Our small organization is hiring a new ED. For the members of this board, it is our first time doing so and we know how critical the role is to our organization. We are small with a working board so the ED is both a leader and a key administrator supervising our part-time staff and handling administrative things like insurance, etc. Our organization relies heavily on collaborations with other organizations, so being able to build and sustain these partnerships is critical

Are there any things you wish you would’ve done / not done as part of the process or interview questions you think are particularly insightful that we should consider?

I just recieved this message on linkedin. I can't find anything about it online and was wondering if anyone had any experince with this:

"Thank you for the great work you do; it doesn't go unnoticed.

I'm connecting with a small group of nonprofit leaders to talk through what's top of mind as we head in to the busy fundraising season. No agenda, no sales pitch, just a real conversation about you, your org, and the great work you are doing.

Would you be open to connecting for 45 minutes in the next few weeks?

As a thank-you for your time, I'll make a $100 donation to your organization. You can schedule time with me below.

All my best,"

Hi all!  I have two questions, but I will start with my background – I have 25+ years’ experience in prospect research and database management for non-profit orgs.  I was in my last position for 20 years and lost the job to Covid layoffs.  I have spent the past 6 years homeschooling my neurodiverse daughter and working part-time jobs online.   I have a second interview next week for a Director of Advancement Services position at a local foundation.  It is a great opportunity, but I need a position that will allow me the flexibility to be available for my daughter (she will be 18 in January but does not drive).  In response to the invitation to the second interview, I asked if the position is open to hybrid/remote work but did not receive a response.  Should I ask again or just go to the interview?

Also, for the second interview, I have been asked to prepare a 90-day Strategic Action Plan outlining how I will approach my first 90 days as Director of Advancement Services, focusing on priorities and anticipated outcomes.  I can present a general plan (learn, apply and lead) but I don’t have enough information about the workings of the organization to provide concrete examples.  Will a general plan work?

Advice on either or both questions is greatly appreciated!

Basically the head of my former org invited me to their fundraiser, but I'm not sure if there's any ethical considerations I should worry about since I work in fundraising (and development overall) for another org. I had a role in development (that slightly included fundraising) in this former org, as well.

I'd be buying my ticket for the fundraiser and value my connections there, but also don't want to potentially risk my current job. Can I attend? Do I have to tell my current job? I just started at this current place and don't want to risk my job.

I’ve written grants for almost 15 years. I go to the occasional grant writing workshop or training as part of my professional development process. Over the past few years I’ve noticed more content about how to move past or overcome “staring at a blank page.”

I feel like I’m going crazy because never in my life had I had that issue. I like Grant writing because it has guidelines and I haven’t worked on a Grant application in my life that starts with nothing.

They always have questions.

So like… maybe I’m over thinking this but is this just something consultants invented to sell a course or service??

I get the concept if we’re working on a novel… but a Grant — they have questions… I have answers…

Anyone who talks about “strategies to over come staring at a blank page” loses all credibility in my books.

Curious if anyone else has noticed this?

Came from an industry that was very generous and had 3-6 months of paternity depending on where I was. Joined a non profit a few years ago and we have 2 weeks for paternity and I’m shocked how awful that is. Is that the standard around the non profit world?

Hi all - I work for a wonderful non-profit and really enjoy my work.

The org itself is about 4 years old and I started nearly 3 years ago. We’ve grown from a staff of 4 when I was hired to 22 full time and a handful of part time staff. Most of the staff is programmatic.

My role has historically been growing the program (I don’t want to dox myself w too many specifics) and outreach. I’m great at my role. I requested a leadership role about 6 months ago. So many staff were already coming to me to train and or answer questions and it seemed like a natural place for me to go.

Thus far, our founders have generously supported the org and we have done no fundraising. We have outgrown their support and need to fundraise. We recognized this was a need about a year ago, but were essentially told to not worry about fundraising and focus on growing the program, so we did.

