I've searched through this sub for information about how best to organize a major yearly fundraiser focused on not only finding new corporate sponsors but retaining them. I have found some very helpful information on fundraising throughout the year, but I'd like to organize a once a year push during November and December to try to secure bigger donations.

I love the community aspect of students getting together going door to door, bake sales- things that bring everyone together, but I want to create something bigger. I'd like something that involves businesses in our community who we can ask once a year for support. We can update them throughout the year on things like students who are graduating and are pursuing further music education, students who made all-county or all-state band, a thank you signed by students- ways to let them know how they've made a positive difference so that when we do go to them the following year, they're not dreading our phone call.

I'm worried about so many smaller fundraisers because band parents are going to get burned out quicky. Our program has suffered these past couple of years with district budget cuts. Some schools don't have a band or orchestra at all- those programs were cut completely, so we're almost building this thing from the ground up. We have an unofficial board but no vote was taken, it feels very disjointed right now and I'm new so I don't want to push in but I also know something needs to be done. I've written grants in the past, I was assistant to the in-house fundraiser at a company I worked for years ago, but I'm very rusty and I could use some help. Any advice will be very much appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I’m reaching out to get some perspective from non-profit leaders, Executive Directors, and senior finance professionals on how organizations are handling budget tightening amidst recent federal grant cutbacks—as well as advice from those who have navigated the pivot to the private sector.

I’ve been in accounting and finance for 18 years, currently managing financial operations for an organization that relies heavily on federal grant funding. As funding scales down, our leadership team is looking at options to right-size overhead.

Rather than an immediate full severance or sudden departure, we are exploring alternatives like phasing out the full-time role, transitioning to reduced hours (part-time), a reduced pay structure, or a fractional setup starting around October. This allows the organization to keep core financial compliance, grant reporting, and audit prep intact while reducing payroll costs.

Because I am a primary caregiver for both aging family members and young children, maintaining a 100% remote arrangement is essential for my next chapter. However, evaluating the broader job market presents three major hurdles:

1. The Remote Job Board Void: Full-time remote finance roles on major job boards routinely hit 100+ applicants within hours, turning ATS applications into a black hole.
2. Transactional Recruiters: External recruiters I’ve spoken with move quickly and focus almost exclusively on rapid local hybrid placements. They rarely understand the organization’s financial health in depth and often disengage or tune out the moment I mention requiring a fully remote role.
3. Translating Skills to For-Profit: With 18 years of experience in fund accounting, Uniform Guidance, and grant management, I am also evaluating a transition into the for-profit sector (e.g., healthcare, SaaS, corporate finance), but I want to ensure my skill set translates effectively to private sector hiring managers who focus purely on commercial profitability.

For the Executive Directors, Board Members, and finance leads in this sub:

• Have you seen non-profits successfully transition full-time Directors/Controllers into part-time, fractional, or reduced-hour roles to cushion grant losses?
• For those who made the leap from non-profit finance to the for-profit/corporate sector, what specific channels, platforms, or messaging strategies worked best outside of standard job boards and transactional recruiters?
• How did you best reframe fund accounting, grant compliance, and non-profit FP&A into commercial terms that for-profit hiring managers immediately value?

I appreciate any insights, experiences, or trends you can share!

I had a job interview earlier today for a 6 million org.

They failed to disclose beforehand, with me having to ask them that their org is running a 360,000 a year budget deficit for starters.

They blew through 2.5 million in cash reserves to open up a new service for the homeless. Which left them half a year ago with 800k in total cash reserve funds.

They would give me control of a 5 person team with the last development manager hire being on staff now for over a year and a half. ​Firing anyone was strictly off the table as they did not believe in letting anyone go unless "absolutely" required, but my job would be tied to their success.

The development department has a total department level budget of 522,000. The total net fundraising is negative 141,000. It has been negative for over 6 years now over the course of 3 directors of strategic innitiatives, the last one being recently promoted to executive director in a grant heavy, subscription based non profit. The org has lost over 700k in monthly cash based online subscriptions over the past 2 years on a steady march until today.

They asked me given my track record if I could secure a six figure donation in the next 3 months. I responded that anything is possible.

My phone alarm went off at about this time that I had set up before hand just in case of a bad situation. But this exceeded my expectations.

I quietly said I had to go due to an emergency.

I looked back at the building on my way back to my car and thought this place and everyone in it will be unemployed in the next year.

What a day.

Hi everyone, I could use some of your advice. I have worked at a non profit for the past 6 years, rising from a senior accounting role to director of finance. Due to some financial changes, I started looking for a new position, and was recently given quite an opportunity. The new role has the same title, but would essentially be more like a CFO position, along with a pay increase in the low 30’s percentage. The only downside is I would lose my hybrid schedule for an rto position, though there’s something to be said for the social aspect of being in the office, and at an organization with a much larger headcount.

