By Carter McNamara on May 27, 2010
Finances Are Just a Symptom, Not a Solution When people think of financial sustainability, they usually think of getting enough money to pay bills for the long-term. Then they focus on strategies to keep getting enough money. That’s the wrong approach. 1. Strategy for Sustainability — Be Realistic If an organization is trying to do […]
By Carter McNamara on May 21, 2010
Too Often, What We Call a Program, Really Isn’t If you spent the day guiding old ladies across the street and someone gave you a dollar for doing it, would that mean you’re delivering a “program?” What many people call a program is too often just a sporadic set of disconnected activities — it’s not […]
By Carter McNamara on May 17, 2010
On which side of philanthropy’s great divide do you stand? More importantly, where do your donors and potential donors stand? The divide used to be less noticeable, but with the explosion of social media over the past five years, tweeting, blogging, and linking has brought the great divide to the forefront. On the one side […]
By Carter McNamara on May 10, 2010
I’ve worked with nonprofit organizations for a very long time. I’ve noticed two distinctly different approaches to leading: reactive versus proactive. You’ll very likely notice each of the two distinctly different types in the following paragraphs. Fundraising The reactive nonprofit is continually fundraising and then spending whatever funds are obtained — so the organization is […]