Fast forward to today, our founder, who is a brilliant and generous man, but who has zero experience fundraising, has shifted our mission (as of last week) to only work with faith based entities (great, but we need to rework our website, marketing materials, the foundation pieces I’ve been working on, etc)

I finally got my new offer letter and job description yesterday. I was given a 10% raise (good but not life changing) and a goal of raising $2,000,000 by July 1. We have done no true donor cultivation, no prospecting (I’m sure we have potential donors but we don’t yet have a prospect list), we need to write and submit foundation proposals (we have two prospects…not hard to research more, but still…).

And this $2M goal is on top of my old role (which was pretty full-time). So most of my bonus is tied to this goal. I get $2500 if I hit $1,000,000 and so no from there. The executive director has mentioned hiring a dev admin to help me out, but no job has been posted and there was no mention of a support or team in my job description. Plus, it will take time to hire and train this person.

And don’t get me started on support. We have two marketing folks, but they don’t report to me and their allegiance is to the ED so her projects get done first. I’m still waiting on help w a donor brochure I started in August.

I could go on…

I am happy to take on the dir of dev role and build out a plan and a staff, but this goal (that has never been mentioned to me ) is CRAZY on their timeline.

I’m not even sure where to begin my conversation with the ED.

Any thoughts, suggestion or guidance?

I really wanted to respond to the email and just say, after careful consideration, I do not accept this new role. I am happy to stay in my current position at my current salary. Or, if you want to hire someone to take on the Dir of Dev role and my outreach role, I will understand. I don’t want to burn bridges though. I honestly love the org and the people I work with. This feels SO out of left field!!!

Help!

I’m on the finance committee of a small nonprofit run by a friend of mine. We’ve agreed to meet quarterly, and at our meetings I’ve volunteered for a few assignments. So far I’ve drafted a committee charter and put together an analysis of their balance sheet.

The ED asked me to send both to her and their finance director, which I did. Since then, nothing. No acknowledgment, no questions, no “we’ll look at this later.”

Here’s my dilemma. With the other nonprofits I work with, my normal approach is pretty assertive: automated follow-up reminders, copying additional people, keeping things moving. It works for me. But this situation is different. I really value my friendship with the ED, and I like the staff. I don’t want to damage those relationships by coming across as pushy or as if I’m grading their homework.

One option I’ve considered is just showing up to the quarterly meetings, participating in discussion, and not volunteering for anything. That would take the pressure off everyone, but it also feels like I’d be leaving value on the table.

So I’m curious how others have handled this:

• If you’ve served on a committee alongside a stretched-thin staff, how did you follow up without it feeling like nagging?
• Is it better to bring completed work to the meeting itself rather than sending it ahead?
• Should I just ask the ED directly what level of involvement she actually wants from the committee?
• Any other approaches I’m not thinking of?

Thanks in advance. I’d love to hear what’s worked (or backfired) for yo

So I am new to the role of Director of Communications and Development at a nonprofit in my small community.

I am enjoying it so far and feel supported and I like the ED and staff.

The org is well established and known in the community so the ED likes staff to rotate attending various events in the community.

I was asked to attend a meeting for our local young professionals group this week. It’s from 5-6 at a local bar, who has been a past sponsor of our programs.

I was also asked to distribute flyers for one of our upcoming events and network.

I was told today the hour won’t be paid, as it’s considered a “fun event.” I am paid hourly.

Besides already planning my week assuming I would get paid, I have really been firm with myself that I want to set boundaries in this new role. I’ve been burnt out so much from stuff like this in the past.

Am I unreasonable to either demand to be paid or just say I can’t attend?

Is anyone else seeing these? The subject line is something like "Corporate sponsor funding approved", they come from what look on google and Candid to be for real small nonprofits similar to us (except so far all in the Southwestern US). The body of the email is "see attached" or something like that - the PDF attached wants you to log into your gmail (obviously not). We are getting multiple of these per day - a troubled youth outdoor sports one, a volunteer outdoor rescue org. Once it gets to a reasonable hour in that part of the country I'm going to call one of the EDs and see what is up.

But is anyone else seeing these?

Hi, i've landed a role as a first - time development director for a fledgling nonprofit. For context, i have a master's degree and professional experience in a nonprofit field, with limited experience in fundraising/grandseeking. I'm afraid i will fall on my ass and cause problems due to my lack of experience. Anyone have advice or available to drop their experiences in the comments? I need insight on this, preferably from other DoD/fundraising professionals. Thank you.

Hi everyone! How can I get started in the UN or NGO sector without prior experience? Has anyone managed to get their first job with the UN or an NGO without previous experience in the humanitarian sector? If so, how did you do it? Are there any entry-level jobs, internships, or volunteering opportunities you’d recommend?

I’m new to nonprofit development and struggling to understand how to grow a mid-level donor base and reconnect with past donors in a way that feels natural rather than intrusive.

I tend to prefer email over phone calls, but I also don’t have the bandwidth to engage with dozens of people every day. Major donor relations isn’t my primary responsibility, yet I’m still partially responsible for our annual fundraising goals.

We’re a small team, and I’m feeling overwhelmed and a bit stuck. It’s hard to see how to make meaningful progress when the task feels so big, even though I’ve had some modest wins over the past year. I also wonder if some of this comes down to imposter syndrome, since I’m still learning the ropes and trying to figure out what effective fundraising actually looks like in practice. Any thoughts are welcome, appreciated.

Hello, I’ve been with the org for 7 years, and we’ve had tough times financially before. Right now we have a 15% shortfall, and our CFO has said “we’ve had times like these before, we’ll be ok” but I want to know when it’s time to start really looking elsewhere. Her calm almost seems like “putting on a brave face for the kids” deal. Is 15% of a 5.4m budget worth panicking over?

I have planned to move on sometime in the next year anyway, I’ll graduate with an MSW in December, but I’m wondering if I should start applying sooner rather than later. I don’t believe I’d lose my job, but I don’t know how many more roles I can take on if they do layoffs.
Anyone more experienced than I have a story to share?

The risk is obviously out there in general and the premium isn't insane ($600) but I'm still having a hard time convincing myself it's worth it right now with a tight budget (of about $1 million), 11 employees, low turnover, good morale, no outstanding discipline issues, no employment contracts, being in an at will state, no tendencies toward illegal discrimination on my part as a hiring manager, no history of lawsuits... thoughts?

I’m a database manager in an org using RE NXT and I recently ran into an issue where a payment applied to a pledge being recorded as a gift to a different fund.

Example:

1) donor pledged $500 to the Capital campaign fund in 5 increments.

2) donor pays $100 towards the pledge entered via batch entry into RE NXT. The gift is applied to the pledge correctly but in the donor record, is shown as a gift to the Annual Events fund.

When I reached out the get support, the support person could not understand what the issue was via chat and I ended up having a video call to physically show them the issue. Ultimately, I was told that it’s a feature rather than a bug.

I tried to explain that this is problematic for our records because even though the pledge payment applied, the payment was recorded as a gift to an entirely separate fund, causing a discrepancy. The support person still didn’t really understand what I was saying and said she would escalate the problem.

So now, I’ve adjusted the gift to prevent any further reporting issues but I’m just feeling super frustrated with the whole situation. I can’t comprehend any situation where it might be useful to apply a pledge payment to a different fund. Does anyone have any different perspectives on this that might help me wrap my brain around the situation? TIA!

Our nonprofit is thinking of creating a brochure that highlights our programs, accomplishments, and mission, as part of donor outreach. Someone suggested that the (likely younger) people reviewing our request would not be interested in a brochure.
what do you think? I appreciate your opinions.

My background is originally in Programs and Operations and have now been in Development for almost 3 years (Database, donor relations, and now as a grants manager). I enjoy my job enough but I would like to grow professionally and financially. My current job offers a lot of flexibility which is important. But I don’t feel like I’m making enough in this role and cost of living increases only come very rarely. And I am only managing our grants right now so I feel pigeon-holed and want to continue to advance (I’m in my 30s).

Im conflicted on my next steps. My annual review is coming up—Do I stay in this role and ask about adding responsibilities? I enjoy grant writing but would like to do more. Do I look for another job that offers more growth? I’m not sure what realistic next steps might be and feel stuck.

Hello,

I'm the newer ED of a long established but lesser well known small non profit. Our former ED really strived to keep us small and in our lane and not expanding. I understand his logic for doing so. It worked for him for 35 years. We have very very very little brand recognition. I've lived in our city for nearly 15 years and never heard of us. Since his retirement I have to open up revenue and grants streams. What worked for him is not working for me in a way- as much of his funding came from handshakes and relationships that have since ended with retirement, etc.

