The title of the post: “How to Prepare for a Nonprofit Audit: Essential Steps.”

How to Prepare for a Nonprofit Audit: 4 Essential Steps

If your nonprofit is considering conducting an audit, you might feel intimidated or worried, especially if it’s your first time. However, audits are a crucial part of effectively managing your organization’s finances, ensuring proper governance, and maintaining transparency with stakeholders. And once you understand the process, it isn’t nearly as scary as it may seem!

Most nonprofits hire external professionals to conduct audits, but that doesn’t mean your team should contact the first auditor you find and leave everything in their hands. Rather, proper internal preparation helps ensure your audit is accurate, timely, and useful for shaping your organization’s financial practices going forward.

In this guide, we’ll walk through four steps your nonprofit should take to get ready for its audit and lay the foundation for receiving thorough, actionable results. Let’s dive in!

1. Decide What Type of Audit You Need to Conduct

While the term “audit” is most often used in financial contexts, not every nonprofit audit focuses on finances. Different types of audits serve different purposes, and the right one for your nonprofit depends on your unique needs, goals, and priorities.

According to Jitasa’s nonprofit audit guide, the most common audit categories are as follows:

  • Independent financial audit. This type of audit occurs when a third-party auditor reviews your financial data, documentation, policies, and procedures to provide an expert, objective perspective on your nonprofit’s health and compliance.
  • Internal financial audit. This audit is similar to the independent financial type, except your nonprofit’s employees are the ones reviewing its financial information. Although these audits can’t be completely objective, they give your team a chance to think critically about your organization’s financial situation.
  • IRS financial audit. The IRS doesn’t audit tax-exempt organizations often, but if your nonprofit fails to file its annual tax return or a discrepancy is discovered, a government agent may come calling.
  • Compliance audit. These audits assess your organization’s adherence to internal (i.e., bylaws and policies) and external guidelines (i.e., federal, state, and local government regulations). Financial compliance is part of this audit, but it also touches other areas of your organization, such as fundraising and administrative compliance.
  • Operational audit. This category of audits involves analyzing processes and systems to identify ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness. They can be general or focused on one area of your operations like technology or human resources.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus primarily on independent financial audits since they’re the most common type of nonprofit audit. They’re also the most likely type of audit to be required for your organization, whether because of a stipulation in your bylaws, a federal or state government regulation, or a request from the funder of a grant you’re pursuing.

2. Lay out Your Auditing Timeline

The entire independent financial audit process takes several months to complete. If you have a deadline to submit your audit report to a grantmaker or government agency, note that date and work backward to figure out when you need to begin, building in some wiggle room to ensure you finish in time.

Here is a quick breakdown of the phases of the audit process and how long each one typically takes:

  • Selecting an auditor: 4-12 weeks
  • Preparing for the audit: 2-4 weeks
  • Conducting the audit: 2-4 weeks
  • Implementing audit recommendations: No specific timeline, but the sooner you can start, the better!

If your nonprofit doesn’t have an external deadline for your audit, try to conduct it and begin implementing the recommendations before completing your annual tax return. This way, you can let the IRS know that you’re actively improving your processes, and your team won’t have to work on two major financial projects at the same time.

The Form 990 filing deadline is the 15th day of the fifth month after the end of your nonprofit’s fiscal year (May 15 for organizations whose fiscal year follows the calendar year). You can extend the due date by up to six months if needed to conduct your audit—you’ll just have to file Form 8868 and get approval from the IRS to make the extension official.

3. Select a Nonprofit Auditor

Choosing your auditor typically takes longer than any other step in the independent auditing process. It’s important to select an individual or firm that can meet your needs and goals while working within your budget and timeline. 

Here is a basic overview of how to find the right auditor for your nonprofit:

  • Conduct online research, making sure to read reviews from each candidate’s past clients and noting their pricing structure. 
  • Ask for recommendations from other nonprofits in your network that have undergone financial audits and from your organization’s accountant (who typically won’t conduct your audit to avoid a conflict of interest, but likely knows of auditors who can).
  • Issue a Request for Proposals (RFP), which Cornershop Creative describes as “a formal document that outlines the requirements, specifications, and criteria of a project or service [and] serves as an invitation for qualified vendors or partners to submit bids.”
  • Meet with your top candidates after reviewing their proposals to compare costs, timelines, and scope of work so you can make an informed final decision and send your chosen auditor an accurate contract.

Just like with hiring financial team members for your organization, look for auditors who specialize in working with nonprofits. When searching online, use keywords like “nonprofit auditing firms near me” or “nonprofit auditors in [city name]” to narrow your results. Additionally, make sure their past clients include nonprofits of approximately the same size as yours to ensure they’re familiar with similar financial situations.

4. Organize Your Financial Records & Reports

After signing your contract and scheduling your audit, your auditor will send over a Provided by Client (PBC) list. This list details all of the documents they’ll need to complete their review, which can range from your fiscal policy handbook to financial statements to board meeting minutes. Compile these resources in a digital folder that you can share with your auditor for easy access.

However, pulling together everything on the PBC list is only part of the audit prep equation. You also have to clean up your accounting system—not only to help your auditor find the information they need in it, but also to demonstrate that you’re practicing good financial data hygiene, which the auditor will be looking for as they assess your procedures.

Before your audit, make sure to:

  • Reconcile all bank and investment accounts
  • Ensure restricted funds and assets are properly tracked
  • Resolve any uncategorized or uncleared transactions
  • Deposit any undeposited funds
  • Review receivables and payables
  • Identify and fix coding errors (e.g., duplicated or inconsistent entries)

If you need help with these tasks, your bookkeeper or accountant can help you identify and resolve any issues in your accounting system before the audit begins and pull any reports you might still need for your PBC folder.

Even if you prepare thoroughly for your audit, your report might not be perfect, which is completely fine! Remember that your auditor isn’t just there to check boxes. They can be a valuable partner in helping your organization develop sustainable practices for long-term financial success. 

When you get your report, take some time to review the recommendations with your team and determine the best ways to incorporate them into your financial management activities. Then, hopefully, your next audit can go even more smoothly!

Feature image reading, “How to Embed Philanthropy Into Your Onboarding Process.”

How to Embed Philanthropy into Your Onboarding Process

70% of new hires can tell within the first week whether or not their new job is the right fit for them. The onboarding period is their first impression of your business, and it’s critical to their long-term success that they get off to a good start. 

Your corporate social responsibility (CSR) program and philanthropic efforts are important facets of your overall employee engagement strategy, so why not incorporate them into your onboarding process and introduce new hires right away? Highlighting philanthropy during onboarding will make a great first impression during that critical period and improve the likelihood that they remain engaged and satisfied with their role.  

Read on to learn more about intentionally embedding your philanthropy into your onboarding schedule to engage new employees. 

Include your corporate philanthropy goals in their first-week information 

Highlighting philanthropy during onboarding has two important outcomes. First, you demonstrate your business’s resolve and prove that your CSR work is not just lip service, and second, you give new employees the chance to get involved as soon as possible. As employees attend new-hire meetings and gain access to different software suites, make sure that your philanthropy program is included as mission-critical—not an afterthought. 

In your onboarding schedule, set a dedicated time for a human resources staff member or CSR specialist to sit down with new hires and explain how your business’s philanthropy strategy works. You might include: 

  • Your business’s history of philanthropy, the causes you’ve supported most, and the impact of your efforts over time
  • Why philanthropy is so important to your business and how it plays into your overall strategy
  • Why your business includes philanthropy in its benefits package for staff
  • Different opportunities for getting involved, from matching gifts to volunteerism
  • Steps to request donations, matching gifts, and volunteer grants

By including philanthropy in your new hire’s educational meetings, you demonstrate how firmly integrated it is into how your business is run. This is good for your new hire—allowing them to see your business’s values from the first day—as well as good for you, because philanthropic programs like workplace giving increase staff engagement and retention. 

Your business’s software stack likely includes project management tools, communication options, HR software, and many others. If you leverage CSR software to manage your philanthropy programs, make sure to incorporate it into your onboarding training, too. If you don’t, consider investing! According to Uncommon Giving’s CSR software guide, these platforms help you engage employees, increase trust, and improve your brand’s reputation. 

Encourage a volunteer day with a mentor in their first month

Once your new hire has been introduced to your business’s philanthropic goals, it’s time to give them the opportunity to engage in a more hands-on fashion. Your organization’s corporate volunteerism program provides the perfect way to showcase your values in action, while giving them a break from the office or computer during the stressful first-month period. 

The first month of their tenure is important for learning your processes and getting to know their coworkers, so it can be valuable on multiple levels to encourage them to take a volunteer day early on. First, it shows that your company really does want its employees to use those days. Second, it provides a great opportunity for them to connect with a more senior staffer, whether that’s an assigned mentor, their manager, or just someone who cares about the same cause that they do. If your team is geographically dispersed, it can also be a helpful way to encourage them to make an in-person connection with someone who is located nearby. 

