Published June 15, 2016 by

Non-profit Marketing: Insights from a Seasoned Pro

With effective marketing and branding, a non-profit organization is better able to accomplish it’s Mission and achieve sustainability.  In this post Leah Lamb shares insights, gained over many years, to help non-profit leaders optimally market and brand their organizations.

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Leah Lamb

While many large non-profits get marketing and branding right, I think that the vast majority of small and mid-sized non-profit organizations don’t. What separates the non-profits that do from the ones that don’t?   It depends, I’ve observed over the years, on these things: Leadership, tapping into their resources, and having an entrepreneurial spirit. Again, many large non-profits do a great job with marketing and branding, in most cases because they’ve budgeted for these things. Some in fact do as good a job as large companies like Coca Cola, Frito-Lay, and other major brands in this area.

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Published June 5, 2016 by

Leadership Keys (Beyond Bossy)

“There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss.  Both are based on authority.   A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust.”  ~ Klaus Balkenhol

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Beyond being just a boss

Link (Fast Company): The Four Capacities Every Great Leader Needs (and Very Few Have) 

“Over the last dozen years . . . , I’ve worked with scores of CEOs and senior executives to help them build more engaged, high performance cultures by energizing their employees.  Along the way, I’ve landed on four key capacities that show up, to one degree or another, in the most inspiring leaders I’ve met . . . All four capacities are grounded in one overarching insight.  Great leaders recognize that the best way to get the highest value is to give the highest value.” [Emphasis added]  Tony Schwartz

  • Those who have the 4 on-target capabilities offered by Schwartz surely go BEYOND being just a Boss. They are Leaders.   

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Leadership Non-profit leadership Quotes Tony Schwartz

Published May 31, 2016 by

Non-profits: 4 Fundraising Mistakes to Avoid Making

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A mission is a terrible thing to waste. However worthwhile an organization’s mission, without funds a non-profit can’t operate.  In this post Leah Lamb shares four (4) fundraising mistakes a non-profit should strive not to make.  

Effective, successful fundraisers understand the mistake-prone areas she cites and generally avoid falling into the traps they present.

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Leah Lamb

I’ve shared, in my last two posts, the key to thriving as a fundraiser. In this post I thought I’d address the success-blocking mistakes that I’ve observed in my 25+ years working in the non-profit sector. If you make these four (4) mistakes regularly, you’ll likely be surviving – not thriving.

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Published May 28, 2016 by

Series Snapshot / Sofia S. Crisp: My Non-profit Journey

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Sofia Crisp

Executive Director, Housing Consultants Group

“My journey started as a leap of faith and is now my passion! Seeing that box in the corner of my friend’s office moved me to think ‘out of the box’ – and launch, manage, and grow the non-profit organization I lead today . . . I have a great team of employees, contractors, and Board members that have allowed me to grow HCG to what it is today.  This was not a one-woman journey”.

“While I didn’t think the journey would be easy, I had no idea how hard it would be! Do I have any regrets? No, none. The journey has been a mixture joy, pain, successes and failures. Every emotion necessary has been experienced; it’s part of why I believe the organization has been successful.”

Why I Started My Non-Profit (Sofia S Crisp)

Why I Started My Non-Profit (Sofia S Crisp)

Working ‘in your Gift’

Challenges I’ve Faced – Challenges I’ve Faced (Part 2)

Building the Right Board

Successes I’ve Achieved

My Non-profit Journey: Avoiding Mission Creep

Growing Pains

Time Management

Collaborations and Partnerships

Sofia Crisp: Where Do We Go From Here?

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Non-profit Leadership

Non-profit leadership Non-profit organizations Series Snapshot Sofia Crisp

Published May 17, 2016 by

Leadership Keys (Face it, Change it)

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

James Baldwin

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Your challenges: Face them, don’t deny them

LINK: The Life of a Non-profit: Growth & Growing Pains (Robin Morgan)

“A lot of non-profits hit the middle stage of growth – and the vexing growing pains which go with it . . . Some organizations grow to this stage, suffer growing pains, and then get stuck! They reach a plateau, a middle stage plateau, and stay stuck there. They never move forward. Some non-profits, however, do move forward.”

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Challenges Growth Non-profit leadership Perseverance Quotes Robin Morgan

Published May 10, 2016 by

Fundraising: The Best Way To Motivate Giving (Non-profits)

 

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Who donates to a Non-profit and who doesn’t?  What moves donors to donate?  Leah Lamb, in the 3rd post in this Series, shares the three things she regularly strives to do to successfully motivate people to give.  

Fundraising should rarely be done by a single person (or department) within a non-profit organization. To put it simply, Lone Rangers rarely flourish.

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Published May 3, 2016 by

Leadership Keys (Be Strong)

Leadership Keys

Leadership Non-profit leadership Quotes Travis Bradberry

Published April 27, 2016 by

5 Habits of Highly-Effective Fundraisers

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A non-profit’s sustainability is greatly benefited when they can fundraise successfully.  

In this post, Leah Lamb shares what allows fundraisers to be highly effective.  Her experience as a seasoned professional allows her to clearly capture what allows fundraisers to go beyond just surviving – and thrive.

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Leah Lamb

What qualities and factors explain the success of the best fundraisers?  I’ve worked in the non-profit sector for over 25 years. I would cite five habits which allow the best fundraisers to flourish.

  1. Connecting with people. In general, fundraising is people driven. As I noted in my last post, people generally give to people, not causes or organizations. A fundraiser who isn’t able to connect well with others isn’t generally going to do too well. In getting an organization’s message across, a good fundraiser is able to compel people to get involved and give.

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Fundraising Leah Lamb Non-profit organizations

Published April 23, 2016 by

Leadership Keys (Difference-making Dreamers)

Leadership Keys

Non-profit leadership Passion Paulo Coelho Perseverance Quotes Vision

Published April 22, 2016 by

The Non-Profit Life from the Inside Out (Free Webinar)

Non-profits: Better Outcomes

Non-profit leadership Webinar