The
end of the semester is upon us at the University of Maryland, where I am
co-teaching a graduate course on Nonprofit Fundraising with my colleague, Dr. Bob Grimm. Part of the course involves
student teams going out into the community to visit with nonprofit
organizations and do a full evaluation of their fundraising program. I have been reading the final reports and one
main theme jumps out. Nonprofits need
to:
Invest
More in Fundraising!
The
theme of our course is “No Money, No Mission” – and I know we all agree with
this. But our student teams are finding
that most of the nonprofits they have evaluated can do MUCH more to raise more
money for mission if they devote more resources to fundraising.
More Staff. There seems to be a reluctance to hire more
staff and devote their efforts to fundraising.
Perhaps this is due to concerns for overhead. If so, organizations should check out The
Overhead Myth web site for ideas on making the case for this. More time spent – especially on major gifts –
can be a big payoff for most nonprofits.
More Board Involvement. Based on the small sample of nonprofits,
Boards can be much more involved in giving and asking for gifts – especially making
personal asks. Training, of course, will
be needed for this. But, we need Board
members going out to the community to represent the cause and ask for support.
We
are not going to make significant increases in the funding that nonprofits
desperately need without investing the resources needed. We simply cannot make more of a Mission Impact without the funding.
For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your
organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at
www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com You
will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy
Workbook that you can download at no cost.
You can also check out my book, Mission Impact: Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and
buy it if you are interested. And you
can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.
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