By Dennis Fischman : Does your organisation use volunteers? Then you know they’re more than just do-gooders. Your volunteers are: Hands doing work your staff don’t have to do Eyes perceiving things you might miss Voices, speaking for you and about you to their friends Donors! People who give their time are more likely to […]
Does your nonprofit live and die by donations? Chances are you’re dying. You work so hard to get a donation, especially at the end of the year. By next year, however, more than half those donors–59%–will disappear. You will never hear from them again. It’s even worse with new donors. Three-quarters of them […]
Suppose you learned you were developing Alzheimer’s disease. What would you do? Would you take a long-delayed vacation? Spend your time hoping for a cure? What Mitch Evich did was start a blog. The Diminishing Window is Evich’s place to explore the meaning of life. Since August 2015, he has written on a variety of […]
As a leader in your company and in your field, please share your own experiences. It’s a good thing to do! Your stories–and the lessons you’ve learned–will be valuable to your colleagues when they face similar challenges. You can share your stories and lessons in person, or on social media, or in a blog […]
When people hear that I consult to not for profits on communications, sooner or later, they ask me, “Dennis, is it really worth it? Can I raise funds for my organisation on social media?” I’m sorry, people, but those are two different questions. Question 1: Are Social Media Worth It for Your Organisation? First, […]
When I was a child and I heard grown-ups talking about their medical conditions, I groaned. What could possibly be more boring? Now, it’s my generation, the Baby Boomers doing the “organ recitals”: my hips, my knees, my liver! People spend more time with their doctors as they age. They spend more money on both […]
“Uh-oh, we’re almost out of Clark Bar’s medicine,” I thought. “Time to order it again.” Clark Bar is a venerable gentleman cat of 18 years. He has a problem with his thyroid, so I give him soft tablets of methimazole mixed in with his wet food. I order the tablets from a compounding pharmacy […]
My dear father could never master the use of chopsticks. He resented people who did. Whenever we went out to a Chinese restaurant and other people reached for the sticks, he would grumble, “A fork has always been good enough for me. I don’t know why it’s not good enough for you.” I think of […]
Are you tired of being asked, “Why can’t you run your not for profit like a business?” I’ve written about how not for profits can use advice written for businesses (with just a little translation). When it comes to not for profit finance, however, some business wisdom is just wrong. Clara Miller, the former director […]
Okay, readers, I’m asking your opinion. Who’s right here? The CEO of a large not for profit organisation recently said to me: “Our organisation gets almost all its funding from government, not from donors. We get almost all our clients through referrals, not from publicity. We need good relationships with state and federal governments and with other providers. […]
B-Cause 