Monday February 13, 2012
Welcome to guest blogger, Nell Edgington! Nell is the President of Social Velocity, a consulting firm that helps nonprofits grow their capacity and become financially sustainable. When a new report recently appeared about philanthropic equity, I asked Nell to comment and explain what it all means.
There is a fairly new concept in the nonprofit world that has the power to completely transform the sector. "Philanthropic equity" (or "growth capital") is just a fancy term for the money many nonprofit organizations desperately need.
Philanthropic equity is a one-time infusion of significant money that can be used to strengthen or grow a nonprofit organization. It can be money that grows a successful program to other clients, other cities, other regions. Or it can be money that strengthens the organization and makes it more sustainable.
But before you can understand philanthropic equity properly, you must understand a critical distinction about money. There are two kinds of money.
- Revenue is the day-to-day money required to run programs. For a homeless shelter, revenue buys meals, beds, sheets, job training programs, staff time.
- Capital is the one-time infusion of money that builds or grows an organization. Again for a homeless shelter, capital could purchase a better system for gathering data on clients, a donor database, a Development Director.
Read More...
Sunday February 12, 2012
A movement is afoot to remake our favorite holiday into Generosity Day. I'm all for it! Forget the chocolates and roses and just pledge to be generous of heart and help out others for that one day. You can pledge, tell everyone what you plan to do and share with your friends. The cute video with its happy melody is bound to get you in the mood.
I said yes to being the secretary for my neighborhood book club. I'm sending notices and reminders and taking notes about the books we'll be reading. Sweetly enough, this month we meet on Valentine's Day. How cool!
Join me and say yes. Get Generous here.
Sunday February 12, 2012
Opportunities
Nonprofits are proving themselves every proficient at producing videos to promote their causes. It's no wonder. People generally love videos, they are the perfect medium to tell your cause's story in a heart warming, visual way, and it no longer costs an arm and a leg to produce one. The doGooder Nonprofit Video Awards is a way to test your best against the best in the field and win some cool rewards. John Haydon has written a nice announcement of the awards replete with a video and links to more information. Catch the doGooder video fever now - entries are being accepted through February.
You can't do good nonprofit marketing if you're in a silo. That's the messge Kivi Leroux Miller will be driving home in one of her only-once-in-a-while FREE webinars. Helping Your Staff and Board Become Great Nonprofit Marketers is on Feb 16th, so rush over and register now. Kivi says, "...stop daydreaming and start working with what you have right in front of you...learn how to turn the people already associated with your organization into a marketing team (whether they know it or not!)."
Marc Pitman has kicked off the February Nonprofit Blog Carnival with his Valentine's Day themed How do you take care of yourself? Marc asks, "We often focus on letting donors know we love them, but how do you show yourself the love?" So get those hearts for yourself going and let Marc know about them. Participating in a Carnival is an excellent way to extend your blog's reach. Another link, more readers, an enhanced reputation and maybe your Klout score will even go up!
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Thursday February 9, 2012
If you're anything like me, a financial statement or a contract makes you feel like your spaceship just got sucked into a black hole.
But as board members or nonprofit staff, we have to make an effort to understand what amounts to the corporate law and finance that undergird our organizations.
That's why I was very happy to see two books land on my review pile in recent weeks. They are Good Counsel: Meeting the Legal needs of Nonprofits, by Lesley Rosenthal and The Board Member's Easier Than You Think Guide to Nonprofit Finances, by Any Robinson and Nancy Wasserman.
These two books have taken their places on my bookshelf along with a few others that address the necessary but sometimes tough issues that face all of us who work with nonprofits, whether we are a board member or a CEO.
You can see what these books offer in my reviews: Put a Nonprofit Lawyer On Your Bookshelf and Board Members and Financial Conflicts of Interest - 6 Ways to Stay out of Trouble.
By the way, the publishers of these useful books are Wiley and Emerson & Church. You probably have many of their books on your shelves simply because they specialize in easy-to-read guides on difficult subjects in nonprofit.
More books that transform tough subjects:
