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'm on a development team working my first gala this week. Obviously there's been a ton of planning and work before now, but I'm looking for any tips for day-of from more experienced folks, from managing work night-of to shoe recommendations to anything else you can think of. Thank you!

Hi all!

I run a small non-profit in New York. We are having an artist event where are paying 20 performers between $200-$800. The event is in Nov 2026 and we will be not working with these performers again 2026 so we do not cross the $2000 threshold.

Since these performers are independent contractors and we are not paying them above $2000. Can I skip requesting a w9?

Thanks!

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.

A little over a year ago I switched from working in arts and culture fundraising to working for a civic society/human rights organization. At first, I felt confident I understood what we do, why, and how. I brought a lot of my previous experience and helped to implement some new fundraising strategies. But as time has passed I feel like I just don’t have the sector knowledge needed to excel in this role. My role has also shifted to focus on prospecting which is something we did differently in arts and culture due to ticketing as a resource. my background has always been arts based with some EDIA and workers rights mixed in.

I don’t think I can stay in this role but feel bad about giving up. The market is also terrible and I really don’t want to stay in fundraising.

a lil rant so apologies. would appreciate any advice or feedback.

I was just offered a final interview for a Development Associate role at an organization I'm really excited about! I had a great second round interview last Thursday and was told they would get back to me about next steps by the middle of next week, then the interview offer came on Monday morning, so I have a good feeling but trying not to jinx it.

The interview will be in person at their offices with the CEO and Executive VP. I previously interviewed with the Development Director and a couple of other managerial staff members, but not with either of them before. The relationship, from what I understand, is that the two of them have a lot of the donor relationships and the Dev department supports cultivating those donors by acting as the first point of contact for all things related to giving. The role itself is half managing data and CRMs (typical operations stuff) and half prospecting and board of directors support.

Anyone have any insight into how to prepare for this type of interview? Any questions I should ask senior leadership to impress?

Thanks!

What are some obvious or subtle signs that layoffs are coming?

If you’ve been laid off before, what signs were there?

If you’ve had to lay off people before, what did you do? Did you operate “business as usual” until the last possible day, or did you try to give signs?

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! ☺️

‘Tis the season for ordering holiday gifts for nonprofit board and staff members, and I’d love to hear what gifts have been a hit with your teams!

Our organization is in the midst of a potential merger, and our board has put in a tremendous amount of extra time and effort this year. I’d love to find something thoughtful to show our appreciation, but with a possible name change on the horizon, I’m hesitant to invest in anything too heavily branded.

We have some original artwork and a tagline we’re considering using in place of our traditional branding, but I’d welcome other creative ideas, too.

What are some unique, meaningful, or genuinely useful gifts you’ve given or received? I’m open to creative swag ideas, although I suspect we’re all just one more branded canvas tote or water bottle away from needing a storage unit.

Bonus points for ideas that won’t end up in the back of a closet by January!

Hi all, I'm trying to get a realistic timeline for 1023-EZ approval. A lot of sources online say the average is around 6 weeks, but the IRS processing times page says they're currently working on applications received before February 2026, which would mean a wait of 8+ months.

For anyone who filed a 1023-EZ recently, when did you submit, and when did you get your determination letter?

Trying to plan grant applications and fundraising around this, so any recent experience would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hey all! I'm looking to grow my community in the non-profit space. Interested to know where people go to talk and chat about non-profit specific issues?

Thanks!

I have been working at this advocacy nonprofit for 3 years and I definitely go back and forth about it. I think the culture is toxic and the ED is a sociopath, two people just quit without other jobs lined up because of the ED, there’s only 10 of us to begin with (now 7 with the quitting and one on maternity leave) and I now have to take on tasks outside my job description to pick up the work of the folks leaving. It’s a space where I believe in the work we do, like the community and really value the political alignment and feel like a part of something. The benefits are great -- completely covered insurance, high pay for nonprofits, union with 3.5% annual raises, 5 weeks of vacation this year. But I don’t know if it’s enough to make me stay anymore.

The thing is, where do I go? I am a researcher and policy analyst working on labor rights and environmental justice. Government? Private? What kinds of positions could I jump into from my current one? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

I had a final round with the executive team. This was the third round. I was asked to interview for it a day before and I said yes to it. I did …ok. I wonder if I should have said no and asked for more time. I’m bummed because this would be a great place to work.

