GuideStar Blog

"Discussions of online fundraising tend to focus on technology and the latest new bell, whistle or widget. Raising funds online is not about technology, any more than raising funds through the mail is about paper. It's about the relationship between the nonprofit and the donor who wants to support a cause."

Reprinted from the Marketwire blog

Why Your Administrative and Program Staffs Annoy Each Other, and How You Can Fix That Permanently

I can't believe it! ANOTHER stupid form those bureaucrats in Admin want me to fill out. If we don't get this project moving faster, the funder is going to go ballistic. And we've already got REAL problems to deal with. I don't need this BS paperwork on top of that. ... And besides, they never help me with hiring or getting vendors paid on time, just tell me we CAN'T do something. ... What are they THINKING over there?

OMG! I hope I'm not right about these receipts—or rather lack of receipts. There's no way this project fits the funder's accounting requirements now. If we get audited on this one, we're TOAST. And if they think we're fiddling things, they'll run audits on everything we have with them, and who knows what else they'll find. They could bar us from future funding. What's the MATTER with those teenagers in Programs?

Sound familiar? It's not just in your organization, it's in just about every nonprofit organization. I see it in my consulting work. Your administrative and program staff may be the nicest people in the world, even get on famously with each other on a personal level, but then butt heads over the same things again and again. What's going on here?

Last week another 17 families announced they were taking the Giving Pledge and committing to giving the “majority of their wealth to philanthropy.” This follows an earlier announcement in August when a group of 40 families took the pledge, a long-term charitable project launched by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. Thanks to Darin McKeever of the Gates Foundation for pointing out the website for the Giving Pledge – www.givingpledge.org – which has copies of the letters that each of the families has written. Check it out; it makes for some fascinating reading.

A final "Hello!"

I'm trying to launch two twenty-something-year-old sons. As they think about their futures and write and send out résumés, my constant refrain to them is "Don't chase the money; chase your lives. If you don't, you may—and it's only a possibility—end up with the money. However, you may find out later in life that you missed out on discovering your true passion and excelling at what you do best."