About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs: Most Popular Articles

Grant Proposal Basics

Grant proposals are a part of any fundraiser's portfolio. Although grants can be from a variety of sources (such as a foundation or a government entity), most require the same basic information in the grant proposal.

Writing a Mission Statement

How to write your mission statement. Writing a good, succinct, and clear mission statement is not hard but it does take care and thought.

Tips for Starting a Nonprofit

The number of new nonprofits has proliferated in recent years. Unfortunately, not everyone who starts a nonprofit has carefully thought out his or her enterprise. Don't make the mistake of just jumping into the nonprofit arena.

Sample of Thank You Letters

Thank you letters to donors not only seal the deal, but also cultivate donors for future donations.

Write Thank You Letters

Thank you letters to your donors conclude one transaction but, more importantly, thank you letters are a bridge to future support.

Grant Cover Letters

You may think that writing the proposal is the most important task a grant writer has. It is, but attention to the finer points of putting the proposal package together, such as the cover letter, can make or break a funding request.

Profit vs Nonprofit

Here are some of the differences between a business and a nonprofit.

Nonprofit Incorporation

There are a number of steps to incorporating as a nonprofit organization. Here are the most important ones, in the order in which they should be done.

Fundraising Brief

Fundraising is the life blood of any nonprofit organization. But, where do you start? Here is a briefing on the major methods of fundraising and sources of those donor dollars.

Nonprofit Sponsorships

Every year, corporations spend millions of dollars on cause-related marketing and event sponsorships. Unfortunately, many nonprofits don't have a clue about how to approach a potential sponsor....

Charity Tax Deductions

Here are some things you should know about the tax benefits of giving to charity.

Great Fundraising Letters

Just like copywriting, writing great fundraising letters is not for the amateur. However, unlike businesses that can often afford to pay the big bucks for great copywriting, nonprofits usually depend on in-house staff to write that crucial letter and to put together their direct mail package. Here to help are the Cardinal Rules of writing a fundraising letter.

Annual Reports

Annual reports can help you demonstrate your accomplishments to current and future donors, cultivate new partnerships, and recognize important people.

Executive Summary of Proposals

The summary actually goes first in your grant proposal, but don't write it until last. Here is a sample of an executive summary

Startup Questions

Should You Start a Nonprofit? Before you do, ask yourself yourself some hard questions.

Legalities of Naming NPOs

So you've decided to organize a nonprofit. Among the first things you need to do is decide on an appropriate name.

Letter of Inquiry Tips

Many foundations prefer or even require grant-seeking nonprofits to submit an LOI, or Letter of Inquiry, before sending a complete proposal. The LOI allows the foundation to quickly screen potential candidates for funding, making sure that they do not waste time on ill-conceived ideas or those that do not fit with the foundation's mission. Make your LOI a winner.

501(c)(3)

One of the most common types of nonprofits, a 501(c)(3)corporation has many advantages, such as tax-exempt status, ability to receive donations from foundations, and that its donors can take tax deductions for their gifts

Get Fundraising Registered

Some nonprofits have been flying "under the radar" when it comes to registering to fundraise outside their home states. This is no longer possible.

Endowment

A well funded endowment is the goal of most nonprofit organizations. It is a fund that produces income.

Pros & Cons of Incorporating

Not every nonprofit needs to incorporate and apply for 501(c)(3)status from the IRS. To help you decide, we've compiled a list of advantages to nonprofit incorporation and some important drawbacks.

Grant Budgets

For many writers of grants, the budget component can be very intimidating. However, knowing some basic principles of writing grants, such as how costs are presented, can make writing grants less stressful.

Nonprofit Postage Rates

A perk of nonprofit status is nonprofit postage rates. Here is how you can apply for this privilege.

Nonprofit Alternatives

Serving the greater good can be accomplished in many ways. And most don't require setting up an IRS approved nonprofit, a risky endeavor in this economic environment, and always a complicated task that many people underestimate.

Business Plan

Nonprofits have a lot in common with a business and managers of both must understand and follow a lot of the same practices. One of those is to have a business plan.

IRS Classifications

The IRS has several classifications under which you can register your nonprofit organization. Determining which category to use is an important part of applying to the IRS.

Simple Fundraising Plan

With the mass of fundraising advice, sources, strategies and tools, a new nonprofit, just getting started with its fundraising, can be more than confused. Here are some simple steps to get you started toward a successful fundraising plan.

Nonprofit Job Search

Here are some tips to help you find your dream nonprofit job.

Online Fundraising Guide

Online fundraising is the wave of the future. Already, it is making a dent in direct mail fundraising, and, as the “wired” generation matures, online may become the dominant form of fundraising.

Recruiting Volunteers

There are numerous methods you can use to recruit volunteers. However, not all of them will be appropriate for your organization or your specific needs.

Is Your Nonprofit Wired?

A good question that is floating around among nonprofit professionals is "How can nonprofits use social media?" I'm not sure what the answer is and probably few people so far really know. But we all need to get educated because the young are already there.

Writing Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives section of your grant proposal provides a description of what your organization hopes to accomplish with your project.

LOI Template

Many foundations now prefer that your nonprofit send a letter of inquiry (LOI) rather than a full proposal when first asking for grant money.

Guide to NPO Grad Programs

Whether you’re looking for a career boost or an opportunity to break into the nonprofit world, a master’s degree focused on the public sector can help you get there.

Taglines and Mission Statement

Do taglines and mission statements matter for nonprofits? Two nonprofit experts say they do and advise how nonprofits can write better ones.

Board Responsibilities

What are the responsibilities of a board of directors of a nonprofit?

Start an Endowment

An endowment is something a nonprofit of any kind and size can attain. An endowment is also something that can insure your organization against the future.

Need Statement

The need statement of your grant proposal is where you may want to start writing your proposal since it answers the question: What is the need that my organization will address?

Tax-Exempt vs. Non-Tax-Exempt

Does your organization have to become a tax-exempt nonprofit?

FAQ's Re Starting a Nonprofit

We have received dozens of questions about starting a nonprofit. Maybe yours is answered here.

Thank You Letters Important

Once you have a donation from a contributor in hand, don't neglect the follow-up steps necessary to keep that donor and cultivate more donations. You need a thank you letter and a donor disclosure letter.

Samples and Templates

Here are the most popular of our sample letters, charts, and grant proposal components.

3 Ways to Process Credit Cards

There are a number of options for nonprofits when selecting a credit card processor to accept gifts from donors who want to use a credit card, either directly or through the Internet.

Needs Assessment

Even though the goal for your new nonprofit is not to make a profit but to change lives, it is also a business. As such, it is important to adopt many business-like procedures. One of those is conducting a survey and/or other research before you launch a product or service.

Nonprofit Types

The most common form of nonprofit is the 501(c)(3), a tax-exempt organization recognized by the IRS. But, there are many types of nonprofits that are registered by the IRS, and they all have different designations.

Nonprofit Board Questions

Serving on the board of a nonprofit is not something to be taken lightly. Board members need to be prepared to pay attention and willing to make hard decisions. But what should someone who is approached to serve on a nonprofit board think about? What should he/she look for before making a decision that will affect them in terms of money, time, and perhaps even reputation?

Grant Proposal Evaluation

A key question any grantor will ask of an organization applying for funding will be, "How will you know your idea worked?"

Basics of a Corporation

You don't have to be a lawyer to set up your nonprofit organization, but here are some basics about corporations that will be helpful.

Branding a Nonprofit

Branding your nonprofit is not marketing and advertising (although both of those activities will help your brand). Branding is about selling everything associated with your organization.

Job Search Websites

Although finding nonprofit jobs still takes old fashioned "boots on the ground," today's online job boards make it easy to find leads to jobs across the country. Here are our favorite sites.

Don't Lose Tax-Exempt Status

It is wonderful that you have jumped through all the hoops to become a tax-exempt, charitable organization. But now you must be careful that your actions don't draw attention from the IRS or cause you to lose your exempt designation.

Fiscal Sponsor

Fiscal sponsors are nonprofit organizations that help other organizations to receive grants or tax-exempt funds.

Why Apply for 501(c)(3) Status

Many nonprofits do not need to apply for 501(c)(3) status. Here are two questions to ask yourself before you go through the arduous process of applying....

Form 990

The 990 allows the IRS and the public to evaluate nonprofits and how they operate. Since nonprofits are not required to file annual reports or even to have financial audits by independent accountants, the 990 is a critical disclosure.

Bylaws

A legal document outlining the self-imposed rules that will regulate an organization's own actions.

