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Fundraising in Uncertain Times: Emotional Intelligence as Your Steady Hand

iMarketSmart

The world feels uncertain. Crises come fast. Budgets shrink. Priorities shift. And in the nonprofit world, fundraisers are often expected to do more—with less—while holding everyone else together. So what do you rely on when the ground beneath you feels unstable? Not just tactics. Not just tools. You rely on your emotional intelligence—your ability to stay grounded, listen deeply, and lead with empathy, even in the face of ambiguity.

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7 Simple (but Effective) Ways to Maximize Your Donor Data

Bloomerang

Key takeaway: Your nonprofit CRM is among your nonprofit’s most important assets. If you’re not sure that your organization is getting the most value and use out of its donor data, it’s crucial that you take some proactive steps to change that. By remembering some simple techniques and incorporating them into your data reporting, you can make a major investment in your nonprofit’s ability to make smarter fundraising decisions.

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From Passive to Proactive: Strategies to Move Nonprofit Board Members Beyond Meetings and Into Action

Blue Avocado

How one nonprofit transformed its board into an active, mission-driven force — and how you can do the same. An engaged board is the heartbeat of a thriving nonprofit. Yet, too often, board engagement stalls at attending meetings and reviewing reports. To truly support an organization’s mission, board members must shift from passive participants to proactive leaders — championing fundraising, strategic planning, and governance.

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Financial Benchmarking for Nonprofits: 4 Industry Standards

Top Nonprofits

Nonprofit leaders rely on accurate financial insights to make smart decisions that advance their missions. However, without defined benchmarks, it can be difficult to determine whether your organization is on track to meet its fiscal goals. Financial benchmarks are performance targets derived from accounting data or industry standards. Nonprofit leaders can compare their organization’s performance to these targets to reliably gauge their organization’s health.

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Stop Budget Burnout: A Better Way to Grow Your Nonprofit in 2026

Speaker: Sean Yoder

Nonprofits are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate financial accountability while continuing to expand their impact. Traditional budgeting models often fall short, reinforcing silos, limiting flexibility, and stalling growth. Enter collaborative budgeting: a dynamic, team-driven process that enables smarter resource allocation and builds financial resilience at scale.

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Why You Need to Start Planning Your Year-End Fundraising Campaign Now

Ann Green

Wow, it’s already August. And it won’t be too long until September rolls around. I know it’s hard to think about fall when it’s been sweltering for most of the summer. Even so, September will be here before you know it, and we’ll be seeing all things pumpkin spice. If you’re doing a year-end fundraising campaign, you’ll want to start planning it now, hopefully in an air-conditioned space.

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Study Looks at Impact of Wraparound Services for Low-Income College Students

NonProfit Quarterly

Credit: Photo via VIDA. It is widely acknowledged that first-generation and low-income students face specific barriers to their success. While these barriers may include a lack of access to financial resources, that is only part of the picture. In South Texas, one nonprofit organization believes that wraparound support services are crucial to a person’s success, and is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to prove this.

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6 Techniques to Boost New Donor Acquisition and Retention

Affnetz

It’s essential to acquire new donors for your Nonprofit to have a thriving fundraising program. Here are 3 techniques you can use to acquire new donors today. BUT, given that more than 2 out of 3 first-time donors NEVER make a second gift, I’ll also cover 3 techniques you can use to ensure they make a second gift too. Acquiring New Donors: View your communications with prospective donors as conversations.

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Sabbaticals Strengthen Leaders and Nonprofits: Here's How to Recharge

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Chief executives who have recently taken time off share their tips for a sabbatical experience that leaves you — and your organization — stronger than ever. By M.J. Prest Ikon Images via AP Five nonprofit heads share insights about their recent sabbaticals. Here are their top tips on how and why to take time to recharge, even during challenging moments — and come back stronger.

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Stepping Up For Those Who Need to Step Back: A Call to Action to Nonprofits for Democracy

Non Profitvote

Written by Kimberley Carroll-Cox, Associate Director of Development and Communications The nonprofit sector is no stranger to hard work. Day in and day out, we support our communities through every crisis, every policy shift, and every underfunded program. But right now, we’re facing more than budget cuts or discouraging headlines. We’re responding in real time to direct threats to our work, to our communities, and to our ability to participate in democracy itself.