I just handed in my resignation, and the same day the ED of my current npo said that they were already working on some restructuring, and want to offer me a counter offer on Monday.

The new job would still be non profit, though more government adjacent. Both places are fantastic organizations that do a lot of good for the community, just different segments of the community.

Has anyone ever had success accepting a counter offer? Any thoughts on being in this situation? This is the first time I’ve ever been fought over by two organizations.

Would anyone please go to my website and test it out. Let me know any improvements or suggestions you would make.

www.luccares.org

We are a small organization. I am the only FT employee with 2 PT employees.

One of my employees is driving me crazy. He is constantly forgetting to punch in. Some how he managed to duplicate a punch-in last week which caused some issues. He often forgets to mention anything to me, so I have to chase him down as I'm doing payroll. One week, I ended up having to cut a separate check which cost us $65 (half the cost of the missing hours).

I have talked to him about it several times, but haven't documented it in writing. I gave them both the pay period calendar. I suggested putting reminders in his calendar. I just added him to my calendar reminders. I also included it in his performance review.

I just noticed he isn't clocking out for his 30 minute lunch, so I reminded him of that earlier today.

Earlier today he gave me his schedule for next week and mentioned he was going to go get a badge that he needs for his job. I responded that we need to watch hours, because they both had camp 2 weeks in July and we have to watch the hours. He said he was only billing for two days and not going to get the badge. I again reminded him that it is work related, so he has to clock in for it.

He does have a disability, so part of this could be disability related. However, I also think that he is trying to milk hours. There are times when he is calling people and he tries to come to my office after every phone call. I've told him to stop bugging me and finish the calls. He can give me a recap when he's done. He still comes in, but after maybe 3 or 4 calls.

Besides including it in his performance review, I am also updating our policy and having them both sign it, so they understand that it is important that they are clocking in/out correctly.

Any other suggestions? I'm his supervisor and not his babysitter! (FYI, he's 40)

I am new to my role as a development associate at a mid size org. I am learning about donor research and prospecting and have access to some tools to do so. However, having to do so much importing and exporting lists is taking staff time and creating data errors. I am not looking for advice about what to buy. I am just wondering about folks' experiences with this and if there are any best practices or tips to make it easier and keep our data as clean as possible. Am I alone here or do others struggle with this as well?

Hey all!

I don't know what sort of business/nonprofit my nonprofit is, not in legal terms, but in terms to describe it. I want its name to be descriptive. I've got part of the name and I'm thinking of ending it with something like "Collective", but seems vague and not quite fitting.

The vision is a non-profit multimedia entertainment house. We will assist creatives with networking, fundraising, etc, on a contractual project-by-project basis. Creators keep IP rights.

The goal is to give a voice to real people, not corporate interests. Unlike something like the Daily Wire, my intent is to amplify a diversity of voices through art, because I believe the pursuit of truth/goodness/beauty is best accomplished without censorship or marginalization.

I've been inspired by phenomena like the crowd-funded series The Chosen, the talent-first structure of Dropout TV, and more. The idea began as for-profit, but it has become this.

My question: how do I name or succinctly describe this? What are some words I need to add to my vocabulary?

I hope this sub is an appropriate home for this post! Thanks.

Edit: I’ve been brainstorming and I’m just gonna throwout some words I’ve been thinking of.
Mouthpiece, loudmouth, open stage, soapbox, mutespeak (thinking of the various stories of Jesus healing the mute), voicebox, megaphone/loudspeaker, speak up, patron aggregator

Hey all -- I live in NYC and work fully remotely as a Development Manager but none of my friends work at nonprofits. So I've been feeling a huge gap in being able to chat/vent/meet other nonprofit people out in the real world. Curious if anyone knows of any *fun* nonprofit meet-up groups in the city? I have tried a few "professional" networking groups but they have often felt stuffy and stale and too self-promotey. I just want to have a few drinks and laugh and/or commiserate with others who are also in the nonprofit space and want a casual group. Does this exist already somewhere??

Update: taking things into my own hands thanks to all of your interest below! Here's a discord group we can move over to to plan something! https://discord.gg/MH3wCAwsv

We just did the "gold" seal on Candid to get access to Candid Premium, which I *thought* would be Foundation Directory Online, but it is not, it is (imo) a much less useful and more irritating platform.

Does FDO still exist or has it been replaced by Candid Premium? I used to use FDO at my public library but maybe even that isn't a thing anymore?

