Your grant proposal is due in a mere six hours and you are very confident that you have all your ducks in a row. Just to make sure, you unearth the official grant application checklist that was buried in a folder from day one, only to discover to your horror that you were so focused on writing the proposal narrative you completely forgot about the budget.

What do you do? Do you: a) grovel in front of your agency’s accountant and plead with them to make time to do it; b) simply do the budget yourself; c) submit the application without the budget and hope nobody notices; or d) start scrolling through the ASU Lodestar Center Nonprofit News looking for new job opportunities?

Ultimately, the answer is: you never should have gotten into this predicament in the first place, because preparing a grant application should be an inter-departmental endeavor. All too often, nonprofits that have a staff grant writer make the assumption that they will be 100% responsible for every aspect of the grant application process. And all too often the staff grant writer will take this on because that was the initial expectation.

The truth is that if ever there was a nonprofit activity that needs to be collaborative across departments, it is the preparation of a grant application package. It is not the grant writer’s job to create programs, or decide how…

https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/running-nonprofit/governance-leadership/board-roles-and-responsibilitiesWelcome to Research Friday! As part of a continuing series, we invite a nonprofit scholar or practitioner to highlight current nonprofit research reports or studies and discuss how they can inform and improve day-to-day practice. We welcome your comments and feedback.

In April of 2011, a story broke regarding The Central Asia Institute, a nonprofit organization. Although it had been in existence for 13 years, the organization had no audited financial statements, had only three board members (including the executive director), was not clear about how donor money was being spent, and had a clear conflict of interest with the executive director promoting personal book sales through the nonprofit. The truth about the Central Asia Institute was revealed in several high-profile journals and newspapers such as the Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Wall Street Journal, with articles titled “Lessons from the ‘Three Cups of Tea’ Controversy,” “‘Three Cups of Tea’ Scandal Offers Lessons for Charities and…

Twenty years ago, I was privileged to serve as a senior consultant and trainer with the newly created Center for Corporate Community Relations at Boston College (now the Center for Corporate Citizenship).

In the two decades that have elapsed, the scope and texture of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have evolved dramatically. Then, the focus of my consultation was on community needs assessments, priority-setting, and allocations processes; today, the focus is on impact and return on investment. In the coming years, given dramatic changes in the marketplace, the context and scope of CSR may need to take a giant paradigmatic leap.

What was once a matter of checkbook philanthropy is now decidedly strategic, and the driving forces of CSR revolve around the convergence or fit between the company’s business interests (its customers, product line, and brand) and the offerings of potential nonprofit beneficiaries.

Corporate support is today an indispensable component of the nonprofit organization’s diversified fundraising strategy. Corporate presence and visibility in the community have been most effectively accomplished through relatively low cost/high yield investments, including short-term project grants, event sponsorships, cause-related marketing, voluntarism and hands-on projects, in-kind giving (e.g., printing, marketing, human resources, information technology services), and board membership.

This is all good and deeply…

As anyone who works at a nonprofit organization can tell you, surplus is a luxury most NPOs rarely enjoy.

Funding, guidance, volunteers, community engagement – all vital resources to sustaining a nonprofit – seem to be in short supply most days. Thankfully, the age of internet has come to our rescue through “crowdsourcing,” helping nonprofit organizations get by with a little help from their friends.

What is crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing, the virtual gathering of thinkers from around the world, is a modern solution to a classic predicament: how do I get the resources I need? Before the internet, nonprofit organizations could only establish supportive relationships with the limited number of individuals and organizations in their region. In this modern age, however, we have the remarkable ability to reach likeminded people anywhere in the world with internet access. Nonprofits can post open-call questions on a discussion board and gain insight and assets from countless members of the global community; proximity never even enters the equation.

According to Daren Brabham, crowdsourcing consultant and author of Crowdsourcing: A Model for Leveraging Online Communities, crowdsourcing is the organization of online communities to utilize their combined resources. “Crowdsourcing organizations can…

Welcome to Research Friday! As part of a continuing series, we invite a nonprofit scholar, student, or professional to highlight current research reports or studies and discuss how they can inform and improve day-to-day nonprofit practice.

Recent research findings by Christopher Einolf and Susan Chambre (2011) provided empirical evidence of the strong influence of both formal and informal social networks on volunteering. They found that individuals actively involved in activities with social organizations were more likely to volunteer. Previously, the positive impact of religious congregations and social networks on volunteering was found by Park and Smith (2000). This strong relationship was also evident for informal social networks where friend and neighbor interactions significantly increased the likelihood of volunteering (Bekkers, 2005; Okun, Pugliese, Rook, 2007). What about volunteers in Arizona and particularly senior volunteers? Are Arizona seniors influenced by both formal and informal social networks to volunteer? Do socioeconomic characteristics, health, and social isolation of an aging individual limit the likelihood of volunteering?

These challenging questions were addressed by the 2010 Arizona Health Survey sponsored by the St. Luke’s Health Initiative. Over 8,000 adults were surveyed about their physical, mental and social well-being. Fortunately, over 2,000 adults over 65 years old responded to the…