Hey! I’m the incoming ED of a program that is breaking off from a university and have the opportunity to revamp our workflows. The current process all lives on Google per university requirements, and I’m trying to decide whether we stick with it or not. I like the collaboration on Google and feel it’s more user-friendly, but we’re going to have to get Microsoft suite anyway to send docs out to the community, as we’ve found clients reluctant to use Google. I haven’t done much live collaboration on Microsoft, only sending docs back and forth with track changes and comments. All that to say, anyone have experience with both and care to share their preference? Our email will also be routed through whichever we select, if that changes things.

Hello reddit,

We recently received an in-kind donation of an exceptional original painting from a very well known regional artist. I'm in the process of writing a letter of donation, but am stuck on how to value the work. I've looked at past artist sales and art auction records, but its kind of all over the place.

The lady who donated the piece bought the work for $250 in 1990, but artist sales/auction records list prices for similarly size paintings at anywhere between $200-$2500. What should I do?

I know most of these are a drag, but I've gotta host it and want to make sure I pick a time that works best for the community. For those of you who’ve attended or hosted webinars, what days and times usually work best?

I’m thinking midweek (Tuesday/Wednesday), but not sure about mornings vs. afternoons. What would work for you?

Hey folks,

Our organization is a modest but mighty gender-based violence resource centre in Canada. We are finding ourselves needing to play catch-up to develop HR/personnel policies and get ahead of issues that might arise with our staff team. In saying this, I am hoping that you may be willing to share your policies that specifically pertain to leaves of absence (maternity/parental leaves, sick leaves, and short/long term disability) and the retention of group health benefits.

Our organization currently pays 75% of employee health benefits and the staff pay 25%. We need a policy on how to address this while someone is on leave (they continue paying 25%? They pay 100%? The org pays 100%?) and if there's time limits on this (especially for LTD). Obviously the considerations are for the well-being of our staff and balancing the financial expenses incurred by the organization.

Our Board is often curious to compare how other non-profits, particularly in the GBV sector, are managing all sorts of different guidelines and benefits to our employees and would love to see how other organizations are handling this.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Hi all, I posted a while back asking about logos and rebranding process— helpful advice! Where we landed was wanting to hire an agency to do a full process with us that would include a new website. But, this costs money. I have feelers out to get quotes from some agencies now.

Any tips on finding a foundation that supports this type of project? We are located in NJ and we are in the arts. I’ve spent some time with the candid foundation directory and didn’t come up with much that was encouraging.

More info: our annual operating budget is ~$180K and we would need ~$25-30k to pull this off. We are too tiny for national foundations. Yes, some funding will come from individual donors / general funding, but we need some hefty 1-time grants.

I’m looking for different funding revenues. We used to do AmazonSmiles and had decent luck with that. Shopraise seems to be a good alternative, but I can’t find much on reviews from real people.

If you have another alternative to AmazonSmiles I’d love to hear about it!

I'm a first time ED. Been there nearly a year. Due to an upcoming retirement I have an opportunity to reimagine roles and how some of our important community outreach happens. There is someone on another team working PT right now that I think could really excel and thrive in a role like this. She previously shared that she genuinely enjoys doing community events and has done a bit of our SM scheduling and content in the past. She is currently finishing up school for a related but not exactly the same kind of field. Her current and prospective future manager both have concerns that past work has not met expectations. Specifically, that attention to detail and follow through have been less than great. In that department, little mistakes can have big consequences. In this new outreach role she would do a lot of community event planning. I see this position as an in with our case management team - a friendly referral pathway. She knows the community and being a new grad, would appeal to and bring with her a large youth audience and key missing demographic for us. I think she has valuable innate qualities and the past performance issue is coachable. Am I setting her up for failure by creating this position and offering it to her? Any advice on how to have a frank and productive conversation about the past issues? Because I'm fairly new, I wouldn't be able to speak to first hand observations. I'm relying on the feedback from managers. I suspect missed opportunities for mentorship and an overworked supervision structure might have contributed to missed opportunities to coach and correct in real time. She may very well not know that this shortcoming of hers has left a negative impression.

