Volunteer engagement plays a pivotal role in the success of nonprofit organizations, impacting productivity, service delivery, and overall operational costs. Volunteer satisfaction is a key factor influencing retention, donor support, and community engagement.

The importance of volunteer engagement

Volunteers contribute significantly to the nonprofit missions, offering their time, skills, and passion. Successful volunteer engagement practices not only enhance organizational effectiveness but also drive funding, boost morale, and garner community support. The ability to retain satisfied volunteers directly correlates with sustained organizational impact.

Successful volunteer engagement practices have been studied and researched across nonprofit entities. This research underscores the critical role of volunteer satisfaction in organizational success. The literature reveals that 60 million Americans volunteered for a total of 8.1 billion hours in 2011. The positive correlation between volunteer satisfaction and increased volunteering hours is evident globally, emphasizing the need for a focus on satisfaction and retention.

Volunteer satisfaction has notable financial implications. A survey found that 65.6% of CEOs believe volunteers…

Are you a nonprofit organization hoping to secure funding to advance your mission and projects? I mean, who isn’t? If you answered yes, you've likely contemplated hiring a grant writer to navigate the intricate landscape of grant applications. However, before taking that step, evaluating your organization's readiness for grants is crucial. In this guide, we'll delve into the key considerations you should address before hiring an expert grant writer.

Understanding grant readiness

The term “grant readiness” encompasses the preparedness of a nonprofit to pursue and manage grant funding effectively. While a proficient grant writer is indispensable, it's equally vital to ensure that your organization possesses the requisite infrastructure, capability, and readiness to embark on grant opportunities.

Mission, vision, and value clarity

Ensure your organization has a clearly defined mission statement aligning with the goals and priorities of potential funders. Grantmakers seek to support organizations with a robust sense of purpose and direction.…

Workplace culture is more than a leadership approach, a strategic plan, or even a set of values held by an organization. Workplace culture ensures that employees feel connected, valued, safe, motivated, and invested. It outlines expectations and creates opportunities for behavior modeling, and allows for relationships to be built on trust and respect. A positive workplace culture is not just a passive desire within the sector. According to a study by Deloitte, 83% of executives and 84% of employees believe having engaged and motivated employees is one of the most important attributes of a successful organization. And the road to engagement and motivation is paved by workplace culture.

So how can leaders develop a culture that will improve outcomes?

Define the values that staff feel are important to them and the workplace culture

No one type of culture is any better than another. Rather, it is most important that the leadership understand the culture valued by the employees, and support the collective values. It is recommended that leadership clearly identify those shared values to ensure a mutual understanding with staff.

Provide leadership training…

Despite the growing attention to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) over the last several years, the nonprofit sector struggles to recruit and retain a diverse workforce. Contributing to this struggle for nonprofits is that true DEI in the sector does not only include a range of ages, ethnicities, genders, abilities, etc. but must also be inclusive of skills and backgrounds specific to the community served.  Public trust in nonprofit organizations is vital to their success and the overarching societal belief that nonprofits are the stewards of the public good and integral to the promise of social equity makes it vital for the sector to embrace and encourage DEI initiatives.

The many benefits that come from successful DEI initiatives include increased collaboration, creativity, innovation, and productivity; improved quality of programs/services, and decreased gap between nonprofits and the communities they serve. However, arguably the greatest benefits relate to an organization's ability to recruit and retain qualified, top talent.  

Start at the top

The board of directors and senior leadership need to be cohesively and adamantly supportive of the DEI plan. Demonstrating commitment, not just verbalizing it, will reinforce the importance. The board and leadership structure will need to be evaluated and adjusted to communicate that efforts are genuine and set the tone for the organization. The community and the staff will be looking…

On Feb. 14, 1912, Arizona was admitted as a U.S. state. In the century since then, alongside the other pillars of its economy, Arizona has also developed a thriving nonprofit sector – now more than 28,000 organizations. This Statehood Day, we at the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation set out to discover just how deep the legacy of Arizona nonprofits runs by locating the oldest existing nonprofit organization in the state. Through a combination of IRS databases and state records, we found our answer in a city on the state’s southern border: Nogales, Arizona.

The organization finds its roots in the actions of Theodore Gebler, an early settler who arrived in the city in the late 19th century. As a wealthy resident, Gebler held ownership over business property in Nogales and mining property in Patagonia. He had a reputation in Nogales for his philanthropic work and influential business dealings.

When Gebler died in 1926, he set aside money in his will to build a property now known as …