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2025 Nonprofit Compensation Report: Where do we stand?

Candid

Candid’s 2025 Nonprofit Compensation Report provides salaries and benefits data for 14 executive positions—CEO/executive director and top administrative, business, development, education, facilities, financial, and HR jobs—from the 2023 IRS filings of more than 130,000 tax-exempt organizations (excluding private foundations). How can this data help you improve your own organization or advance your career?

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Interactive Webinar: Recurring Giving Events That Keep on Giving

Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Community Engagement

There’s more than one way to end the year with impact—and we’re letting you decide the direction. In this "choose your own adventure" community-led webinar, attendees will vote in real time to pick one of three year-end event strategies to explore in depth: Volunteer Appreciation Events 🧡 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns 🌈 Mission/Program Celebrations 🎉 Once the path is chosen, we’ll dive into a step-by-step engagement workflow plan tailored to that format, showing how

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How to Streamline Nonprofit Financial Statement Preparation

Get Fully Funded

Nonprofit financial statements are essential to proper financial planning and management. They help you manage risks and make well-informed financial decisions and strategic plans. Additionally, YPTC encourages sharing your financial statements with external stakeholders such as donors, members, creditors, and the general public to provide transparency and accountability.

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How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost for Nonprofits?

Elevation

Breaking Down Website Maintenance Costs for Nonprofits For nonprofits, a website isn’t just a digital storefront—it’s the heart of your mission online. However, keeping a website in optimal shape requires ongoing maintenance, and planning a budget for this can feel like a daunting task. How much should nonprofit organizations allocate for website upkeep?

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Lessons from a Lifetime in Fundraising: How Emotional Intelligence Fuels the Human Spirit

iMarketSmart

After decades in this field—as a development officer, college president, consultant, and speaker—I’ve come to believe one thing more deeply than ever: Fundraising is not about money. It’s about meaning. And meaning flows from the human spirit. We talk a lot about metrics and best practices, but the most powerful lessons I’ve learned have come not from textbooks—but from moments of emotional honesty.

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5 Tips to Create Accurate and Insightful Reports for Your Nonprofit

NonProfit PRO

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From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

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5 takeaways on giving to nonprofits serving communities of color

Candid

How much do individuals, foundations, and corporations give to nonprofits “primarily dedicated to serving communities of color”? Based on 2012-22 IRS data, the Communities of Color Index 2025 report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Equitable Giving Lab highlights trends in, sources of, and gaps in philanthropic support for organizations serving Native American/American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Black/African-American, and H

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Securing The First Donor Meeting

Bloomerang

What is the most challenging element of the resource development continuum that starts with “nice to meet you” and concludes with “thank you for your gift?” We were among the many that were surprised by the conclusion reached according to those surveyed in Langley Innovations’ and Donor Participation Project’s State of the Development Profession Survey.

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Beginner’s Guide to Nonprofit Board Service - Part 1

Boardsource

You're new to board service and ready to make a meaningful impact—but where do you start? Discover the essentials of serving on a nonprofit board and how you can contribute to a n organization’s mission and purpose.

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Mightycause Launches Contacts Nonprofit CRM for Donor Management and Engagement

NonProfit PRO

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A New Look At Running Grants & Programs: Why Use A System When You Have Excel?

Speaker: Gareth Webb & Phil Selley, Founding Partners at Intouch Business

For many nonprofit organizations and NGOs, managing grants and monitoring projects with spreadsheets and manual processes feels familiar—but is it holding your organization back? As funding requirements become more complex and stakeholder expectations for transparency grow, relying on outdated methods can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and compliance risks.

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Successfully Managing Major Nonprofit Donors

Affnetz

Successfully managing Major Nonprofit Donors ranks high on the priority list for not-for-profit leaders. According to a 2018 study of high net worth giving , wealthier donors gave on average $29,269 annually compared to an average of $2,514 donated by the overall U.S. population. While donors who give less are still vital, handling major donors requires some additional effort to make sure these generous supporters stay committed to the organization for the long term.

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Fundraising on autopilot: 22 AI tools to take your nonprofit to new heights

Bloomerang

 Flying solo in fundraising doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. Using AI for Nonprofits or Fundraising, you can put your campaigns on autopilot and watch your impact soar. From donor engagement to grant writing, these AI-powered tools are ready to help you navigate toward your biggest goals yet. AI solutions aren’t just changing the fundraising world—they’re revolutionizing what’s possible.

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The Nonprofit’s Guide to Using AI Responsibly in the Boardroom

Nonprofit Tech for Good

Sponsored by OnBoard – a Board Intelligence Platform built to empower nonprofit boards with simple, secure, and effective governance solutions. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming how nonprofit boards operate, marking a digital shift as significant as the introduction of email, the internet, or cloud computing. Just as these tools revolutionized governance and communication in their time, AI is poised to reshape how nonprofit leaders prepare, collaborate, and make decisions.

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Changemaker Conversations Episode 5: The Shared Power Philosophy™ – Your Key to Running a More Inclusive and Effective Nonprofit

Prosper Strategies

APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY What if we told you that your nonprofit’s most effective strategic decisions shouldn’t be made in a closed boardroom with just staff and board members? What if the key to both inclusion and organizational effectiveness was deeply involving the very people your organization serves in shaping everything you do?

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What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

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How Donor-Advised Funds Are Bringing Big Results to Fundraising Across the Board

NonProfit PRO

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What AI says about your nonprofit online—and what you can do about it

Candid

Have you googled or asked ChatGPT about your nonprofit lately? Do you know what generative AI-assisted search summaries say, and is that what you want potential grantmakers, donors, volunteers, and others to see about your nonprofit online? First, we need to understand that many generative AI tools are powered by large language models (LLMs). LLMs work by taking input text as a prompt and predicting the text that should come next, based on patterns they’ve been trained on.

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AI Tools for Nonprofits: A Complete Guide in 2025

Bloomerang

Running a nonprofit is not for the faint of heart. From fundraising to volunteer management to community building, the list of responsibilities are vast and demanding. And with tight timelines and even tighter budgets, many organizations are looking for ways to increase efficiency without breaking the bank. One solution that you’ve no doubt seen skyrocket in popularity lately is AI.

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The Nonprofit Sector Is at a Crossroads. What’s your experience as a CNP?

NonProfit Leadership Alliance

At the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance , we believe leadership must be representative, accountable, and equity-driven. That’s why we’re proud to help share the 2025 Race to Lead survey ! An essential tool in the fight for a more inclusive nonprofit sector. Created by the Building Movement Project (BMP) , the Race to Lead series began in 2016 to explore how race and identity affect who leads, who stays, and how leadership is experienced across nonprofit workplaces.

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Forecasting Failures Are Costly: Heres How To Fix Them

Speaker: Dave Sackett

Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.

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Singing in the Midst of Pain

NonProfit Quarterly

NPQ ’s column, We Stood Up , features first-person stories from workers, builders, activists, and organizers of their work and world. From inspirational stories to strategic insights and powerful solutions, these stories may offer a moment to breathe, collective wisdom, and the community solidarity we need to keep pushing toward a just and equitable future.

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6 Tips for Telling Great Stories in Direct Mail and Driving More Donations

NonProfit PRO

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Nonprofit Radio for August 11, 2025: Congrats, You’re A Manager, Now What? & Facing Feedback

Tony Martignetti

Brenna Holmes & Kerry Lenahan: Congrats, You’re A Manager, Now What? Our panel shares advice for new managers, which can also support established leaders. They bring strategies for employee-centric growth; self and team advocacy; goal setting; coaching; building trust; and more. They’re Brenna Holmes from Brenna Holmes Advisory Consulting, and Kerry Lenahan at Incubate … Continue reading Nonprofit Radio for August 11, 2025: Congrats, You’re A Manager, Now What?

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Better Health for Black Mothers and Babies

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

By Nicole Wallace The BLACK Wellness & Prosperity Center trains doulas and promotes culturally competent care.

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The Everyday Donor: Unlocking Prospecting Segments Through Behavior Analysis

Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand

Do you really know your donors? Not just what they give, but who they are? 👥 In this interactive session, we’ll break down how nonprofits can use behavioral indicators (affinity, recency, frequency, and monetary value) to build prospecting segments that go beyond wealth screening and actually align with donor identity. You’ll walk away with practical strategies to move beyond basic demographics and cultivate supporters based on how they already engage with you!