This opportunity will also show your new hire how your corporate giving culture works in action. Don’t forget to tell them about any additional resources, like volunteer grants, that their nonprofit of choice might be eligible for after their day out!

Highlight your corporate philanthropy priorities regularly

In their first week, new hires learn about your corporate philanthropy programs. In their first month, they participate in a hands-on way. But what about the rest of their first year? 

Instead of relying on them remembering everything that was covered in their orientation, create regular checkpoints and reminders to share philanthropic opportunities with your whole staff. This might look like:

  • Incorporating your efforts into your ongoing staff upskilling and training efforts. Ask your HR or corporate philanthropy departments to measure what parts of your strategy are most frequently used and which receive less attention. Highlight the less-popular options in training plans, or, if you find that your staff aren’t interested in that particular option, consider replacing it with something more aligned with their interests and values. 
  • Planning a matching gift drive for the end of your fiscal year. Your organization’s matching gift program is a great way for staff to support their favorite nonprofits, but they may not be aware that they have to submit their matching gift requests within a certain amount of time. As you approach the end of the eligibility period, whether that’s your fiscal year or the calendar year, highlight this program publicly and remind staff to submit requests. 
  • Creating an annual report describing your business’s corporate philanthropy efforts over the past year. Highlight the nonprofits your staff volunteered for, which causes you donated the most to, and your programs’ impact. Show your staff where their efforts went, remind them of the opportunities they have for contributing, and build excitement for next year. 

Keeping your corporate philanthropy efforts front and center throughout the year will build your organization’s culture of giving, keep employees engaged, and continue to support the communities and nonprofits that your philanthropy serves. 

With these tips, you can improve your bottom line and boost employee retention by embedding your corporate philanthropy directly into your onboarding process. If you remain consistent and focus on what resonates most with your employees, you’ll see participation continue to grow.

The title of this post, “Tips for Planning Your School’s Fundraising Calendar.”

5 Tips for Planning Your School’s Fundraising Calendar

On average, K-12 schools in the United States are in session for 180 days. This means you have just under six months to raise all the fundraising dollars needed to fund extracurricular activities, enriching learning experiences, school supply purchases, and other budgetary shortfalls. Are you making the most of each day?

While effective fundraisers depend on dedicated supporters, robust fundraising software, and staff and students who are willing to pitch in, you also need a solid game plan for the academic year. This means mapping out when to hold that community Walk-a-thon or how to pace your ongoing digital fundraising campaigns—in other words, creating a detailed fundraising calendar.

In this guide, we’ll cover all the steps you need to create a strategic school fundraising calendar, ending with a checklist of the key components your finished calendar should include.

1. Set a clear goal and timeline.

First, determine an overarching fundraising goal for the year following the SMART goal framework. According to this framework, goals should be specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. Align with everyone involved in your school’s finances and fundraising initiatives to outline a fundraising goal similar to this:

“Vale Elementary School will raise $10,000 to support the purchase of new computer equipment and fund a new tutoring program by the end of the 2025-2026 school year using methods such as year-long virtual fundraising efforts, a back-to-school event, a fall festival fundraiser, a winter dance, and a spring Fun Run event.”

Clarify the exact timeline for achieving these goals, indicating a start and end date. Depending on your school’s planning periods, your timeline may extend beyond the dates when school is in session.

2. Analyze past fundraising efforts.

Next, review data from past fundraising efforts to determine which ideas and methods are most effective. By selecting from strategies that proved successful in the past, you’ll drive more supporter engagement and increase the likelihood of hitting your target.

Make sure to consider:

  • The fundraising idea, analyzing the number of participants, the attendance rate (if there was an event), the number of donations, and the total amount raised.
  • The communication channels used to promote the event, and the response and conversion rates from supporters.
  • Specific marketing techniques, like sharing short-form videos about the fundraiser’s purpose, that garnered significant engagement.
  • Any gamification strategies used to engage supporters, such as a fundraising thermometer to publicly track progress toward your goal.

Additionally, reference any constructive feedback from donors and look for opportunities to improve your upcoming campaigns. For instance, maybe donors would appreciate more flexible donation options. Start planning how you can accept donations from more platforms going forward, so you’ll be ready for next year.

3. Diversify fundraising activities.

Avoid donor fatigue by keeping your fundraising activities varied throughout the school year. If you need inspiration, start with this mini fundraising ideas list:

  • Crowdfunding campaigns: Fundraise online by soliciting donations from your community. Typically, these campaigns route potential donors to a single donation page. Best of all, crowdfunding campaigns can run in the background throughout the year for any generous community member to contribute to.
  • Peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraisers: These campaigns are similar to crowdfunding fundraisers. However, students will fundraise on behalf of your school and secure donations via personal donation pages. Some popular P2P campaigns for schools include Walk-a-thons (and other A-Thon fundraisers), Fun Runs, community service challenges, etc.
  • Fundraising events: These campaigns culminate in an engaging event. Raise money by charging for entry, selling concessions or products at the event, or offering smaller, paid activities (e.g., carnival games). Bonfire suggests fun events for schools, such as tie dye parties, shoe drives, and parents’ night off events.

Of course, your school can also select an academic-focused idea like a Read-a-thon. Review your learning standards and consult with teachers about what types of fundraising initiatives would best support students’ learning.

4. Consider seasons and holidays.

Before you start penciling in your campaigns, mark the following events in your calendar:

  • Holidays
  • School breaks
  • Testing dates
  • Other school or community events (e.g., pep rallies, homecoming, community can drives, etc.)

While it’s best to plan around occassions like breaks and draining testing schedules, it can be advantageous to place certain fundraisers near key holidays or seasonal events. For example, you might hold a candy gram fundraiser in February. Students will purchase a candy gram, a piece of candy with a custom message, from your school that will be delivered to the recipient on Valentine’s Day. Or, take advantage of the season of generosity at the end of the year with a Turkey Trot race or winter-themed activities.

Remember to keep the weather in mind as well, particularly for outdoor events. For instance, if you’re looking for a back-to-school event to hold in August, an air-conditioned, indoor raffle will go over better than a 10K race. 

5. Clearly assign roles.

Once you’ve built out the schedule, it’s time to outline who will be responsible for executing your fundraising activities. To ensure everyone understands their role, consider following the RACI framework to define who is:

  • Responsible: Indicate who is directly responsible for performing the actions needed to complete the task.
    • Example: The communications committee for the PTO might manage marketing efforts for a P2P campaign.
  • Accountable: Name who is ultimately accountable for the outcome and completion of the task. 
    • Example: The communications chair who leads the communications committee.
  • Consulted: Indicate the person whose input and expertise are needed before making a decision.
    • Example: The assistant principal must approve any communications before they are posted or shared.
  • Informed: Detail the people who need to be informed about the progress and outcome of the task.
    • Example: The PTO president and school principal would like updates on responses to the marketing efforts.

Often, these tasks will be completed by teachers, parents, and other community members who are volunteering their time to your school. Remember to thank and acknowledge volunteers by sending them personalized thank-you messages, recognizing them publicly, and even holding volunteer appreciation events.

School Fundraising Calendar Checklist

As we’ve shown, there are many moving parts to building a fundraising calendar, from brainstorming fun school fundraising ideas to allocating tasks to the right people. We created this checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything:

☐ Set fundraising goals for the year

☐ Choose diverse fundraising types and methods (events, product sales, online, etc.)

☐ Block out school holidays, summer vacation, testing dates, etc. 

☐ Pick tentative dates and space fundraisers out across the year

☐ Assign leads for each fundraiser

☐ Select the platforms and tools needed 

☐ Add fundraisers to school communications (newsletter, website, etc.)

☐ Draft a promotional schedule for each fundraiser

☐ Plan volunteer needs + recruitment timeline

☐ Include thank-you & results-sharing steps after each event

Creating a school fundraising calendar will ultimately save you time and money going forward. Armed with a strategic plan, you can avoid common pitfalls associated with a lack of planning, like cramming in back-to-back fundraisers in the spring to meet your goal. Organized processes will also enhance experiences for your volunteers, PTO or PTA members, and donors, strengthening the invaluable relationships you have with your community.

The title of the post, “Donor FAQs About Corporate Giving and How to Respond”

5 Donor FAQs About Corporate Giving and How to Respond

Corporate giving is an extremely valuable fundraising opportunity, but it often goes untapped by the organizations that need it most. This is largely because donors just aren’t aware that programs like donation matching and employee volunteer grants exist. Even if they are, your supporters may not know how to participate and whether it’s really worthwhile.

To access these vital corporate funds, your nonprofit must be prepared to provide helpful information to donors. In this quick guide, we’ll explore common questions about corporate giving and how you can answer them to encourage participation.

1. Why do companies offer corporate giving programs?

When donors first hear about corporate giving, they might not understand why businesses participate in it. Do companies really donate portions of their profits to nonprofits? What’s the catch?

Without knowing the rationale, donors may not trust workplace giving, thinking it’s just an empty promise or a marketing ploy. In reality, however, companies offer philanthropy programs for a variety of reasons, including to:

  • Give back to the community. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that mandates that businesses give back to the communities they operate in, which can include donating to nonprofits.
  • Boost employee engagement. Companies know that their team members are interested in philanthropy (81% of employees say it’s important to work for a company that integrates CSR!). By offering corporate giving programs, businesses can let employees take the lead and drive employee engagement long-term.
  • Maintain a positive reputation. Customers want to support businesses that are socially responsible and align with their values. Often, companies offer and publicize corporate giving as a way to prove they’re true to their values.
  • Improve stakeholder relationships. By regularly giving to charitable organizations, companies improve relationships with employees, customers, investors, partners, and the general public.

In your initial communications about corporate giving, emphasize that these programs are a win-win for everyone: your organization, the donor, and their employer.

2. How do I find out if I’m eligible for corporate giving?

Once donors understand the value of corporate philanthropy programs, they’ll want to know how to get involved. The first step is to determine their eligibility for opportunities like matching gifts, volunteer grants, and paycheck giving—which can be a tricky process.

Every company has different guidelines and eligibility criteria that determine who can participate. One employer may match donations to any 501(c)(3) as long as the employee is full-time, while another might restrict eligibility to non-religious nonprofits and employees who’ve been with the company at least a year. To find out, donors must visit their employee portals or look for information in their company handbooks.

You can make finding guidelines easier for donors by:

  • Providing instructions on your website for discovering eligibility and requesting corporate matches or grants. Create a specific corporate giving page that answers donor FAQs and includes examples of what eligibility requirements might look like.
  • Adding a matching gift search tool to your donation page that donors can use to quickly search for their employer’s corporate giving information. These embedded search bars access a database of companies to instantly give donors details about their employers’ offerings and requirements.

When you market corporate giving opportunities like matching gifts and volunteer grants, include basic instructions for checking eligibility and making a request. Highlight your search tool if you have one, or create infographics that break down the process into easy steps.

3. Is requesting matching gifts or volunteer grants worth it?

Since donors have to jump through a few hoops to determine their eligibility and make requests, they’ll want to know if it’s really worth the effort. 

The short answer is yes—participating in workplace giving is extremely worthwhile! Requesting matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other forms of corporate funding for your nonprofit helps donors increase their impact (without necessarily increasing their donations) and provide much-needed funding for your work. 

To better communicate the value of corporate giving to your nonprofit, share fundraising and impact metrics that demonstrate the tangible results of corporate donations. For instance, you could share the total revenue earned from matching gifts last year and how those dollars funded the construction of 10 houses for unhoused locals.

4. Does my company offer more ways to support nonprofits?

Loyal donors might wonder if there’s more they can do to support your nonprofit through their employer. Companies often participate in several types of philanthropy besides employee-driven workplace giving, and your donors can share opportunities as they discover them.

Specifically, employers might offer:

  • Event sponsorships
  • Monetary grants
  • In-kind donations of items or services
  • Long-term partnerships
  • One-off matching campaigns

And these offerings are just the beginning! Companies create all kinds of programs to support nonprofits in ways that align with their employees’ interests. For example, Uncommon Giving suggests that businesses co-host volunteer events with nonprofits throughout the year to boost volunteerism.

Donors can discover these opportunities by visiting their employee portals or speaking to leadership about corporate giving. If a donor identifies a good opportunity for your nonprofit, encourage them to bring it up to their manager or connect your organization with them. Even if these decisions are made by leadership rather than driven by employees, they’ll likely appreciate employee input.

5. What can I do if my employer doesn’t offer corporate giving?

Some of your donors might be excited to participate in corporate giving, only to discover that their employer doesn’t offer any formalized program. What can they do in these situations?

Let donors know that they can advocate for one! Encourage them to reach out to the leaders at their business and explain why starting a workplace giving program would benefit the company, the community, and employees alike. Provide statistics and research they can share with their employer to prove it’s worthwhile, such as this data from Crowd101. Support interested donors through this process, and thank them for their dedication to your cause.

Corporate giving may feel confusing for your donors, so it’s up to your nonprofit to answer their questions and share additional resources as needed. By supporting them through the request process, you’ll drive more donations and improve donor relationships at the same time. 