How to Apply for 501(c)(3)

Applying for 501(c)(3) status is not easy. We have some suggestions and resources for you.

Grant Information Sources

Finding grant opportunities and information about possible funders is an ongoing project for any grant seeker. There are dozens of resources for grant information and some of the best are online.

What Are Bylaws?

Bylaws are the rules that govern the internal management of an organization.

Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest in history. It may well be the most important as well. Approaching intractable world health problems as systems failures that can be solved, the Foundation is bringing new hope to those who had given up on helping the poorest people in the world.

Sample Gift Chart

What is a gift chart? It’s a planning tool to tell you how many gifts and prospects you will need to raise a specific amount of money.

Writing Methods for Grants

Once the goals and objectives of your grant proposal are in place, you need to walk the grantor through the methods you will use to achieve those goals and objectives.

Mission and Your Name

A lot rests with the name of your nonprofit and even on what you name your projects and programs. Will your name become a household word? Will it convey quickly and eloquently what you do? Does your name help your marketing?

How to Promote Your Nonprofit

Promoting a nonprofit is similar to promoting any business, but somehow it feels a whole lot better. Do it well, do it professionally, and the public and media will love you.

Better Boards

Nothing will have such an impact on the success of your nonprofit as your board of directors. A great nonprofit board is essential to the legality of your enterprise, how much money it raises, and the quality of the leadership it hires.

Writing a Case Statement

Every fundraising campaign has the Case Statement at its center. It is the core document that sits at the center of your plan and strategy.

Board Compensation

Only about 2 percent of nonprofits compensate board members, and it is unusual outside of large, complex entities such as health care systems or large foundations.

Capital Campaign

A capital campaign is a time-limited effort by a nonprofit organization to raise significant dollars for a specific project.

Fiscal Year

A fiscal year is a 12-month period for which an organization plans the use of its funds.

What is a Nonprofit?

The term, nonprofit, is used rather loosely to describe groups that come together to achieve a mission, rather than to make a profit.

Volunteer Position Description

An incredibly useful tool, the volunteer position description creates the basis for your volunteer recruitment efforts. It explains the assignment, plus the skills, abilities and interests necessary to perform the volunteer task successfully. Position descriptions can and should be written for both individuals and volunteer committees.

Sustainability for Proposal

No funders like to think that their grant will only fund a project for a short time. Before investing in your project, your funder will want to know your plans for carrying the project into the future, with or without this particular funder's help.

Donor Disclosures

501(c)(3) nonprofits must abide by many IRS rules in exchange for their considerable tax advantages. The most common rules have to do with donor disclosures.

Writing Fundraising Materials

Tom Ahern, master of fundraising copy, suggests that when you start writing any communication piece, imagine that you have "four sets of ears." Each set of ears pays attention to a different group of stimuli and represents one of the four basic personalities that resides in the minds of your readers.

Find Proposal Samples?

We have samples of some sections of grant proposals scattered throughout our articles, but here are some other sources.

Board of Directors

Ken Burnett, guru of nonprofit management and fundraising, has a new book to help you with your board of directors.

Nonprofit Crisis Planning

Crisis management is key to the success of nonprofit organizations. Don't delay your crisis planning. Don't ruin your hard-won reputation by handling difficult situations badly.

Reaching Local Media

Whether your nonprofit is in a large city or a small town, reaching your local media is essential to your public relations program. Here are tips for becoming a favorite source for your local reporters.

Planned Giving

Planned Giving is a complex program of various financial instruments that can be adapted to each donor's needs.

Social Marketing

Social marketing is a lot about regular marketing except that you are trying to promote behavioral change such as cessation of smoking or safe sex.

Is Your Board Helpful?

Your board of directors can be a help or a hindrance. Here are some characteristics of a healthy board. Use them to evaluate yours.

Special Events

Special events are not a way to raise a lot of money immediately, but they can be a part of your strategic plan to cultivate future donations, and to boost your profile in the community.

Board Fundraising

It is a common problem. Board members are reluctant to accept their responsibility to give and to solicit gifts for the nonprofit they serve. Here are some ways to overcome the board's resistance.

Holiday Giving

Giving to charity at the holidays can be fulfilling, but where to start? Children, especially, love to visualize what their contribution will actually do. Heck, so do adults, so we've focused on charities that make giving easy and concrete.

