Re-opening Your Volunteer Opportunities: A List of Questions to Ask In today’s uncertain times, a strong supporter eco-system -- made up of both volunteers and donors -- and a healthy slate of volunteer opportunities will be essential to the future sustainability of nonprofits. Now, more than ever, supporters will be crossing the thresholds between giving and [...]
Building Bridges to Better Volunteer Diversity & Inclusion This post was originally featured in the June 9 VolunteerPro Blog. As grassroots demonstrations continue throughout the world in support of black voices and lives, I hope you are inspired to look inward and seek to build greater volunteer diversity in your own organization. While at first blush, this seems like a simple enough aim. [...]
Nonprofit Leadership Best Practices: Advocating for Equity in Troubled Times Given the current unrest and uncertainty of the moment, you may wonder which nonprofit leadership best practices make the most sense in the current context. How should you show up as a nonprofit leader and professional right here and right now? Should you sit back [...]
How to Survive the 2020 Nonprofit Recession As national employment rates rise at an alarming rate due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic – and nonprofit workers find themselves furloughed or worse – it may be time to re-consider how we prepare for a possible nonprofit recession. In case you’re wondering if unemployment is really all that bad. Rest assured. It is. The US [...]
Utilizing Fundraising Volunteers During Coronavirus If your nonprofit is like the many I follow on social media, you may have had to rethink your fundraising campaigns for the foreseeable future. That means relying on your network of followers, and perhaps even volunteer fundraisers, to help you spread the word about your organization. It may also mean [...]
How to Become the Productive, Mindful Nonprofit Leader the World Needs Right Now The world is a hectic place right now, and now more than ever, our communities need you be a nonprofit leader who knows how to maintain a sense of calm, even during times of uncertainty, all while maintaining personal productivity. It’s no [...]
Volunteer Ethics & Risk Management: Should You Bring Volunteers In? Considering the current pandemic, volunteer ethics are top of mind for nonprofits currently working on the front lines or who are planning to phase in operations over the next months. Those that rely heavily on a volunteer workforce are understandably nervous about the chance that volunteers would be [...]
My Nonprofit Leadership Lessons in Failure & Uncertainty Yesterday, I had an inspired conversation with one of our VolunteerPro community members about nonprofit change management. Although we are at different stages in our careers, our perspectives were very much in alignment. Since taking on her job as a leader of volunteers, she has become a student of [...]
Working as a Nonprofit Network in Times of Crisis: What We Can Learn from the Lowly Jellyfish The problem with nonprofit networks is they rarely exist … until people really need them. Once a crisis hits, everyone starts scrambling for support, and turning to partners for aid. And, sometimes it's too late. As I used to remind my [...]
A Riff on Best Practices in Volunteer Management with Nancy Macduff Note: A version of this interview on best practices in volunteer management was originally published on December 10, 2010 on our now defunct Tobi’s Nonprofit Management Blog on December 10, 2010. I was looking through my content archives and came across a fantastic interview with [...]