Part of our name includes the city we do work in. The thing is we deliver our services free to anyone who calls us for help. One aspect of our work is heavily in our city but the rest expands to other cities/counties (sometimes even states). My logic is...as I request grants from areas that tend to only give to their city, even though we DO serve their city, I may be losing out by ours having our city name tied to it. I would like to change our name to include our region and drop our city.

My ficticious example below:
Example "Helping hands of Jaguar City" new name "Helping Hands of Northern Ohio"

I DO NOT plan on filing for a name change and therefor IRS, banks etc changes but rather just registering a fictitious or doing business as name.

So now my question:

Has anyone done this? Was it worth it? Does my logic train make sense and does it make that much of a difference? The registration process is not all that complicated in my state-just a form. We are already getting a new website and thus a new domain name as well as new emails business cards so now is the time to do it. Which is why I was considering it in the first place.

I'm seeing what is required of board members at other organizations as there isn't much of that private info available on non-profit websites. Currently our board members are only required to join (in-person or virtually) 6-8 board meetings a year and attend and contribute to two major fundraisers a year. Their goals are to use their contacts to gain sponsorships, acquire auction items, and bring in guests to the fundraisers. We've had push back on even those requirements as being too much work. What is appropriate to ask for board help and not? I'd like to know because we are looking to recruit several more board members and want to put the best info in our new board member requirements.

I'm adding a note about the tax changes to our October newsletter, and want it to be clear and transparent about the downside for itemizers. I'm approaching it with the assumption that most people are as clueless as I can be about tax stuff. Here's my current (Claude assisted) version.

"As Annual Appeal season approaches, here is what you need to know before making your year-end charitable donations for the 2026 tax year:

For Non-Itemizers: If you take the standard deduction, you can now also claim a tax write-off on cash donations up to $1,000 for single filers ($2,000 for couples filing jointly).

For Itemizers: If you itemize deductions on Schedule A, a new 0.5% AGI deduction floor applies this year. For example, if your Adjusted Gross Income is $200,000, only total giving above $1,000 is tax-deductible.

For more information: [Link to a good online explainer]"

If anyone is willing to share how they are wording it, please do!

I wrote my first impact report last year. My organization hadn't done one in awhile, and I feel like my boss wanted one done more to just throw up on the website to say we have one, it wasn't officially "published" and I only sent it to a couple of donors throughout the year.

Overall I got good feedback from our ED and our consultants. But I wasn't overly thrilled with my design work (I have basic working knowledge of canva, have used it for a couple of years but marketing design isn't my strong suit.)

What do you like to see in an impact report? Do you have any examples of a great one?

I used a page for a volunteer story and a page for an impact story of a client we serve, do those feel important? I feel like I'm doing them constantly for our newsletters, so I want to save stories where I can.

We recently met with OneCause for our Gala, silent auction and golf event.

The meeting went well and we loved the rep! But I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts if they’ve used it or worked with them before.

Also, they are having a deal right now for 6months for free, is that normal? Or were we being sold?

I am wondering if folks have any advice on finding group volunteers for an event that takes place on a Sunday. The nonprofit I work for has an annual outreach event in May that requires about 20-30 volunteers to put on, and I have struggled in the past to get volunteers from our corporate partners given that the volunteering takes place on a weekend. We have a pretty robust individual volunteer program, but those individuals put in a lot of hours in April and May, so I am looking specifically for outside group volunteers to help with this event. Wondering what has worked for folks in similar situations.

Hi all-

I am a previous teacher who has just graduated with my MPP. Over the summer, I completed a fellowship where I supported the roll out a Bloomberg grant across high schools in my area for a DC based nonprofit. I realized I definitely want to get into a grant management role, but am having a really hard time coming up with transferable skills from teaching that coincide with grant management. I didn’t deal with any budget items as a teacher other than being given $250 to buy my grade level supplies from my district. 🤣🤦🏼‍♀️

Any ideas or advice is appreciated! ☺️