Articles of Incorporation

When you incorporate as a nonprofit, the state in which you incorporate will require Articles of Incorporation.

What Is an Unincorporated Asso

Many so-called nonprofits are simply groups of people who come together to perform some social good.

Cause-Related Marketing

Cause-related marketing, or CRM, has exploded in recent years even though it is a relatively young concept. It began, on a national scale, in the early 1980s when American Express joined with the nonprofit group that was raising funds to restore the Statue of Liberty....

Identify Major Donors

We all dream of the ultimate goal in fundraising, a major giver who endows our organization with millions. We hope he or she will walk into our door one day and plop down a check.

Business Activity

Most nonprofits engage in some kind of business activity to help support their organization. But, what activities are related and what are unrelated? And, what are the tax implications?

Fundraising Without Fear

Pitman's book is quick and precise. He has developed what he calls his R.E.A.L. process to guide us through the fundraising cycle. R.E.A.L. represents research, engage, ask, love and back to research. Follow the process, rinse and repeat.

Corporate Giving

Corporations are a major source of funding for nonprofits. Learn what corporate philanthropy means and the forms it can take.

Fundraising Products

Fundraising comes in many forms. Here are frequently asked questions about fundraising products, and how to find fundraising products that you can use for your school or church.

Sponsorships for Small Orgs

Even small organization can get corporate sponsorships. Just think of concentric circles of influence in your city or town.

National Service Comes Back

National Service is on the lips of the nation as a new president assumes office, an economy tanks, and social needs reach all-time highs.

Market Planned Giving

Planned giving is not just about setting up the many planned gift vehicles. It is also about marketing your program to donors and prospective donors.

Sample Press Release for Nonpr

Nonprofit Press releases will vary but the standard format is usually similar to the example below.

Restricted Gifts

Donors can choose to designate how a nonprofit can use their gifts.

Volunteer Job Description

A written job description is as necessary for volunteers as it is for paid positions.

Tax Numbers

Does having a tax id number make you a nonprofit?

Fundraising In a Recession

It takes perserverance, innovative thinking, and a strong belief in your mission to be a successful fundraiser during a recession.

Course Review

This beautifully arranged four-week course walks you through the basics of creating your annual report and takes the fear out of the process, from collecting the information to production and mailing.

3 Things for Nonprofit Resume

More people than ever want to work in the nonprofit world. But the competition is keen. Here are three things you should include on your resume when applying for a nonprofit job.

Donor-Advised Funding

Donor-advised funds are charitable giving accounts offered by a sponsoring charity that are designed as an accessible, simple, and less expensive alternative to private foundations.

Pay Staff?

I want to set up a nonprofit organization. Can a nonprofit pay its staff?

Nonprofit Corporation

The most frequently asked question of visitors to our site is "I want to start a nonprofit...Where do I start?" Here is a book that will guide you through that crucial first step of incorporating your nonprofit.

Stakeholder

Anyone who has an interest in your organization can be a stakeholder

Motivating Volunteers

Motivation is not something you do to someone. Motivation comes from within, and we have to understand what people like to do and don't like to do in order to match them to the right jobs.

Mission Creep

Mission statements are more than just decoration for your office wall, and your website. A good, focused mission statement makes decisions much easier.

Hiring a Grant Writer

You may be fortunate enough to have an experienced grant writer on staff, especially if your organization has a developed and long standing grants program. But for many nonprofits that is not so, and it might make sense to hire a grant professional or consultant, at least for a limited time.

Usea Gift Chart with Donors

Articulating a specific amount to ask from a donor is not easy, but it is necessary. One way to do that is to use your gift chart.

What Is Working in Fundraising

Fundraising in a recession is not fun, but it is necessary. Here are some areas of fundraising that show promise despite the bad economic news.

Donor Recognition

Instead of fancy baubles or plaques, find inexpensive and personal ways to thank your donors and connect them to your mission.

EIN

Every business, profit or nonprofit, has to have an EIN from the IRS.

Social Media for Nonprofits

So, what are social media? The characteristic that most applies to social media is the ability to "upload." That is, individuals (formerly the audience) are now providing content by uploading information for all to see.

Tips for Social Networking

Social sites are about relationship building and it is harder than it looks. Many nonprofits are struggling to get their social site networks to actually pay off. But all nonprofits need to be investing in social networking because that is where the future lies.

