to bring in funds. These [more…]
12 Annual Tasks for Every Nonprofit Manager
As a manager at a nonprofit organization, your job is to make sure that each of the following 12 organizational tasks is completed every year: [more…]
Securing Nonprofit Status in Ten Fairly Easy Steps
The most important aspect of being a nonprofit organization is having nonprofit status in the eyes of the IRS, or Internal Revenue Service. Take the following steps to gain nonprofit status for your organization [more…]
Nonprofit Kit For Dummies Cheat Sheet
The key elements of running a nonprofit organization include securing nonprofit status; managing your budget and the day-to-day work of your staff; and raising money, also called fundraising. [more…]
Creating a Successful Fundraising Strategy
Fundraising is a never-ending task for most nonprofit organizations. Although you may raise money with various campaigns for different programs within your agency, your overarching fundraising strategy [more…]
How to Write a Great Case Statement
The backbone of your fundraising campaign is a strong case statement. A case statement outlines what need your agency addresses, how you address it, what makes your organization unique, and how others [more…]
Monitoring Your Nonprofit's Cash Flow in a Changing Economy
As if a fundraiser’s job weren’t hard enough, sometimes the economy takes a tumble, causing contributions to your organization to slow down. You may need to revamp your fundraising message to make it clear [more…]
Fundraising For Dummies Cheat Sheet
No two fundraising campaigns are the same, but they all share the same goal: to raise money that nonprofit organizations can use to fund programs and help others. When you start a fundraising campaign, [more…]
How to Create a Funding Plan for Your Organization
Laying out a funding development plan is the first step to becoming proactive in grant seeking and grant writing. Both non-profit and for-profits organizations can benefit from a good plan for getting [more…]
How to Present Your Organization's Qualifications when Applying for Grants
Any funding source you approach will have questions about your organization's legal name and overall structure as applicant qualifications. Understanding exactly what qualifications the application is [more…]
What Attachments to Add to Your Grant Request
When you submit an application for funding through a grant, include any information about your organization, in the form of attachments, that isn't covered in the main the application. Here are some of [more…]
How to Find State Grants
Individual states in the U.S. receive their money from the federal government, so they provide grants from those funds. Congress votes to send money to the state-level government agencies in one of three [more…]
How to Figure Out Differences among Types of Federal Grants
You can apply for federal funding for your organization in a variety of ways. Federal government grant monies are available in two forms: direct grants and pass-through grants. [more…]
