Planning Your Board Calendar
It’s not too early to begin planning for 2026 – and not just your organization’s projects and programs but your board’s work as well. Here are five key insights as you build a board calendar. We hope these insights help you plan a meaningful 2026 for your board. Let us know what might be new […]
It’s Gala Season.
We recently spoke with a client about event-based fundraising including galas and golf outings, which sparked us to revisit this article from nearly six years ago. The advice still rings true, including this – “The event should be a point-of-entry for new donors — not a pass through.” What we would add for 2025 and […]
Cheers to 10 Years of Reeb!
Today, the Reeb Center is marking its 10-year anniversary, and we want to raise a glass to those who invested in the vision all those years ago and to all who continue to realize its mission day in and day out. The renovation and reimagination of the former Reeb Avenue Center elementary school would not have been possible […]
Vision, Hope, and Healing: Franklin County’s New Crisis Care Center
What a difference vision makes. In 2022, the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board cited bleak statistics – Ohio ranked 38th in the nation for higher prevalence of adults with mental illness yet lower rates of access to care; and that 21% of Franklin County residents had a mental health emergency once a year. Combined with the […]
Persistent Decline in Fundraising
We continue our series on fundraising fundamentals. We wrote about building a campaign gift chart in February, building fundraising goals in March, and our 12 campaign beliefs in April. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project 2023 year-end data was released last week during the AFP ICON conference in Toronto, and the data is sobering. As the press […]
12 Campaign Beliefs
We have learned a set of truths while working on capital campaigns. We created our 12 Campaign Beliefs to document these truths. As we continue to help clients navigate the campaign process, especially during a challenging year, we are reminded of their relevance and importance. The number of capital campaigns will increase exponentially as the […]
Policies Impacting the Future of Nonprofit Work
In nonprofits, future sustainability is never guaranteed. We fight for it — by raising money, making tough choices, and relying on government and philanthropic leaders in our community to understand the realities of the individuals and communities we serve. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the funding landscape for housing and childcare organizations like ours, YWCA Columbus, […]
Building a Goal Chart
This column continues the series on fundraising fundamentals. Over the next few months, we will review various tools to help you achieve your goals. In last week’s column, we discussed building a campaign gift chart and how assessing the number of prospects at various gift levels can illustrate how to achieve a campaign goal. This […]
Building a Campaign Gift Chart
This column begins a series on fundraising fundamentals. Over the next few months, we will review various tools to help you achieve your goals. This week, we review gift charts. A campaign gift chart illustrates how many donors are needed at which giving level to achieve a fundraising goal. It’s important to think of a […]
Navigating Change and Building Bridges: A Journey in the Aging and Disability Network
Embarking on a career in the aging and disability network has been a transformative journey filled with rich experiences and intense learning. The changing demographics over the last decades have brought unprecedented challenges, but they have also ignited the creativity and dedication of individuals within the network. This blog post reflects on the incredible moments, […]