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross is an American tradition, and deeply engraved in our national memory. We give to it generously; and it responds with aid and relief during our worst disasters.

Cultivating Donors

Cultivation is what makes solicitation possible, and ultimately donations. Done well, cultivation sets the stage for easy and successful "asks."

What Is a Logic Model?

A "logic model" is used by grant writers to paint a picture of how an organization's proposed program will work.

Before Recruiting Volunteers

You may be very anxious to get started on recruiting volunteers for your organization, but some preliminary work needs to be done first.

Volunteer Application

Nonprofit organizations really do need to be careful about who is volunteering for them. An adequate volunteer application form is essential.

The Good Volunteer

There is a revived spirit of volunteerism in the U.S., inspired by the new president and his call for service. Here is how you can find a good volunteer opportunity.

Volunteer Opportunites Online

It has never been easier to find your perfect volunteer opportunity. Find volunteer opportunities online with this friendly guide to volunteer opportunities.

Fees for Services

Many nonprofits count on fees from services they offer to clients for part of their annual incomes. There are several things to be aware of however.

Gifts for Good

We are all likely to spend less on gifts this year than ever. But spend we will, so why not ditch the guilt and make a purchase that combines the good feelings of gift-giving and charitable giving.

What Your Volunteers Want

Volunteers are not that hard to please. Here are a few things they have a right to expect from you - master these and you should be able to recruit and keep your volunteers.

Email Subject Lines

There is no doubt that how you label your email to donors and supporters can make or break your communication. Want that email to be opened? Then pay most attention to the subject line.

Family Volunteer Program

Family Volunteer programs are more than a trend these days. Busy families welcome the opportunity to do something together. Setting up a family volunteer program could be a great plus for your organization.

Getting Board Members on Board

Even those who join boards for all the right reasons still need to know what is expected of them once they agree to become board members.

Planned Giving Considerations

Every nonprofit wants to raise funds...fast. A planned giving program is not a fast project. It takes time to construct and even more time to realize results.

8 Grant Proposal Writing Tips

Writing a grant proposal can be daunting, and the information that you've gathered can look overwhelming. But there are some tried and true guidelines to keep in mind as you prepare for and write that proposal.

Raise Money Through Bequests

This book lays out, in terms anyone can understand, the steps to setting up a bequest program, how to keep it going strong, how to market the program, and what to do when those bequests start rolling in.

Nonprofit Hard Times Guide

How do you keep your nonprofit financially stable when the economy has the jitters and donors have cold feet?

Grant Writing - a Review

If you are new to grant proposal writing, or simply want a refresher course, you would do well to start with these two books from Jossey-Bass.

Nonprofit Writing 101

Writing material for nonprofit publications, direct mail, email communications, and fundraising is a specialized subset of writing.

Online Donors and Websites

Jakob Nielsen, a web page usability expert, has found that bad nonprofit web sites result in fewer online donations.

When File?

In order to receive a tax-exemption dating from the time of your incorporation, you need to file IRS Form 1023 within 27 months of your incorporation.

What Is a Social Entrepreneur?

Social entrepreneurs use a business model to address a social need.

Youth Volunteer Facts

Young people actually volunteer at a much greater rate than adults. How can you take advantage of this youthful drive to do good?

Giving and Global Poverty

There are so many places to put your charitable dollars today. But it is harder than ever to discern where your donation will do the most good. Consider these charities that are both effective and working to end global poverty.

Free Services?

Are the services that I offer through my nonprofit required to be free?

Effective Fundraising

This book by Nolo Press is the perfect gift for the newly minted nonprofit manager or development director.

The Basics of Online Marketing

Online marketing is no longer optional for nonprofit organizations. Even the smallest and most local nonprofit must reach out to the public through online marketing.

Finding Good Board Members

Good candidates for your board may be closer than you think. Start with the closest networks and work you way outward to the community.

Resources for Social Media

Social media (or Web 2.0) is everywhere these days, but it is not easy to get your arms around. For those of us not born to the Internet, here are some resources that help explain social media and suggest ways nonprofits can use it.

Giving to Charity Online

Giving to charity online is transforming the game of philanthropy. Now donors of any means can connect with good causes and be sure that their donations, even when small, can have a decisive impact on the world.

The Organized Grant Writer

Grant writing begins long before you actually have a grant to write. Your tools of the trade is information...organizational information.