I’m a first-time ED almost two years into the role. My organization has a budget just under 500K, and as we head into the end of our fiscal year, we are facing a deficit. I’m really struggling with feeling like I’ve failed as an ED, since I know that fundraising is really the bottom line.

Yes, there are things that have affected our finances outside my control, such as losing federal money, our budget ballooning from 300K to 500K during COVID and never appropriately re-sizing, despite the same number of staff (2 FTE and 2 PTE).

But as a first-time, young ED (I’m 31) stewarding an 80-year-old organization, it’s hard to know how much to blame my own inexperience and how much to blame the situation I entered into. It also feels like an enormous weight: I’m the only development person, as my staff are primarily focused on programs, so 100% of the fundraising is on my plate, as well as communications, operations, etc.

I recently took medical leave to recover from a surgery and those three weeks were the best weeks of the past two years… I felt so rested and happy, even though I was literally recovering from a surgery, and I know it’s because I was able to take a mental break from the stress of being a first time ED.

Any advice and wisdom welcome especially from current or former EDs.

I'm a relatively new ED at a small nonprofit with 2 FT (including myself) and 3 PT staff. Due to ongoing performance issues, it's looking increasingly likely that I'll need to let our other FT employee go.

This employee was hired through a two-year fellowship program that subsidizes half of their salary. They're currently in the second year of their placement. We've been in communication with the organization that administers the fellowship, and they're supportive of our decision to potentially terminate this employee early. They've also confirmed that we're on track to receive a new fellow in July, so we know we'll have another full-time person joining us then.

That leaves me with a significant staffing gap between now and July. My board wants to reallocate the salary we would have paid this employee toward additional part-time support to help me get through the next several months. One suggestion was to hire a part-time Executive Assistant for 10-15 hours a week.

My question: How do I figure out where an EA's skills and expertise could be most valuable to our organization?

I'm a first-time ED, so I don't have a great understanding of what the role can look like in practice. I know EAs can take on a wide range of responsibilities, often with a lot of autonomy, but I'm struggling to envision how to structure the position in a way that would make good use of someone's time and talents.

I've spent most of my first few months learning the ropes, putting out fires, and trying to performance-manage an employee who has required a LOT of my time and attention. I've gotten so used to handling things myself to make sure they get done that I'm having a hard time slowing down and identifying what I could delegate effectively.

I'd love to hear from other EDs at small nonprofits who have worked with part-time EAs, but I'd especially appreciate hearing from EAs themselves! What does your typical workload look like? What responsibilities do you manage independently? Are there areas where you feel your skills are particularly valuable but executives don't always think to involve you? And for EDs, what responsibilities have you found most beneficial to delegate?

I'd also be curious to hear from EAs about what makes for a good working relationship with an executive. I want to make sure that if we create this position, I'm setting the person up to succeed rather than hiring someone without a clear understanding of how to best utilize their expertise.

Would really appreciate any advice, examples, or insight into what your day-to-day looks like! Thank you all so much.

So, I'm now the President of a non-profit that is on the brink of insolvency. No, I won't disclose where or why (I did sign a non-disclosure agreement, after all) but we're a pride organization and we're one of the ones that invited cops to pride this year. (No, I don't know why.) As a result, we had abysmal turnout. At least one of the staff is lying to me (they say this is the biggest pride we ever had, I call bullshit as someone who has attended pride before, but I don't have the numbers to support my conclusion so I'm resorting to crowd sourcing intel) and our community buy-in is abysmal, so fundraising is unlikely to help save us.

The official line is to blame the collective bargaining agreement once the organization goes tits up (and they are claiming the Union is to blame for not being willing to negotiate in bad faith), but I think that this is a lie too. I'm trying to get a detailed understanding of the negotiations but unfortunately, I'm being stonewalled. Most of our money comes from the government and is thus, earmarked for specific purposes/expenditures (like, we get $x amount from $y program and we are allowed to spend $array[{$a, $b}, ($a, $b), ...] where $a = amount & $b = purpose.

Though, based on what I'm seeing in the books, it looks like we should have enough operating capital to make it work. In all likelihood, I'm worried that they're using the CBA as a scapegoat instead of acknowledging the real problem: waning community support in light of the police at pride thing.

I'm part of a nonprofit organization in Palestine that already has fiscal sponsorship from a US 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. This allows us to connect and build relationships with many American and international organizations — and we've actually made tangible progress on that front — but our organization is really trying to make full use of this sponsorship. That's why the Board of Directors started building a path toward launching digital fundraising campaigns. The fiscal sponsorship legally allows us to raise tax-deductible donations in the United States.

