Resources for Growing
Explore our many blog resources on board development, grant research and writing, leadership development, fundraising, budgeting, and much more.
Lost a Consulting Client? How to Recover and Rebuild Your Client Pipeline
One of my consulting mentees recently reached out with a panicked message: “Help, I just lost my biggest client! What should I do?” Here’s how I helped her through it—and how she replaced that missing income in less than a week. Then, we'll walk through the...
5 Signs Your Nonprofit Needs a New Strategic Plan
Many nonprofits get by without a strategic plan for years, sometimes even decades. But “getting by” isn’t most leaders’ goal. We all want to lead thriving, sustainable, and high-performing organizations. A strategic plan can help you get there. After guiding...
What Is an Operational Plan vs a Strategic Plan?
Organizational leaders do a lot of planning. The ability to consistently design and implement project plans, program plans, and other plans can make the difference between an organization’s long-term failure and success. In our work with hundreds of leaders and scores...
Using a SWOT Analysis in Strategic Planning: The Basics
Whether you lead a business or nonprofit organization, it is essential to understand internal and external factors that can impact your sustainability and success. A SWOT analysis is one of the top ways to do this. In this article, we’re going to cover what a...
What Makes an Effective Stakeholder Interview?
Stakeholder interviews are one of the most powerful ways to gather fresh insights about your organization when planning for the future. Whether you’re aiming to grow, pursuing new opportunities, or dealing with unexpected setbacks, stakeholder interviews help ensure...
Strategic Planning Stakeholder Surveys: What to Ask and Why
A strategic planning stakeholder survey is designed to gather insights about your organization from a diverse set of stakeholders. These insights should then directly inform your strategic planning process. Let’s look at what goes into an effective stakeholder survey...
What Is a Strategic Planning Timeline?
What is the timeline for a strategic planning process? This is one of the first questions new strategic planning clients often ask us. It sounds simple, but the question actually has two parts: How long will the strategic planning process take? How long of a period...
How Often Should an Organization Revise its Strategic Plan?
A frequent question we hear from strategic planning clients is: How often should our organization review and/or revise its strategic plan? At Funding for Good, we believe successful strategic planning is an active process, not just a static product....
9 Best Questions to Ask Strategic Planning Consultants
Most organizations undertaking strategic planning choose to work with a consultant. But how can you find the right consultant for your organization? We recommend treating the consultant selection like an interview or hiring process. Create a short-list of consultants,...
How to Become a Nonprofit Consultant: Your Complete Guide
If you are interested in becoming a nonprofit consultant, you’ve come to the right place. Here at Funding for Good, we’ve built a successful nonprofit consulting business from the ground up. We’ve also coached and trained hundreds of other nonprofit consultants...
What Is Nonprofit Governance and Why Does it Matter?
When you’re caught up in the day-to-day of running a nonprofit, governance can feel less like a vital function and more like an annoying task to check off a list. Schedule the board meeting. Send out the agenda. Finish the audit on time. But governance (or the lack of...
Designing a New Program? 8 Key Questions to Ask
Call me crazy but I absolutely love the process of designing an incredible new program for a growing nonprofit.
How to Find and Choose Board Members for Your Nonprofit
Nonprofit boards have an incredible amount of responsibility, overseeing governance, fundraising, and finances. This means that finding and selecting the right board members is one of the most critical decisions your organization makes. Yet too often, nonprofit board...
Four Essential Duties of a Nonprofit Board Chair
The role of a nonprofit board chair is often undervalued and overlooked. As a result, many new board chairs find themselves stepping into a leadership role that is not clearly defined and having had very little preparation. It doesn’t have to be this way. Working with...
Working Board vs Governing Board – Making the Transition
Is your mostly volunteer-run nonprofit ready to take the leap and hire its first executive staff member? If so, get ready for changes and challenges! Your board of directors is about to make the transition from a working board to a governing board. The roles and...
What are Vision and Mission Statements vs a Strategic Plan?
Vision and mission statements are at the heart of nonprofit work. Our vision and mission articulate our organization’s reasons for being. They drive our programs. They inspire our volunteers and donors. So, if your organization has solid vision and mission...
Annual Planning vs Strategic Planning: What to Know
Do we need a strategic plan if our organization already has an annual plan? This is a common question we hear from organizations that are deciding whether to invest in a strategic planning process. So, let’s take a look at the difference between these two types...
How to Time Strategic Planning with Your Fiscal Year
One of the most common questions we get from clients is: Does it matter when we start our strategic planning process? Our answer is a resounding yes. Let’s dig into why! Your Strategic Plan in Context Your organization’s strategic plan does not exist in a vacuum. To...
Crafting a Stellar Nonprofit Vision and Mission Statement
In our work with hundreds of nonprofits, we've found that having a strong vision and mission statement results in smarter decision-making, easier marketing, and greater alignment across leadership, staff, and other stakeholders. Research backs this up. Our...
Increase Direct Mail Success with Segmenting
In an increasingly crowded digital environment—with email, social media, and messaging apps vying for our attention—direct mail has a unique ability to capture our attention. But not all direct mail campaigns are created equal. When you combine direct mail and donor...
5 Must-Haves for Your Consulting Business Website
Most nonprofit consultants find their first clients before they have a website. But if you want to grow beyond close referrals or expand your service offerings, you will eventually need a website for your consulting business. Today, websites are like digital business...