Online Fundraising Auctions

With the help of the Internet, online auctions break the barriers of time and geography and allow organizations to reach a broader audience and increase their fundraising potential. Online auctions also offer a more quantifiable value proposition to donors and sponsors. They also dramatically expand the marketing reach for organizations as a whole, creating a greater awareness of the cause and a greater fundraising capability.

Nonprofit Financial Management

When asked what about their organization keeps them awake at night, most nonprofit executive directors and senior managers will give the short and simple answer: money.

While most bring financial management experience to their job, many have less expertise in this area than they would like. All, however, are aware that sound financial management is linked with every function of the nonprofit and is essential for organizational success.

Email Tips

There are a lot of issues around email communication, but the fact is that electronic-based communication is here to stay. So, whether you use email for fundraising or communicating with your volunteers, what can you do to make sure your emails are done right? Here are some tips.

Build a Planned Giving Program

Planned giving requires a very long time horizon, so people new to the field should start with self-education and take one step at a time.

Using Online Donor Sites

Many nonprofits successfully use sites such as Network for Good to process their donations made online and with credit cards.

Email Is Not Dead

There have been dire warnings about the death of email recently because of the increasing use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. But it is way too early to declare the demise of our most effective online communication.

Bylaw Changes

An organization that is exempt from federal income tax, as described in Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3), is required to report changes to its bylaws.

Sarbanes-Oxley

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted to govern publicly-held companies, provides a blueprint for nonprofits that want to ensure financial responsibility and transparency.

Grant Writing

Journalists know that an effective article tells the reader who, what, where, when, why, and how. Well-written, interesting grant proposals should do the same for their readers and, in the process, tell a compelling story.

Case Statement

A Case Statement is at the heart of your fundraising strategy.

Problem Board Members

We are often asked how to handle a problematic board member. The question is a good one and most boards will likely be confronted with such a problem at some time.

Annual Fund

The Annual Fund is an organized effort to obtain gifts on a yearly basis to support, at least in part, general operations of a nonprofit organization.

Organizational Information

This section of your proposal needs to be just as succinct as the rest. Stick to the information that will establish your organization's credibility and ability to accomplish the goals of this project.

Finding Board Members

Good board members are not that difficult to find once you know where to look.

Fiscal Sponsorship

Sometimes, organizations are too small and have too few resources to become a full nonprofit. Or, their purpose is limited and temporary. How can they solicit tax-free contributions?

First Steps to DM Fundraising

Before a small or startup nonprofit gets into direct-mail fundraising, it should establish some basic procedures and regular mailings.

Giving Circles

Giving circles are rapidly becoming a popular way for individuals to channel and amplify their philanthropic impulses.

Research Funders

Whatever source or directory you use to find prospective funders for your grant, the authors of Winning Grants, Step by Step, suggest that you keep these goals in mind as you compile your list.

Does Our Nonprofit Board Need

Most experts think that nonprofits need "Directors and Officers (D & O) liability insurance.

Credit Card Donations

Most nonprofits of any size should be able to accept donations by credit card. Donors love the convenience and perks that they get when they pay with a credit card; and the nonprofit benefits from quick collection of funds.

Private Foundation

Private foundations are generally founded by an individual, a family or a group of individuals, and are organized either as a nonprofit corporation or as a charitable trust.

Paying to Volunteer?

Many of us, when we first think about volunteering, think that it should be enough that we give our time. Why should we pay for the privilege of volunteering? The truth is that it is commonplace to pay your own expenses when you volunteer abroad. Those expenses include airfare, meals, and lodging.

Grant Proposal Mistakes

Teitel gives us the view from the other side of the desk as the ED of a foundation who has seen thousands of proposals over the years. He says that there are five common mistakes that proposal writers make.

Great Donor Relations

Great customer service is the key to donor relations.

Is Your Nonprofit Board Bored?

Are your board members nodding off at your board meetings? Or maybe not even showing up? They may be afflicted with boardroom ennui resulting from not having anything of substance to think about or do.

Planned Giving: Death & Taxes

Only two things are certain in life, it is said, and they are death and taxes. That's where planned giving comes in.

Wealthy Wired Donors

That wealthy donors are quite active online is the conclusion of an excellent study by Convio and others that explores the "wired" lives of wealthy donors, and how nonprofits are either capitalizing on the wired behaviors of their donors, or are missing the boat.

