By Tony Martignetti
Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%
This Week: Acquiring Email Leads On Social This 2024 Nonprofit Technology Conference conversation helps you ensure your email acquisition efforts are targeting those interested in your work. You can incentivize your social audiences so they’ll willingly share their emails and...
This Week: A Step Back On Artificial Intelligence Beth Kanter and Philip Deng urge you to consider the ethical challenges your nonprofit should grapple with before fully adopting generative AI in your work. They’ve got advice for an ethical use...
This Week: The Generational Divide Across the generations, people think about work differently. They all have different needs. They all bring different skills. They work for different reasons. They communicate in different ways. But they have one thing in common:...
This Week: Email Deliverability In our age of rampant spam and artificial intelligence, you need to know how to give your emails the best chance of getting delivered. What are DMARC, DKIM and SPF, and how do they help with...
This Week: Avoid Technical Debt Our 24NTC coverage continues, to help you avoid crushing tech debt that would bust your budget and cause you a big headache. Our panel encourages you to manage and maintain your IT infrastructure and software...
This Week: Living Our Values The first of our 24NTC conversations is with our technology contributor and the CEO of NTEN, Amy Sample Ward. They give us the numbers around the conference, and remind us to walk the walk on...
This Week: Artificial Intelligence For Nonprofits, Redux A second savvy panel takes on the impact, leadership demands, promises, responsibilities, and future of AI across the nonprofit community. We convened a panel in June last year. But this is an enormous...
This Week: Election Year Activities In this presidential election year, everything related to politics is prohibited, right? Not so fast. It’s not that simple. There are actions you can take, including lobbying on ballot measures. As long as you follow...
This Week: Publish Your Book, Thought Leader Thought leadership can be valuable to you, your nonprofit, or both. Publishing a nonfiction book is one way to become a thought leader or expand your credentials. From outlining and writing to publishing...
This Week: Your Partnerships With FGWs First Generation Wealth creators have different values and mindsets than those who inherited their wealth. And FGWs far outnumber the inheritors. Esther Choy’s research helps you understand these folks and how to build valuable...
This Week: Frustrations & Opportunities With Jay Frost Jay returns to share his reflections on four decades in the nonprofit community. There are things he’d like to see us doing better, that the sector has been talking about for many...
This Week: Overcome Your Fear Of Public Speaking We’d rather face death or the dentist. We’d rather talk about money or sex, than have to speak to an audience. Even a small one. Laurie Krauz can help you overcome your...
This Week: Zombie Loyalists Peter Shankman is a 5x best selling author, entrepreneur and corporate keynote speaker. His book “Zombie Loyalists” focuses on customer service; creating rabid fans who do your social media, marketing and PR for you. Peter’s book...
This Week: Decolonizing Wealth Edgar Villanueva’s book, “Decolonizing Wealth,” takes an innovative look at the purpose of wealth. His thesis is that the solutions to the damage and trauma caused by American capitalism, including philanthropy—can be gleaned from the...
This Week: Team Engagement Tips The company Firespring uses unusual and fun strategies to engage their 185 employees, so everyone lives and celebrates the Firespring values—each day. We’re talking Firestarter meetings; Culture Club; Power of Three; and more. Kiersten Hill...
This Week: Performance Measurement There’s a systematic method for you to get feedback on your nonprofit’s finances; programs, clients; and employees. It’s both art and science. Bryan Shane explains this management and decision-making tool. He’s co-author of the book, “The...
This Week: Our Esteemed Contributors’ 2024 Outlooks Amy Sample Ward and Gene Takagi kick off the New Year with what they’ll be keeping eyes on this year. They delve into artificial intelligence (AI); the presidential election; donor advised funds; workers’...
This Week: Lessons From The UPenn President’s Resignation Two weeks ago, the president of the University of Pennsylvania resigned, in large part because major donors to the University harshly criticized her publicly, withdrew their donations, and encouraged others to do...
This Week: Lessons From The Sam Altman & OpenAI Headlines Our legal contributor, Gene Takagi, returns to first, unravel the story in his clear, plain language way. Then he shares his wisdom on the takeaways for nonprofits including good governance,...
This Week: Misinformation & Disinformation Amy Sample Ward returns with their insights into what to do about these maladies plaguing our world. They reveal smart internal tactics to reduce the odds of your nonprofit’s info being misused by bad actors;...
This Week: Donor Surveys You’ll make the most of the donors you have by discovering their potential through surveying. Crystal Mahon and Christian Robillard talk principles, best practices and goal setting. Crystal is with STARS Air Ambulance and Christian is...
This Week: Your Case For Support Whether you call it a case statement or case for support, it’s a critical part of your next fundraising campaign. Febe Voth has devoted decades to the art of crafting these fine documents. She...
This Week: Fundraising 401 That’s Laurence Pagnoni’s latest book. When this first aired, it was his new book, but Laurence’s strategies and tactics are timeless. It’s a series of masterclasses for all levels and a collection of revelations he gained...
This Week: Your Website Performance The first of its kind, 2023 Nonprofit Website Performance Report reveals startlingly disappointing performance across nonprofit websites. RKD Group’s Charles Lehosit explains the shortcomings and how to make the advances needed, so your site’s vital...
This Week: CRM Selection Rubin Singh returns to help you focus on what matters in CRM selection. To keep you safe from a serious misstep, he also shares his thoughts on what else might be the problem, besides your CRM...
