We planted the seed two weeks ago. It’s time to start planning for year-end giving. If you’re thinking—this early, really, isn’t that overkill? The answer is no, it’s not. There’s a reason the American advertising and greeting card industry created the marketing slogan “Christmas in July.” For one, it evokes a state of nostalgia.…
Lori O’Keefe Triangle Community Foundation I’m Lori O’Keefe, and I am the President and CEO of the Triangle Community Foundation. I have been at the Foundation for almost 15 years, and I think there are reasons geographically why so many nonprofits have to exist — access for like transportation and things like that being a…
5 Reasons You Don’t Need End-of-Year Appeal Support It’s mid-July and discussions around Angel Oak Creative are turning to end-of-year appeals. No, we’re not bored or just looking for things to talk about. We’ve learned from experience that successful nonprofits start planning their end-of-year appeals early. (Yes, this early.) Reason? Successful nonprofits know the ROI…
Daniel Alexander Mission Triangle My name is Daniel Alexander, and I’m the Area Director for Mission Triangle. I’ve been there for 11 months. Now in my first year on staff with Mission Triangle… there are three nonprofits that I was working with where I said the best course of action for you is to actually…
Daniel Alexander Mission Triangle Lori O’Keefe Triangle Community Foundation Jesma Reynolds Walter Magazine Ashton Smith Citrix I believe that we need to ask ourselves the hard questions, such as the one that we’re posing today, which is: “Should nonprofits exist?” or “Should your nonprofit exist?” I would reframe it in such a way that we’d…
People Matter 2019 started off with four interviews all focused around one important question: “Is your board any good?” What should the relationship between a board chair and an executive director look like? What are the warning signs of a bad board? How can you tell if your board is truly engaged with the organization’s…
Kristine Sloan StartingBloc When I first started with StartingBloc, we had a board of directors made up of some StartingBloc Fellows, but a lot of them were advisors or people who have spoken at our institutes previously. We’re in board recruitment right now so this is a fun time to be talking about this. We’re…
I admit it. I’m a LinkedIn fanboy (is that possible at 52 years old?) and a regular on the platform. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and its mission is to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” I joined this network in the beginning, and I’ve made some valuable…
I’ve been a Carolina Hurricanes fan since the early 2000’s. I really got hooked on them when I attended the 2006 Stanley Cup Final where the Canes took down the Oilers for their first (and so far only) NHL Championship. It’s been a long slog being a Hurricanes fan over the last decade or so with…
Susan Ross moss+ross I’m Susan Ross. I’ve been on various nonprofit boards for 35 years and now I run a consulting business where we have worked with nonprofits for the last decade, and we have worked with 171 different nonprofits. They’ve all got a board. They’re all hoping their board is doing the best job…