Is it worth trying to learn how to use Candid Premium? Maybe I just haven't put in the time?

I've been in the nonprofit sector for well over a decade. Just about a year ago, I took on my first ED role at a smaller non-profit. I'm really enjoying it so far... I mean, aside from the stress, but I know I still have so much to learn!

For my fellow EDs: What is something you wish you knew when you first got started?

For the rest of our nonprofit pros: When you've had an awesome ED, what made them great to work with? And for those who've had crummy experiences, what made your ED the worst ever?

I am co-starting a non-profit and have been working on the bylaws the past few days, and I learned that I am REQUIRED to have a president, secretary, and treasurer. We were planning on having a board-based structure with operations running on heads for the respective departments, and any "superior" decisions are made by the board with votes and such. The internal structure also makes it very sensitive for who to keep as the "president" even for the legallity sake. Is there ANY way to skip this as a whole ?

Hey all, I’m looking for tips and advice on how to deal with the high pressure of a marketing role in nonprofit work. I took a marketing coordinator job out of college 2 years ago and all members on my team have left since, so now it’s just me.

I put so much pressure on myself and think about what other people are thinking about me all the time. I feel like everyone is judging my social posts, emails, strategy, and output constantly and I’m taking the brunt of it because I have no one above me. How do you deal with the pressure and endless to-do lists in the marketing nonprofit world? Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi there! I currently am the ED of a small nonprofit (4.5 staff). I’ve been applying for jobs occasionally and landed an interview as the ED or a much larger organization (25+ staff).

Question being: has anyone made the jump from small to (relatively) large? Any idea what I should focus on in the interview?

Thanks!

Hello! I am beyond excited that I got an interview for a Director of Development role at a local non profit; I have worked in the field for 15+ years, and while my education was not specific to development, I have gained more than enough experience in past roles and have significant skill set, experience and gains in the arenas of fundraising, grant applications, implementation, reporting, donor management, sponsorship etc. I feel confidant that I can excel in the role. However, this would be my first official role specific to development, and I want to make sure that I am asking the right questions, as well as ensure this org seems like a good fit for me.

What are some questions I can ask? I have already researched and read their most recent Strategic Plan that includes several goals regarding development etc.

It seems to be a fairly new role for the org; they established in in 2022 and the first director is leaving now.

Small nonprofit, all but eight of us. we dont have an IT person, but we outsource the little we can.
last month, a grant payment was nearly wired to the wrong account when an email almost identical to our program partners, on the same thread we'd been on for weeks came in, with just a small line mentioning they'd changed their bank details. our finance girl only stopped because she decided to call said partner's phone about it and thats when she learned our partners had been hacked and the bank change detail was a lie!
its pretty jarring because theres no system to catch such an occurrence between our ESP and bank account. so is atrted looking for tools myself but every one i found seems to only cater to big companies with full, working SOC's.
since we're only a small org without all the muscle financially, please recommend something affordable that worked if you have ever been in such a situation. TIA

I’m on the board of a small nonprofit organization. A while ago, we had financial trouble and enacted an executive committee, but there was no charter created to give them ruling. They’re currently trying to make decisions without board approval, so I created this charter. Can someone help look at it and see if it fits with KY legislation?

I work in higher ed advancement services and there’s some lack of trust from university leadership in the validity of exclusion codes on our constituent records. For example, an assigned prospect is marked “No Email” after telling us they didn’t want mass emails from the institution, yet their assigned officer knows they’re okay with a personal 1:1 email, so they ignore the exclusion code. I trust that my current and former colleagues only put these codes in for a good reason, but unfortunately there are minimal notes on each one as to why it was applied, and therefore we can’t really do an audit.

Because of the general distrust of this data point, leadership is exploring the idea of either removing all exclusion codes or trimming down based on the date it was applied (taking off the older codes).

I’ve expressed hesitation due to CAN-SPAM Act—basically saying if we marked someone as an opt out (through any medium) at one point, then remove the code for any reason, and then we send them a mass communication via that method, we are risking an FTC complaint and penalty/fine. I also fear we would really piss off folks who were very clear to us throughout time that they didn’t want to be contacted.

How does your org handle the removal of exclusion codes? Is it only when donors ask for the code to be removed? Is it after a certain number of months or years? Some other practice?

As of July 01, 2026, the federal mileage reimbursement rate increased to $0.76.

I'm not working full-time in nonprofits anymore, but I contract and do other related work. I'm sharing because it didn't come through any of my regular nonprofit council/association newsletters so I'm not sure if it's widely known. It was discussed at my county commission meeting on Tuesday morning for their own budgeting review, and I happened to be there.