This Week: The Surprising Gift Of Doubt That’s Marc Pitman’s book. It’s stuffed with strategies to help leaders—and future leaders—lead better. Marc is founder of Concord Leadership Group. (This originally aired on August 2, 2021.) There’s more at tonymartignetti.com
This Week: Financial Literacy For Your C-Suite & Board Leadership that understands your numbers protects not only your nonprofit. It also protects the people filling those roles. Two finance and audit pros walk us through six key metrics that anyone...
This Week: Performance Improvement Do you want to get the best out of your teams? That means getting the best from each player. Heather Burright recommends 360 Degree Feedback and she takes you full circle. She’s CEO of Skill Masters...
This Week: Fundraising For Introverts That’s the title of Brian Saber’s new book. He returns with uplifting news for those who prefer quiet time over party time: You can be a great fundraiser! Brian knows. He’s been a successful introverted...
This Week: Possible Implications Of The Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision The Supreme Court’s decision this summer struck down college admissions affirmative action programs. Yet it may have repercussions for nonprofits around employment, contracts, grants, and other areas. Gene Takagi...
This Week: Donor Dominance Donor centric doesn’t mean donor dominant. Ian MacQuillin shares his research and thinking on donor power structures in fundraising. For instance, let’s work at the sector, organizational and individual levels, to dismantle patriarchal structures. Ian is...
This Week: Donor Retention The challenges are real and widespread: Aging donors; smaller gifts; and abysmal retention rates. Dennis Fois brings strategies and tactics to raise your consciousness and turn things around. Let’s talk about emotional connections, multithreading, and multichannel,...
This Week: A Post-Fellowship Conversation With Amy Sample Ward What did they do over their Bosch Foundation Fellowship, who did they meet and what did they talk about for three months abroad? For a tease: How tech could save an...
This Week: Employee Benefits, For Employees We’re examining benefits from the employee’s perspective. What does a minimum package look like? Which extras can you negotiate for? How valuable is your benefits package? Explaining it all is Courtenay Shipley, founder of...
This Week: The 5 A’s Of Awesome Fundraising It’s a valuable back-to-basics conversation with a bunch of tips you’ve probably never heard. Leading us through is Cara Augspurger from Donorbox. There’s more at tonymartignetti.com
This Week: Impact Metrics First, we resolve any confusion over impact versus outcomes and outputs. Then, John Mark Vanderpool continues by sharing how to measure your impact, and how to market your impact. He’s co-founder of Social Impact Solutions. They...
This Week: Leadership Lessons Steve Johns’ book is “Fearless.” He shares his philosophy of fearless leadership including building a service mindset and embracing a culture of curiosity; investing in yourself; talking without telling; understanding how “No mud, no lotus” can...
This Week: Giving Circles What are giving circles, when did they begin, how do they work, why do they shift power dynamics, and where’s their value for your nonprofit? Sara Lomelin has made these spread throughout the world as CEO...
This Week: 650th Show! It’s Nonprofit Radio’s 650th show and 13th Anniversary. To celebrate, co-host Claire Meyerhoff shares her “13 Pro Tips & Top Tactics for Nonprofit Podcasts.” We have our associate producer, Kate Martignetti, live music from Scott Stein,...
This Week: Communications & Development Teams Working Better Together Misty McLaughlin and Alice Hendricks close our 2023 Nonprofit Technology Conference coverage, as they reveal how these two teams can avoid the common conflicts and tensions, to come together collaboratively. They’re...
This Week: 10 Easy Ways To Boost Your Fundraising On A Budget Relationships; storytelling; thanks; impact; consistency; and more. Rosalind Zavras and Julia Toepfer share tactics you can use right away to increase your fundraising impact without busting your fundraising...
This Week: Brand Democracy Continuing our coverage of the 2023 Nonprofit Technology Conference, a conversation about letting go and democratizing your brand, so it’s collectively owned. The why’s, what’s and how’s are explained by Claire Taylor Hansen of Big Duck,...
This Week: Data Driven Storytelling Julia Campbell returns to share her thinking on retaining and engaging donors by creating and curating your best stories. She’s an author, trainer and speaker. This continues our coverage of the 2023 Nonprofit Technology Conference,...
This Week: Feasibility Studies: What, Why & How If a capital, endowment or other campaign may be in your nonprofit’s future, you’ll want to consider a feasibility study beforehand. Brian Abernathy, from Convergent Nonprofit Solutions, explains what they’re all about....
This Week: What Power Really Sounds Like: Using Your Voice To Lead Our coverage of the 2023 Nonprofit Technology Conference continues, as Mary Chan encourages you to own your voice story to reclaim your powerful voice. She also shares strategies...
This Week: Artificial Intelligence For Nonprofits We take a break from our #23NTC coverage, as an esteemed, tech-savvy panel considers the opportunities, downsides, potential risks, and leadership responsibilities around the use of artificial intelligence by nonprofits. They’re Afua Bruce (ANB...
This Week: Equitable Project Management An automated soap dispenser. One of the most innocuous objects imaginable. Unless it doesn’t dispense soap to people with dark skin. How does bias find its way into technology projects and hurt outcomes? How can...
This Week: Multigenerational Technology Teaching If you have folks spanning the generations working or volunteering for your nonprofit, you may have noticed they learn technology differently. Lauren Hopkins shares the strategies for teaching tech across the generations. She’s from Prepared...
This Week: Engagement & Stewardship For Increased Giving As our #23NTC coverage continues, Brenna Holmes and Alyssa Ackerman deliver systems and ideas that treat your donors right. They help you understand the value of multichannel touches that move the needle...
This Week: Quiet Quitting Let’s start with what it is. Because it’s not quitting a job. From our coverage of #23NTC, Delaney Mullennix explains the increasing phenomenon, how we got here, and what to do to prevent it. She’s executive...
