The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) has launched Get Organized Month. January, of course, is the perfect time to have an organizing party...and not only at home. It's perfect for your nonprofit organization as well.
I've rounded up some reading that might inspire you, whether you are taking care of the accounts, preparing for a new grant-writing season, or cleaning up your mailing lists.
- There have been significant changes in the IRS Form 990 that nonprofits provide each year. Things You Need to Know About Form 990 will bring you up to speed and help you decide exactly what form to fill out and when.
The First Giving blog also has a very useful post that explains how to file your 990 online, deadlines for doing so, and links to other excellent tax information.
- The Well-Organized Grant Proposal Writer asks "What is in your files?" and suggests which documents you need to have at hand, how to gather pertinent information that most funders ask for, and who at your nonprofit should be your best info buddies.
6 Steps to Finding Funders for Your Grant leads you through the process of how to search for those grants; while Pamela Grow provides 6 Tips for Collecting Great Nonprofit Stories. You'll need those for your grant proposals to transform them from boring statistics to something that will catch the interest of those reviewers.
- Are you doing all you can to build your email list? Online fundraising is growing faster than any other fundraising method, while more and more of your supporters expect you to communicate via email. Kivi Leroux Miller suggests 12 Easy Ways to Build Your Nonprofit's Email List. Make sure you are taking these simple steps.
In addition, you might want to revisit those rules that govern SPAM with my CAN-SPAM Act Rules for Nonprofits; and hone your skills at writing effective email subject lines with Email Is Not Dead.
- Fundraising is easier when you have the right tools. If you are wondering how you'll afford a good donor management system or how to figure out which ones to consider, start with A Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems, produced by Idealware and NTEN. This report requires a free registration, but it is worth the effort. To sort through the credit card options for nonprofits, there is Credit Card Processing Options for Nonprofit Organizations.
- Organizing your social media may well be at the top of your to-do list for the new year. Or, you may be determined to just get started with some form of social media. A good place to start is with Frank Barry's Nonprofit Social Media Primer, a comprehensive introduction to what you need to know. For Facebook, you can't go wrong with Beth Kanter's So you want a Facebook Fan Page for Your Nonprofit? Here's the Scoop!.
Check out Twitter Tips for Nonprofit Tweeple to learn how to get started using this great social tool professionally; and then download John Haydon's free Twitter eBook for Nonprofits.
- Is a corporate sponsorship or cause marketing campaign creating a gleam in your CEO's eye? But just what do these terms mean and how can you get started? In What Is Cause Marketing? Joe Waters explains the fine points and the differences between cause marketing and sponsorship. Also check out Cause Marketing Creates Welcome Debate for the latest controversies swirling around this popular way to raise money; and catch some tips at How Can My Small Charity Get Corporate Sponsorships?
Organizing your nonprofit work can be fun and energize you for the rest of the year. Use January to pitch, file, gather, and learn so that 2010 can be a better year and a great start to a new decade.
Photo by Siri Stafford/Getty Images
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