Content Ideas for Websites

There are so many reasons to have good content on your nonprofit website, but perhaps one of the most important is that it draws the attention of the search engines.

Donor Levels

Should you include suggested donation levels on your donor's return envelope?

Volunteerism - Make It Work

America may soon be called volunteer central as the government pours money into both increasing volunteer capacity and in promoting volunteerism across the life cycle.

Raise Money Through Auctions

Online auctions are a cost-effective way for charities to expand their reach and engage supporters willing to donate but who for reasons of geography, babysitters or other conflicts find themselves unable to attend the annual gala or other live event.

Issues Management

If issues aren't identified and managed, your organization will be taken by surprise again and again and put on the defensive by the media and the public.

Nonprofit Cost-Cutting

Cost-cutting may be as important in hard times as increasing revenues. Here are ten easy ways for nonprofits to save money.

Donor Research

You may not be able to hire a donor prospect researcher to prepare detailed information about your donor prospects, but you can start pulling together some basic information just with some time and patience.

Mobile Giving

Mobile giving, the act of donating to a cause through one’s cell phone, is the newest thing in philanthropy. Learn what it is and how you can make it work for your nonprofit.

Fundraising Pages

We wanted to find out just how people and organizations go about setting up giving pages on a charitable giving site.

PayPal and Nonprofits

PayPalrecently teamed up with BlackBaud to offer, a point-and-click website builder with secure donation processing and the ability to send emails and record donors’ giving histories.

Government Grant vs Foundation

From where you find announcements of government grants to how you write the grant is different in many respects from dealing with grants from foundations.

Business-Like Nonprofits

When asked how they would feel about operating in a more business-like fashion, as well as incorporating branding strategies into their daily activities, many nonprofit leaders still tell me that "it would make us look too much like the for-profit sector." And my response is always the same—"Get over it!"

Family Foundation

A Family Foundation is one that derives its funding from one family.

Nonprofit Survival Course

As bad as this economic downturn has been for nonprofits, those who survive will have learned lessons that will prove invaluable later, whether times are good or times are bad.

Social Entrepreneurs

David Boorstein, in his book, "How to Change the World," provides many clues to identifying or becoming an organization that is entrepreneurial, and the qualities that characterize people who are social entrepreneurs.

From Profit to Nonprofit Job

There is plenty of opportunity for corporate employees to move into the nonprofit world if they are drawn to work that is mission-driven. But it takes more than a fuzzy dream.

Social Entrepreneurial Traits

Social entrepreneurs buck trends, swim upstream, and break through the bounds of ideology and disciplines.

Unemployment Insurance Costs

Typically, a nonprofit and for-profit pay for unemployment claims through a state unemployment insurance tax (SUI). But unlike their counterparts, nonprofits have an alternative choice – to become a reimbursing employer.

Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity endorsements can be useful if handled carefully.

Keep Your Nonprofit Ethical

A brand is nothing less than your DNA; it’s a true reflection of how healthy, or unhealthy, your organization is from top to bottom—including its ethical behavior.

Market Research for Nonprofits

That is the nature of market research. The results are often surprising and counterintuitive. What we thought was the problem turns out not to be. The research usually saves money because our marketing efforts are directed squarely at the problem and not squandered on unimportant issues.

DBA

D.B.A. (Doing Business As): An alternative name or trade name used by a business.

Money From Newsletters

Research has shown that donors like to receive newsletters...the problem is that they are not always read. Author Ahern says this is because so many donor newsletters are simply not interesting.

Safe Giving Guide

The most frequent questions we get about charitable organizations are, "How do I know if an organization is legitimate?" and "How do I report a possible fraudulent nonprofit?"

Pitching to Reporters

Pitching nonprofit stories to the media takes time and planning. Understanding how to make the story appealing is the secret.

Publications for Nonprofits

These publications are the most widely consulted in the nonprofit sector. They are must-have's for anyone working in a nonprofit.

Transition to a Nonprofit Job

Finding a nonprofit job is not a slam dunk by any means. But, a new book, Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector:Shifting Your Focus from the Bottom Line to a Better World, by Laura Gassner Otting, provides specific information to help you find your way through what can be a confusing, even daunting challenge.

Remainder Trust

A charitable remainder trust is attractive to donors with highly appreciated assets.