Archive for the "Nonprofit Management" Category

  • What’s in a Name? How One Nonprofit Breathed New Life Into Its Brand

    Just last month, Special Transit announced a name change. This after more than 30 years of serving the community, recent success in a capital campaign, and a client base of more than 2,600 people. And the new corporate name is….Via Mobility Services. The brand name is Via. The tagline is Mobility for Life. So just call them Via. Why did they do it? How? What did they learn in the process? What should you know if your organization is considering a name change? To find… Read the rest…

  • Can Your Fundraising Operation Pass a Stress Test?

    You might have heard that a major Chicago nonprofit institution, Hull House, founded in 1889, recently shut its doors and laid off 300 employees. The collapse has been much debated (as in this Chronicle of Philanthropy story), but as Rick Moyers said in the Chronicle: “Hull House is a sobering case study of governance failure in which neither the board nor the staff seems to have recognized the crisis while there was still time to turn things around.” This, too, was the case with our… Read the rest…

  • One Bad Apple…?

    In the midst of controversy, Susan G. Komen Foundation has let one individual “take the fall” for the actions of an entire nonprofit organization. Vice President Karen Handel resigned last week after the Foundation came under fire for cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood. Handel, who ran for Governor of Georgia on a pro-life platform, stood by her role in the Komen Foundation’s decision and announced she would not accept a severance package. And the board stood by and let her go. Don’t feel sorry… Read the rest…

  • Happy Fundraisers Make for Happy Nonprofits

    Listen up. This is a nutty, high-pressure time of year and I feel compelled to say this: Take a deep breath. Right now. Pat yourself on the back. Get up and walk around (after you finish reading my blog, of course!). It’ll be over soon! Jody Shupac from Charity Village wrote a nice piece this week about stress in the nonprofit sector. While she focused primarily on client service staff, we fundraisers suffer from a lot of the same issues including emotional involvement in our… Read the rest…

  • Is there a merger in your future?

    It’s no wonder that nonprofits are being encouraged these days to consider merging. Successful mergers can yield greater programmatic impact and increased efficiency, while reducing duplication of services and lowering operating costs. It’s also no surprise that mergers are not easy! After all, organizations are people and people tend to resist change. Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to present a session at the Colorado Nonprofit Association entitled Is there a merger in your future? We were fortunate to have several funders in the… Read the rest…

  • Mothers Acting Up: How a nonprofit chose to end it’s lifecycle

    When a group of Boulder moms founded Mothers Acting Up (MAU), Facebook and Twitter did not yet exist. The concept of blogging was new. MAU came on the scene to build connections between mothers who wanted to take action to ensure the wellbeing of the world’s children. With such a global mission, a website and a blog were the perfect place to gather and promote mother activists. Ten years later, a lot has been accomplished. And the world has changed. Last month, MAU announced that… Read the rest…