I’ve always had good performance and got my work done. Liked my coworkers. Two weeks ago, I was brought into HR with my manager where they asked me about my timesheet. I’m a new mom as of May and I always complete my 40 hours but sometimes it doesn’t match up with the timesheet. I was never told this was against policy to not have it exactly match up—- they tracked my location for clocking out and that it was 10 mins from office. My manager and head of Hr interrogated me, so I froze but explained I didn’t know this was breaking policy and wouldn’t do it again. They wrote down all my answers and when I asked if it was a write up, they said they would discuss and let me know. then next day brought me in and terminated me. Never got an official warning or a way to improve my performance. I’m struggling with feeling like this is my fault but I honestly didn’t know. Is this normal behavior for nonprofits if revenue is down? Am I eligible for unemployment?

I came from the corporate world to non profit this year, worked in a creative industry prior to non profit. My company has pay transparency, I know what my raises will be, what my bonus is, there is not wiggle room. I came in hot with ideas but realized that the bare minimum gets me paid the same amount since there is no chance that being great gets any better raises or bonus% than our worst employee. I know the yeah yeah what you’re doing is good, but that isn’t motivating me to be my best at my job. Any tricks?

Hi all! For your December mailings, what is your mailing houses turnaround time?

Hey, all. I recently took a job with a homeless services nonprofit focused on acquiring property to turn into affordable housing or enhanced shelters (hotels, apartment blocks, etc). Right now, I work as a monitor for an enhanced shelter with around 40-50 residents at a repurposed four-story motel.

Let me go over some of the pros. The job itself pays decently and is unionized, my manager is great and understanding (formerly unhoused and overcame a history of SUD), and I've already built rapport with a lot of the residents. A few are homeless veterans or share the same ethnicity as me, and it's always rewarding when I can relate to them and put a smile on their faces. The commute is also pretty good (7-10m commute). I can't express enough how much I enjoy making contact with our residents and being a positive role model. My coworker on my shift is also fantastic and trained me (I didn't receive much training from management).

Now, let me go over what makes me feel burnt out. It's clear that the nonprofit is focused mainly on "good statistics" and maintaining a decent public image; for example, the max # of unhoused that can be placed in their units, the types of properties that the org can acquire, and avoiding press (lots of bad press came from the nonprofit in the last few years for how the shelters were mismanaged--we're talking about reports of deceased bodies, loaded firearms, fights and drug dealing on the property, etc. I also received virtually NO training, which seems important when working with one of the most vulnerable populations.

I also enforce the shelter's rules in a trauma-informed and empathetic way, but that doesn't change that I just feel like a security guard. Speaking of which, there were rumors from the residents that "people here think you're a cop." That is not my goal or intention, and it almost makes me worried that such rumors would alienate me from those I serve. I have to knock on doors or make contact with people outside when we see some shady activity, and since then, I'm always conscious of what the first words out of my mouth should be.

The shift after me is an older woman who has been a monitor at the nonprofit for a few years. It's clear that the job has caught up with her. She refers to some of the residents as the slur for those with learning disabilities (starts with the letter r) and talks down to them. The coworker on my shift is luckily very empathetic, but she also has a current leg injury she's recovering from, so I'm largely left alone doing the dirty work of laying down the law and telling people they can't be throwing rocks into windows, asking for more supplies than we're allowed to give, or other shelter policies (again, in an empathetic and conscious way).

My second day at work, I had to make a 911 call. Residents came in asking for Narcan, and per policy, I gave them one box, took a box for me, and sprinted outside to the scene. Luckily, the unhoused individuals around me were well-versed in administering Narcan, giving sternum rubs, rescue breaths, etc. I made sure the victim was responsive before I returned inside the shelter, and from there, I called EMS for a welfare check on him (I didn't call at the scene because those around me explicitly told me not to -- I had to anyway).

I should also go over me: the nonprofit offered me a case manager position when I first started (I have a degree and some prior 501c3 experience). I turned it down because the specific unit they wanted me at came with a soul-crushing commute. After learning more about the org's work politics and the toxicity within leadership... I'm even more glad I didn't take it. All the former employee reviews for the nonprofit comment the same things: poor/toxic leadership, virtually zero training, and burning out quickly. Turnover is common for civic/social work jobs like this one, but I feel like it's also more common at my specific org. I am also by far the youngest at work (22M). My union rep told me this job wouldn't be easy--he wasn't kidding.

