Mergers and acquisitions are much more common in the nonprofit sector than most would think. Nonprofit mergers often come about through default – due to financial distress or leadership vacuums. At the same time, relatively few nonprofits are using it strategically – as a way to strengthen organizations' effectiveness, spread best practices, expand reach, and to do all of this more cost-effectively.
Outside Resource
Cybersecurity for Nonprofits by the National Council for Nonprofits provides guidance on first steps to take when introducing your organization's risk assessment practices to examining risks from online crime.
The Coaching and Philanthropy Project is an effort by The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and CompassPoint to promote greater understanding of coaching in the nonprofit sector. The project includes a video series which provides firsthand accounts about the value and impact of coaching, and how it works best.
Action Guides
The Nonprofit Overhead Toolkit by the California Association of Nonprofits gives a thorough crash course on the conversation around attempts to shift the overhead paradigm. The toolkit covers accounting techniques, overhead and profitability, indirect costs in government contracts, indirect costs and foundation grants, raising the issue with your funders, and messaging to the public about overhead.
The Racial Equity Message Guide grew out of a request from advocates to advance both equitable policies and conversations about structural racism with decisionmakers. The guide includes tested messages to secure racial equity language in public policy. (American Heart Association's Voices for Healthy Kids, 2021)
Choosing a Corporate Philanthropy Approach: A Comparison of Corporate Philanthropy Structures - "This resource provides an overview of important topics and distinctions among the three primary forms of corporate philanthropy: corporate giving programs, corporate foundations, and corporate donor advised funds." Although written for an audience of corporations seeking to establish charitable giving structures, this chart is insightful for nonprofit professionals to identify the
A fiscal sponsor is a nonprofit organization that provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to help build the capacity of charitable projects. For further explanation, see: What is fiscal sponsorship?
Recruiting New Board Members is a two pager of recruitment tips to frame the conversation around planning your next board recruitment campaign. Includes link to the company's sample board profile matrix to use as a worksheet for mapping out existing or needed board diversity and skill areas.
TechSoup offers several resources on Social Media for Nonprofits, written for organizations seeking to use such online platforms for fundraising and mission advocacy.
Data Privacy and Cyber Liability: What You Don't Know Puts Your Mission at Risk makes the case that "nonprofits may be at greater risk for reputational and financial damage in the wake of data breaches" and raises concerns that nonprofit leaders may be unaware of the increasingly common breaches of nonprofits' data on donors and constituents. (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
This article explores: