Whatever your nonprofit experience level and situation, you probably have to keep track of donors and other key constituents. Many of you have probably relied on multiple Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and maybe a Microsoft Access database at some point in your professional life. But, as an organization’s needs grow, this kind of system becomes burdensome and labor-intensive. Contacts begin to slip through the cracks, and it becomes harder and harder to juggle all of the data.

The solution to this dilemma is a customer relations management (CRM) system (sometimes called a donor management system in the nonprofit arena). There are dozens of CRMs out there that cater specifically to nonprofit needs. A great resource for finding your best fit is NTEN’s Consumer’s Guide to Donor Management Software.

One resource you will inevitably hear about while researching CRMs is Salesforce. My purpose here is not to try to “sell” this product, nor is it to discourage people from implementing Salesforce in their organizations. Rather, my primary motive with this blog post is to share a bit about the ASU Lodestar Center’s recent experience in implementing Salesforce as a CRM solution. My hope is that I can provide insight and experience that will be helpful for other nonprofits who currently use, or are thinking of implementing, Salesforce as…

Welcome to Research Friday! As part of a continuing series, we invite a nonprofit expert to highlight a research report or study and discuss how it can inform and improve day-to-day nonprofit practice.

Government funding hovers on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The economy and housing markets continue to tremble. And true natural disasters are sowing human tragedy across the globe.

We depend on the nonprofit sector to help alleviate these problems. Yet, in a time of so much uncertainty and such great need, many struggle to respond. How are our fellow nonprofits doing it? We want to know, and we want to share this knowledge with the world.

Nonprofit Finance Fund is conducting its fifth annual State of the Sector survey to find out what nonprofits and the communities they serve need most. This anonymous survey asks nonprofit leaders about the management and financial challenges they’re facing as they work tirelessly on mission. In a sector that often lacks data, this survey illustrates real-time financial and operational trends.

We share the…

This post is a continuation of Seeds for a Future Part 2: Understanding communities and traditions.

“Our goal is to provide the community with a 'sustainable' program.”

This may be the most overused and least accurate phrase we hear nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) utter in Guatemala. There are examples all over the country of programs that simply sputtered and died after the NGO left town: there are empty medical clinics, non-functioning water works, empty private schools, farmers raising tons of luscious strawberries but with no means to get them to market, and food/nutrition programs for which little is known about whether the training provided is continued after the NGO leaves or even if it had an lasting impact on the participants. Maybe they did some good while they were working with a community, but when the organizations left, the communities or groups they helped were unable to “sustain” the program because they were not taught exactly how to sustain it.

Before raising the hopes of any community, one of the first things an NGO should ask itself is: After we leave, what will remain in the community, and is it something they want and can sustain?

If the NGO’s work is project oriented (for example, assembling and installing 25 new clean wood burning stoves in the homes of…

Finding gainful employment in the nonprofit arena is different than landing a job in other industries. At nonprofit interviews, your employer needs to distinguish your job credentials beyond a simple skill set – they need to recognize both your professional potential and your passion for the cause.

If you’re a nonprofit job candidate considering a career change or an NPO major who’s apprehensive of graduating, take these three steps toward landing a job you’ll love.

Laura Gassner Otting, author of Change Your Career – Transitioning to the Non-Profit Sector, nonprofit leaders manage “up, down, and sideways.” Staff must have the ability to juggle the accessibility and needs of donors, partners, coworkers, community members and volunteers – all while delegating responsibility, commanding authority, and exhibiting empathy.

Cultivate and articulate your tech skills

In this down economy, most nonprofits are pinching every penny possible to stay afloat. Almost all nonprofit workers wear many hats in their all-inclusive positions, because downtime just isn’t in the budget anymore. And sure, a new mobile app would be absolutely amazing, but many nonprofits simply cannot afford it. So if you are a job candidate who’s also a tech guru, welcome to the front lines of ideal candidacy. In the months before the interview, try your hand at…

Courtney, a new executive director of a relatively small nonprofit, was anxious to learn as much as possible in order to manage her work. She knew intuitively, as well as through her experience as a mid-level manager in a nonprofit setting that board management would be a key element to her success. So Courtney enrolled in a workshop entitled “Volunteer and Board Development” at the community college nearby, and networked ferociously with her fellow directors.

After the 180-minute workshop and networking, Courtney was completely confused about one seemingly-vital element. “What is the ideal size of my board?” she wondered. Her workshop instructor firmly declared that “best practices” dictated a board of 18-25. A number of her colleagues espoused a smaller board, “no more than twelve,” since “they were the only ones who did any work anyway.” Still others declared, “the sky is the limit as far as number of board members.”

Courtney was aware of many concerns associated with board management. She knew about creating board job descriptions, heard terms like “give, get, or get off,” and knew having an orientation for new board members would be a good idea. But the simple question of optimal size of the board eluded her. So, she decided to weigh the plusses and minuses of her options.

A small board, she determined, would be nimble, easier to recruit, and would take far less of her time. A small board would allow members to meet with less…