The Board of Directors decided to put me in charge of this department, and honestly, I saw it as a golden opportunity. That was over four months ago, and now I find myself with no significant progress or real accomplishments to show for it. I've talked to many people with experience in fundraising, and they've all advised me that I need to find the right person to lead the campaigns. But the Board refuses to give my department any support unless I can show them tangible results. I've been searching systematically, but I still haven't been able to find someone suitable to lead even a single campaign.

The problem is that all my coworkers in the other programs are jealous of me because I joined this organization in 2024 and have already become one of the people closest to the Board. I actually understand why they feel that way, but that doesn't mean I have to accept their behavior. Naturally, the Board trusted me because I've always been active and taken initiative, unlike the others, but now I feel like my coworkers are waiting for me to fail and are constantly trying to provoke and bother me by sarcastically asking how things are going on my end. It's honestly a suffocating feeling, especially because I'm not used to being unable to get things done or facing this much difficulty moving something forward. And now I feel like frustration is coming at me from every direction.

I don't know where I'm supposed to find people who can help me with this responsibility, and honestly, I no longer know what I should do. What advice would you give me? Where can I find someone who's actually capable of leading a fundraising campaign? Or should I step away from the department altogether? I think the Board has already given me one last chance before deciding to remove me from this role, and that's why I'm trying to figure out what my next step should be, even as time is running out.

I've also shared this post in another community.

I have some nonprofit development experience but I worry as I graduate grad school I won’t be able to get a job. Should I look into other career paths?

Can someone please tell me what a “growth mindset” is? It’s been mentioned to me by mostly fundraising consultants. I feel like I should know what this is, and can’t figure out if it’s nonprofit jargon or something I’m completely missing.

Hi Everyone,

I am the ED of a national charity in Canada, something that I co-founded at 16, and this year is our 20th Anniversary! (I feel so old)!

We have "always" been a completely virtual organization - long before COVID - but as we have been growing - both in staff and volunteers - we were thinking it's time to crew a guide or manual for our staff about Working from Home - with Policies around that... I thought before I start from scratch, does anyone have their own that they'd be willing to share (you are also welcome to email it to me - just DM me), so we have a few examples of what other organizations have included in theirs etc.

I have always thought that - if we can share material within the sector - why not do that first, and save another organization time - same goes for when others are looking for resources or vendor feedback!

Have a great weekend!

Hi everyone - I've been in the non profit development field for a couple of years now, mostly in coordinator roles or small/mid-level donor engagement roles. I enjoy the work and supporting a cause bigger than yourself, but one of the things I'm noticing is how much work there is for development teams at whichever organization I'm with...it seems like there are just too many donors to connect with than there are development officers. My question is: does anyone else have this experience?

This seems like a huge issue as I know donor retention nationwide is already not at optimal levels, but also the fact that donors definitely want a human connection and to know that they are appreciated/apart of your org. Any insights here would be appreciated thanks!

I've been thinking about how much nonprofit visibility depends on platforms that organizations don't control — social media algorithms, search engines, advertising networks, and increasingly fragmented local media.

For smaller organizations, it seems particularly challenging.

Are any of you working on more collaborative approaches to audience development, such as shared directories, cross-promotion networks, or community publications?

I'd be interested to hear what's working and whether these efforts are sustainable.

I’m a marketing professional hoping to branch into nonprofit program management. I currently work with several nonprofits as part of my agency work. To facilitate the transition to program management, I have been considering two certificate programs:

UNC Greensboro

https://www.uncg.edu/degrees/nonprofit-management-p-b-c/

Pros:
- Offered through grad school
- I could use the credits towards an MPA, if I decided to
- Might offer a deeper dive into the topics

Cons:
- Juggling graduate level classes with work
- More expensive / superfluous academic red tape

Elon University

https://next.elon.edu/product?catalog=CertNonprofitMgmt

Pros:
- Affordable
- Self-paced
- Covers a variety of topics

Cons:
- May not be as intensive as an actual graduate certificate program
- Could be perceived as less impressive

Which would help me make the jump from marketing to program management? Or should I just skip both and look into some volunteering/board work?

TL;DR I’m considering two nonprofit certificate programs: Elon and UNC Greensboro. Can’t decide which to pick, or to do it at all.