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The length of a nonprofit strategic plan depends on your organization's goals, resources, and stage of growth. Learn how to determine the right planning horizon for lasting impact.

Written in partnership with Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee.

More than a year has passed since Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee joined the DBD Group team for two learning sessions focused on identity, difference, communication, and building stronger relationships.

The conversations have stayed with us and continue.

That may be one of the best measures of meaningful learning. Not whether we remember every slide or concept, but whether something changes the questions we ask, the assumptions we notice, and the way we approach the people around us.

When we recently reconnected to reflect on those sessions, we kept coming back to one idea: the goal isn’t to arrive at a place where we know everything. The goal is to keep learning.

For nonprofit leaders, that distinction matters.

The right board size can strengthen governance, improve decision-making, and support long-term growth. But size may not be related to success in the way you might expect. Here is what I have learned about finding the ideal number of board members for your nonprofit organization.

In a previous blog by my colleague, Gary Laermer, he explored why it’s so powerful to present donors with a vision that connects immediate impact with long-term change. When donors can see both the urgency of today and the legacy of tomorrow, something shifts in the conversation. It becomes less about a single gift and more about the donor’s lifetime impact.

But many of you may still have this question: How does that conversation happen?

With National DAF Day approaching on October 8, now is a good time to ask a bigger question: Is your organization making the most of this rapidly growing form of philanthropy?

Tonight, I made BBQ Chicken Pizza for dinner.

You might be surprised to know that made me think about cases for support.

Most nonprofits aren’t struggling to raise money because they lack passion or effort. They’re struggling because they’re building on sand.

At a recent planning retreat, the walls were covered with sticky notes. Live polling generated nearly 100 ideas. The energy in the room was incredible. Every idea was worthwhile. Every idea had a champion. But there was one problem.

With so many worthy ideas, no one could clearly identify what mattered most. So, I paused the conversation and asked a simple question: "If everything is a priority, what is actually your priority?"

Unlocking Powerful Insights from Your Community

A community needs assessment is a structured process nonprofits use to identify the most pressing needs, strengths, and priorities within the communities they serve. It combines stakeholder input, demographic research, interviews, surveys, and other data to help organizations make better strategic decisions.

Nonprofits exist to solve problems, create opportunities, and improve lives. But communities are constantly changing. Demographics shift. New challenges emerge. Funding priorities evolve. What mattered five years ago may not be the community's greatest need today.

That creates an important leadership question:

The newly released Giving USA 2026 report offers nonprofit leaders a clear message: generosity remained strong in 2025, but the way generosity is showing up is changing. For nonprofit leaders, the report reinforces the importance of strengthening major gifts, planned giving, and long-term donor relationships alongside annual giving.

Total charitable giving in the United States reached an estimated $617.2 billion in 2025, surpassing the $600 billion mark for the first time. That represents a 5.7% increase in current dollars and a 3.0% increase after adjusting for inflation.

For nonprofit leaders, the headline is encouraging. But the deeper story is more strategic: giving grew across nearly every source and recipient category, financial markets played an important role, household confidence may have tempered some giving, and bequests grew at a striking pace that may signal the timely release of the Great Wealth Transfer.