Another coworker on the shift after me worked at another shelter with a faith-based nonprofit. He told me that this current shelter is nothing like the one he worked at before. It was smaller, easier to recognize resident faces, and I'm guessing there was more staff around the clock to help with day-to-day operations.

I also come from a relatively privileged station in life, and this is my first shot at employment. I can tell you right now that the job itself is what burns me out--not the 40-hour workweek or waking up to an alarm. I'm fortunate enough to not have to work, but I still want to do something, especially if it involves helping others. I'm thinking about quitting (I know I won't get any references) and just working part-time at a Goodwill or something. This was the first job I ever applied for, and it has me a bit pessimistic about how larger nonprofits run.

I'm on a volunteer board of a youth swim club. We are a 501(c)3. Memberships are down and the rent we pay at the only pool in town has tripled in the last few years. We're losing money.

We're planning to ask for sponsorships from local businesses via mail. What can we offer these local businesses in return for their sponsorship? Is there anything specific that will increase our chances of getting more sponsorships? Should we offer levels of sponsorship for larger corporations down to local mom and pops?

I appreciate any help/advice to point us in the right direction.

On the board of a non profit dedicated to childcare and childbirth education, we’ve been around over 40 years.

We got a new ED a year ago during financial troubles and the ED simply walking away. We’ve been struggling to stay afloat since then.

ED hired the grant writer, who in the span of one year of work, got us one single grant when we have a cost to run of 11k every month and the hospitals slashing our funding.

The two of them did an abrupt face perhaps two weeks ago and brought to the board their plan to change the name and direction of the nonprofit, as well as starting a lot of “tiny” fundraisers, raising maybe $500 collectively.

The board pressed back as we are well known in the community and we have been struggling to stick to the mission and vision of the org since the change in ED/grant writer, and there was far too much focus on expanding the non profit as opposed to getting more clients in the market we are in. They did practically no work the entire time on tapping those markets, parents who have newborns or are expecting.

They both resigned and have told our accountant that they cannot “help someone who doesn’t help themselves” and walked away. The same accountant who confirmed to the board repeatedly that a name change would not change the trajectory.

I guess my question is multifold

• were we right to push back?
• what do we do now?
• what resources can I tap to try and get us into a holding pattern to survive until we can seek more funding?

Any help would be appreciated

Hey everyone! Fairly new to boos but been lurking here for awhile and seen some really useful posts.

I've struggled off and on when searching for grant opportunities for our npo. The few places I have found are either not currently accepting grant applications or are even "invite only," which I understand but also find a bit odd... And frustrating.

I get that organizations want to be wary of where their money is donated, but it seems quite hard to even find places willing to review a proposal.

Does anyone have any tips or places to start for an environmental org?

I have an NP which is negotiating an agreement to act as the fiscal sponsor for a non 501 c 3 organization. They will provide all record keeping and pay all bills. My research shows the sponsor usually charges 5%–15% of gross revenues or funds raised through the fiscal sponsorship. I would like to verify this. Any feedback?

I manage the rental hall at a local VFC. We do around 15-20K a year in rentals but our current process is a nightmare. I'm open to spending around 1K if it makes things better.

A booking is made online using PinPoint Booking. Right now we allow people to pick the number of hours they want. I'm fed up with Pinpoint World, the USA has had 3 presidents and Microsoft released 2 operating systems in the time they've promised a version 3.0

Once that's booked, we enter the contract info into DocHub, and then generate a PayPal Invoice.

After the rental, we mail them a check for the security deposit refund. We lose money on this because we are eating the PayPal fees they pay, buI them a full $300, which we have to legally. It's also a pain in the butt when renters don't put their full address on contracts.

We also pay members to clean the hall, and again, we write them a check.

So I'm looking for a program to automate this. I'm tired of being beholden to the vaporware PinPoint company, so I'm open to revising our program to offering packages like a 3 hour package, 5 hour package, etc vs allowing people to pick hours.

I'm looking at some apps like PlanningPod, Perfect Venue, but they all offer a lot of features we don't need.

Has anyone found a successful and affordable app that can do a booking portal for people to make reservations, create contrast, take payments and also do an authorization hold for a security deposit?

I made a career pivot to the nonprofit sector and I’m new to grants and new to healthcare (I’m working at a FQHC). My role is project and grants management for everything post-award, so more like a Post-Award Grants Officer?? I report to the Grants Manager and started a month ago, but I’m learning that I am not in a role with processes or structure, and my boss won’t be the mentor I envisioned. I will need to teach myself and I’m looking for guidance on the way to do just that! Is there a course or association that seasoned grants managers out there recommend? I’m currently working towards PMP certification, and watching every YouTube tutorial for the software we use (eCivis for grants management and I’m getting Monday setup for project management). I need to create the process and system of organization and learn the process at the same time! Where else should I turn to learn how to be successful in my role??

My civic group just got Canva Pro from the Canva for Nonprofits program and now I'm wondering what other subscription/premium subscription services we could use. Which ones does your group use, and which would you recommend?

I’m not quite sure what I’m seeking with this post —> solidarity? Ideas? Validation?

I’m fairly new to fundraising. I’m going into my fourth year. My first job was a mid level gift officer with a very old, well established animal welfare org. My job was IMO easy — we had a huge direct mail campaign that made upgrades easy, we had 20 years of donor data…I did very well and was able to make my KPIs with little to no effort and even secured major gifts.

Well 6 months ago I jumped ship for a better paying job doing fundraising with a workforce development nonprofit. They are 10 years old and very successful…but there just isn’t the infrastructure in place which is why they are hiring for the first time a full development team. The CRM is a mess, they haven’t kept track of data, there Marketing and Comms messaging is messy and I’m eyeballs deep in multiple campaigns.

They gave me a raise at my 90 day so they are obviously happy, but I feel overwhelmed and unsuccessful. I don’t have time to build Relationships with donors because I’m too busy cleaning up data and making social media posts. I can’t plan events with any efficiency because leadership is making decisions without consulting me (for example, using an expensive venue for an event because a board member is an owner instead of picking a cheap/free venue that aligns with the messaging)

Have others had these experiences? Did you build something great? Did you overcome the growing pains?

When I initially joined the board, I was eager to contribute by volunteering, donating, and promoting our cause. However, I have encountered significant obstacles in my efforts to help the organization thrive. Our Executive Director, who has been in her role for 14 years, has expressed discomfort with asking for financial support from donors and coordinating volunteer efforts. I volunteered to take on these responsibilities, but I was informed that she was not comfortable sharing private information related to board members reaching out to volunteers or donors.

During board meetings, I have noticed that the narrative often shifts dramatically, and my concerns regarding our financial sustainability are frequently overlooked. Our current budget of $185,000 is concerning, especially as we are losing $6,000 to $7,000 each month. This situation is unsustainable and demands immediate attention.

I have taken the initiative to organize three fundraising activities, but each time, I have faced significant hurdles imposed by the Executive Director. This has made it increasingly difficult to execute our plans effectively and achieve our fundraising goals.

While I have contemplated calling for a financial audit or discussing the possibility of leadership changes, I am aware of the complexities involved. Ultimately, I find myself feeling frustrated and disheartened by the current state of our organization.

I'm considering resigning from my position on the board if we cannot find a productive way forward. I believe in the mission of our organization and want to see it succeed, but the current dynamics make it challenging for me to continue contributing effectively.

I really don't know what to do, complete my term or resign.

I have prior nonprofit experience, but not in HR specifically. All my HR experience is in the business space, so I've never really dealt with a lack of access to resources as an obstacle.

Being in HR now - I am finding it challenging to work as efficiently and effectively as possible due to a lack of resources. This is both in terms of hiring staff for the HR/Admin team, as well as tools and softwares (like an ATS, ticketing system, etc.). A lot of stuff is being done manually, and I have still found low-cost or free products I am using that is helping move things along more efficiently. But for the rate we are growing at - we need a more robust process and that requires resources.

For the time being, I am looking at getting some co-op students to help with tasks that can be handed off to someone else. But I'm also wondering if anyone knows if there is such a thing as grants for HR/Admin in nonprofits?

