Mary Ramirez

If you’ve worked in the nonprofit world for more than five minutes, you know this scene by heart:

It’s Tuesday afternoon. Someone on the team finds a great grant opportunity. The application is due in ten days. Suddenly, normal operations grind to a halt. The Executive Director is digging through old Google Drives for audit files, the program director is trying to pull outcome metrics off an Excel sheet from 2022, and everyone is frantically drafting copy late into the night.

You hit submit with ten minutes to spare, collapse in relief, and hope for the best.

Sound familiar?

For years, this project-by-project, deadline-driven approach was just "how grant writing gets done." But there's a better way to approach grant seeking: one that replaces last-minute scrambling with consistent planning, stronger funder relationships, and a more strategic approach to securing funding.

More and more successful nonprofits are moving away from last-minute proposal writing and switching to retained, continuous grant management.

Summer’s erratic schedules—donors on vacation, staff taking time off, board members and volunteers unavailable—can disrupt traditional fundraising efforts. But this quieter season offers a powerful opportunity for fundraising leaders, whether they manage teams or work as individual contributors, to reset their approach by leaning into authentic, one-on-one connections. By focusing on building genuine relationships with colleagues, donors, volunteers, and board members, leaders can foster trust, inspire collaboration, and fuel long-term success in ways no strategy or tactic can match. Here’s how to use summer’s lull to cultivate meaningful connections that transform your leadership and organization.

I don’t know about you, but I love a good dip – especially during the summer months while gathered with friends and family. Whether it’s a zesty guacamole, creamy artichoke, or a citrusy pico de gallo; a tasty dip always seems to get people together around a central location, talking and interacting in a fun and enjoyable way. But for those of us in fundraising, the word “dip” can oftentimes mean something completely different.

Fundraising campaigns are often likened to marathons rather than sprints. They require strategic planning, deliberate preparation, sustained effort, and a dedicated team working tirelessly towards a common goal. However, even the most well-planned campaigns can experience dips, where significant donations slow down or even come to a halt. During these times, it’s easy to feel disheartened and pressured to push harder. But sometimes the most productive step a team can take is to pause, take a break, and reset.

Many nonprofits wonder how to identify people who have DAFs and how to get their cause in front of them. It can be a little complicated but with some investigation into how the DAF is administered, you can find the person behind the DAF and start to share your mission and impact with them. Let’s explore...

Leading With Fresh Eyes

Whether your organization’s development office is a one-man show, mid-sized, or a mega shop one thing is for certain: leadership is everything!  As you look at your 2023 goals, evaluate the way you’ve been leading with fresh eyes to assess where you might need to strengthen or encourage your team.