In this episode I share with you the elements of a great appeal letter and how to structure your appeal so that it hits all the areas of the DiSC personality profile.

In this episode I go over the things that you should know and prep before you even start asking for money. This prep work will help make the fundraising process go much more smoothly.

So....I could not, in fact, find anything online describing the opening icebreaker game I used at our board retreat, so I've recorded a bonus episode. Hope you have a chance to use this game at your next meeting!

When was the last time you led an effective and enjoyable board orientation? In this week's podcast, I report on our board orientation/retreat, talk you through the event outline, and share come cool team-building activities. Big thanks to those who helped me directly and indirectly with this event content. Here are the resources I mention throughout the podcast: Link for Board Orientation Outline: http://virtualexecutivedirector.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Board-Orientation-Retreat-Outline.pdf Link for Joan Garry's website: http://www.joangarry.com/ "Why" exchange exercise: http://trainyourboard.com/training/board-training-videos-dvd/ Link to Scott Maderer's website: http://christianstewardshipcoaching.com/

It's important for quality communication that you keep in touch with your board more frequently than at the monthly meeting. One way I accomplish this is through a weekly report. This accomplishes a few things: - It keeps you accountable - It engenders trust - It gives your board consistent talking points In this episode, I outline the weekly report I use. Swipe it for yourself and modify it to fit your needs. Download my weekly report template here: http://virtualexecutivedirector.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Weekly-Report.pdf

Learning to recognize personality types can go a long way to facilitating quality communication with your board, staff, volunteers, and even fundraising prospects (like a nonprofit fundraising hack). In this episode, I touch briefly on several different profiling systems, and talk about the one I'll be using at my board orientation. Link to a free version of the DiSC Assessment: https://discpersonalitytesting.com/free-disc-test/ Link to a free version of the Myers-Briggs assessment: https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/personality/start.php Star Wars MBTI: http://geekologie.com/2013/12/star-wars-characters-myers-briggs-person.php

Working with a unified board, staff, and volunteers is the key to speed, execution, and lower stress. In this episode I share the "5 Enemies of Unity" from Dave Ramsey's book, Entreleadership, and show you how to apply it to your nonprofit. Resources DiSC Profile: http://discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/ Meyers-Briggs: https://www.mbtionline.com "Difficult Conversations": https://smile.amazon.com/Difficult-Conversations-Discuss-What-Matters-ebook/dp/B004CR6ALA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505174109&sr=8-1&keywords=difficult+conversations

Episode 3: Based on Zig Ziglar's original "Wheel of Life" goal-setting graphic, I've created a "Wheel of Nonprofit Life" for goal-setting for nonprofit orgs. Download for the graphic is available at this link: http://wp.me/P86oVQ-Y Special thanks to Kendall Caldwell for the use of their song, "Follow Me."

Episode 2: I walk a client through the branding process as it relates to fundraising.

Episode 1: They say "September is the new January." How does that apply to nonprofits?