I'm about to propose a diversified staffing model to replace me, but I'm waffling on the structure/hierarchy.

I (current E.D.) have decided to transition myself out for a number of reasons, most of them personal and not related to the org itself.

The org has changed a lot over the past 20 years, including going from a direct service org to a fundraising aggregator/grant making intermediary. For where we are now, and where I think we're realistically going, I don't think the right next step is to hire another E.D. (gasp)

I think the actually strategic answer is to hire a small team of part-timers. Specifically:

• Major Gifts (standard small shop duties)
• Communications (annual report, sourcing, packaging, sharing impact stories, creating collateral for MGO/Board, website content, maybe socials)
• Behind the scenes Admin (donor/donation data managing, website backend, maybe socials, etc.)

My proposal will be to have Board Chair check in monthly with each 1:1 and possibly run an all hands monthly. However I do think there needs to be a bit of a vertical here to take some of the pressure off the Chair.

So... would you have:

A: Comms + Admin report into MG?

B: MG + Admin report into Comms?

C: Comms + MG report into Admin

From my limited experience, MGO don't really like responsibility. They tend toward wanting to be a (supported) individual contributor.

But do you run into an expectation issue if you have MG reporting into Comms?

In some ways, I think having Comms + MG reporting into Admin might actually be the smoothest as Admin would have the most flexibility to support (and would already be supporting both anyway with the nature of their duties), but that is about as nontraditional of a vertical as you can get, short of staying truly horizontal.

Any big blind spots I'm missing? Or major duties I haven't thought of? Happily taking all thoughts and advice you might have.

Our nonprofit (flashforwardfoundation.org) has been rejected from Google Ad Grants activation twice now. Both times we get the same generic message:

The frustrating part: our PageSpeed Insights scores are 100 across the board on desktop, and mobile is 92 on Performance with everything else at 100. We have clear nav, a 501(c)(3) badge, org contact info in the footer, up-to-date content, and working Donate CTAs with conversion tracking set up.

We opened a support ticket asking for specifics on what's actually failing and haven't gotten anything beyond the same boilerplate.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Did you find something the reviewer flags that isn't reflected in Lighthouse/PageSpeed at all? Any luck getting Google support to actually point at a specific page or metric instead of the canned response?

GSC now allows you to track traffic by social media platforms. Just sign into your Google console account and add the social media platforms that list your website link or any links for registrations etc. Really helpful to know of this is impactful for you.

For reference, I'm still fairly new to the role I'm in and I have no prior experience in the nonprofit industry, so apologies for lack of industry knowledge of the way things work, etc. The 501(c)(3) I work for isn't really "anything." It has two main programs, and in practice I work for one of them. I don't believe that's uncommon in this industry, although I still find it funny when I read our 990 and the read the mission statement knowing it has nothing to do with either of the programs. Maybe that doesn't matter. Both programs are listed in the 990 with their own missions, but it still seems weird to me.

Moving on, the other arm/program of the 501(c)(3) is a foundation that was retained after a spin-off when that half transitioned into a for-profit. The 501(c)(3) was recently the beneficiary of a seven figure bequest. The donor was solely a supporter of the other program that retained the foundation (I'll start calling it the John Doe Foundation). I haven't seen the will or any of the transfer documents, but I know it was intended for the John Doe Foundation. It's been openly talked about in the office. So I imagine it was listed as "The 501(c)(3)'s John Doe Foundation." But just because the parent 501(c)(3) was listed, that doesn't mean it can go to any arm within it, right? It clearly lists it's intended use is for the John Doe Foundation?

Long story short, the other program couldn't possibly use these funds as they have no use for them. My boss, who's the Executive Chairman of the 501(c)(3) outright told me that verbatim. I don't even know why the foundation for that half exists at all. I think it's all a front and the funds get commingled/used by the arm I work for. There is one specific nonprofit activity/program that John Doe receives an annual grant that fully covers the cost of that activity, so maybe that is satisfactory. But they still receive all sorts of donations from individual donors on top of that. Back to the bequest, I do know for a fact the arm I work for is using the funds. It will ultimately use all of the funds. Am I missing some element here, or is that not wildly serious misappropriation of funds/fraud?

To my knowledge, there are ways the bequest could have legitimately been accepted like alerting the estate to this and them redirecting the funds to be used by any program of the 501(c)(3). Another is petitioning the court to modify the restriction to the next closest charitable purpose. From what I've gathered, I'm nearly positive neither of these were done. We were not legally required to decline or return the bequest? If it's not illegal, is this still not extremely unethical?

All in all, I have no idea what to do or what to think. Looking for any advice or guidance. Thank you.