"It is always possible to donate retirement assets, including IRAs, 401(k)s and 403(b)s, by cashing them out, paying the income tax attributable to the distribution and then contributing the proceeds to charity. In many cases, though, there is little to no tax benefit associated with this type of donation. However, a direct contribution of retirement assets to charity as part of an estate planning strategy can be very tax efficient.
Creating an Effective Fundraising Plan offers guidance through crafting and understanding a fundraising plan for your organization (CompassPoint, 2016). It specifically covers:
With the number of donors on the decline, many nonprofits increasingly rely on a smaller and more affluent circle of supporters to meet their fundraising goals. The importance and influence of high net worth donors has never been more significant.
Marie-Line Germain, HR Consulting Initiative
Through the HR Consulting Initiative at Western Carolina University, some of our nonprofit clients (including Center Members) have sought advice on how to recruit employees more effectively. To recruit (and to fundraise), Artificial Intelligence has proven to be effective.
The Successful Nonprofits podcast has a catalog of episodes that focus on a wide range of topics, including managing your board, maximizing use of technology, mitigating risk, nonprofit law, promoting diversity and inclusion, and so on. Each episode is a conversation with one nonprofit expert and the podcast is available for listening on multiple platforms.
Demystifying the 990-PF outlines the anatomy of the 990PF document and has a glossary of terms. The 990-PF is the information return U.S. private foundations file with the Internal Revenue Service. This public document provides fiscal data for the foundation, names of trustees and officers, application information, and a complete grants list. The 990-PF may be the only source where one will find complete grants lists for smaller and mid-sized foundations. (Foundation Center)
Whether you need funding for enterprise software or just basic workstation hardware, funders and grantmakers willing to cover the costs for your nonprofit's information technology infrastructure (often considered overhead expense) are few and far between.
Finding and Approaching Technology Funders
The Nonprofit Leader's Guide to Hiring and Engaging Consultants seeks to help you "understand where and how consultants can add value; assess your organization's readiness to retain a consultant; prepare for a consulting project; identify prospective consultants; solicit proposals; screen prospects and choose a consultant; formalize the consulting arrangement; and get your engagement off to a strong start." (
Sample of a grid to be used for mapping out the details of implementing a series of fundraising strategies, i.e. your organization's goals for each strategy, when it will occur, who is the lead staff, and what role the board will play.
Sample of a one year comprehensive fundraising and development plan. Inlcudes setting goals for different types of revenue streams--e.g. foundation grants, annual individual giving, special events, merchandise sales, property rentals--to be raised by a Development Committee and other staff/board.