The way we budget now, we have grants for the various programs we run now, and a percentage of all those programs pay out to cover hr/admin costs. But that is keeping us at the bare minimum. It doesn't allow for robust onboarding/training, or policy and infrastructure development. It's a lot of reactive work and not much proactive work.

I'm wondering if this is a thing that exists? Or if there's another way to go about it?

ETA: Well look at all the downvotes. Guess this post should have been prefaced with "Unpopular Opinion."

I come to this sub because I'm the only employee of a tiny but well regarded nonprofit. I have a pretty good board (a few of them are outstanding, a couple are horrible and the rest are solidly good), but at the end of the day I'm the fundraiser, marketing person, public speaker, event coordinator, IT person, writer, etc. I'm a one woman band.

This sub is great for picking up tips from people who are actually nonprofit professionals in their respective fields, as opposed to me who has to be a jack-of-all-trades.

So it's frustrating to see posters here respond to someone's query with a brief, tantalizing answer, then when people ask for more info, that person just never responds.

Maybe watch your posts and then offer more details when someone asks for more? TIA.

Can a person be employed by a state government AND hold a position in a non-profit government instrumentality (501c3) in the same capacity?

Is it common for them to be paid for both capacities?

Hello  subreddit ! The long story short is that I am looking to get an entry level job working for a non profit organzation. Ideally but not restricted to a position such as a program assistant. I am open to temp to hire and contract work as well as a post grad internship etc.

I haven't received any positive feedback from companies with my current resume. Actually, I've been continuously ignored or rejected. Be honest with me - am I underqualified? Are there any skills, certificates, programs, I can learn to make myself more qualified? Are there other roles I should go for that are more approriate?

What edits can I make to my resume to make myself more competitive? I don't want to just stay in the position (grant writing) similar to the one I am in now, although I am open to it!) Thank you for time and help it's very much so appreciated!

Hi all,

This is my nonprofit's first time soliciting end-of-year donations (we are primarily grant-funded). In your experience, which week in December is best for making end-of-year calls?

Thank you!

Hi, some of our donors are resistant to managing their own donor information and ask us to start, stop or change their donation amounts. I’m concerned about the legality, or perhaps our vulnerability, in doing this. Do others face this issue ?

I have an organization that was fully under fiscal sponsorship until September of this year. The fiscal sponsor transferred over all the remaining funds that were allocated to the organization. How should that deposit be recorded?

Hi all!

We recently moved from iDonate to Funraise as our fundraising platform. Since Funraise uses Stripe for processing credit cards, it got me thinking of why not just go straight to Stripe. Based on my understanding, all the core functionality of these 3rd party fundraising platforms is already provided by Stripe. Am I missing something?

Finished my MPA in June & because of the market I wound up taking the first serious offer that was extended to me. The role essentially is focused on housing for a vulnerable population, working between several shelters. To be frank, this job stinks. I feel really overwhelmed, undertrained, (objectively am) underpaid, much more heavily client facing than the description led me to believe, & honestly feel like I’m floundering with more or less nothing except stress to show for the last two months I’ve been with the organization. I have nothing but respect for the mission, but really don’t think this is a sustainable role for me. I don’t know what would be a better use of my skills, but serving as a glorified case manager (no shade) certainly isn’t it. Would it look bad to start applying to other jobs if I only started here in September?

We are finally in a position to look for our first full-time employee other than myself starting in April 2025. This feels like it's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack 🪡 I'm the only employee with a little help from 1099 assistant 1-2 hours a day, if that. I started as a program coordinator and over a few years graduated to executive director. I still have my hands in day to day operations like meeting minutes, website updates, budgets, filing, correspondence, newsletter writing, the list goes on and on. In my dreams, I'd like someone who can start off as an executive assistant and take the day to day stuff off my plate so I can work on strategic planning, traveling, fundraising, etc.. AND someone who can be part of a warm and welcoming family that is our little organization so that someday, when I'm ready to retire, they can slip into the ED position.

Questions:

1. Is someone who makes a great executive assistant a good fit to move up into the ED role?
2. Suggestions for the best way to go about this process? (i.e. pitfalls to avoid, best practices)
3. Do you have a platform preference?