The title of the article, “Beginner's Guide to Understanding a Nonprofit Balance Sheet.”

Beginner’s Guide to Understanding a Nonprofit Balance Sheet

While the process can be tedious, compiling nonprofit financial statements allows your organization to evaluate its financial standing and stay accountable to stakeholders. These documents help you use resources effectively to fulfill your nonprofit’s mission.

One of the main financial statements nonprofits develop is a nonprofit balance sheet. To get you up to speed, we’ll review the basics of this report, why it’s important, and how to interpret it so your organization can maximize this data.

What is a nonprofit balance sheet?

A nonprofit balance sheet provides details about your organization’s financial health as of a specific date. Also called a Statement of Financial Position, this report summarizes your nonprofit’s liquidity and financial flexibility through its assets and liabilities.

Why is it important for nonprofits to create balance sheets?

Besides helping your organization make better financial decisions and build trust with stakeholders like donors, board members, and funders, there are instances when your organization must present a balance sheet. For instance, you’ll need an updated nonprofit balance sheet when you:

  • File Form 990. All 501(c)(3) organizations must file Form 990 annually to uphold their tax-exempt status. The form requires you to provide a balance sheet to demonstrate your nonprofit’s current financial health.
  • Prepare for audits. If your nonprofit undergoes a financial statement audit, presenting an updated nonprofit balance sheet is crucial. Auditors will confirm that each report is accurate and aligned with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
  • Apply for grants. Grant funders want to know that your organization is financially stable and sustainable before agreeing to award funds. They may require a balance sheet to verify responsible resource allocation.

Consistently updating your organization’s balance sheet allows you to stay prepared for these situations and have an accurate picture of your nonprofit’s financial standing.

Nonprofit Balance Sheet Categories

A nonprofit balance sheet has three main categories:

An example nonprofit balance sheet

Assets

Assets are resources your nonprofit owns or controls. You’ll categorize these assets based on their liquidity:

  • Current assets. Any item you can convert to cash quickly is a current asset. This category includes cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, pledges receivable, prepaid expenses, and inventory.
  • Noncurrent assets. Items your nonprofit intends to keep for at least a year, such as land, buildings, and equipment, are considered noncurrent assets.
  • Intangible assets. Some assets may not be physical but intellectual property like patents and copyrights. Nonprofits typically include these under noncurrent assets.

Liabilities

Liabilities are financial debts or obligations your nonprofit owes. You’ll categorize them similarly to assets:

  • Current liabilities. Short-term obligations you’ll pay within the next year are current liabilities. This category includes accounts payable, accrued expenses, and deferred revenue, which you’ll record when your nonprofit has received payment but has not yet delivered the associated goods or services.
  • Noncurrent liabilities. Long-term obligations you’ll pay in over a year are noncurrent liabilities. Common noncurrent liabilities include mortgages and long-term lease obligations.

Net Assets

Your net assets are the resources currently available to your organization. Calculate net assets by subtracting your liabilities from your assets. You’ll categorize them based on whether they have donor-imposed restrictions:

  • Net assets without donor restrictions. Let’s say your nonprofit hosts a 5K fundraiser and collects donations at the event. These general donations would fall under net assets without donor restrictions, allowing your team to use them for any purpose that fuels your mission.
  • Net assets with donor restrictions. On the other hand, you must use net assets with donor restrictions according to the associated limitations. Donors may designate funds for a particular purpose or set a time limit on fund use. Additionally, these restrictions may be permanent or temporary, potentially allowing you to use these funds for a different purpose later on.

How to Interpret a Nonprofit Balance Sheet

While your nonprofit ultimately wants to maximize its net assets, other outcomes—like low assets and high liabilities—should not always be cause for concern. To keep your team realistic and glean useful insights from your balance sheet, YPTC recommends following these tips:

  • Consider each section. Reviewing balance sheet categories in isolation doesn’t tell the full story about your nonprofit’s financial health. Instead, you must consider each section equally to understand the relationship between your assets and liabilities. For example, if you only focus on your assets, you may neglect debts in the liabilities section that even your seemingly strong pool of assets can’t cover. Alternatively, suppose you only focus on your liabilities. You may worry that they’re higher than usual when, in reality, your assets may have also increased to keep up with these greater debts.
  • Look into context. Even if you have low assets and high liabilities, the context behind these numbers matters. Potential scenarios that would cause lower net assets but not indicate a treacherous financial situation include major projects, seasonality, and high deferred revenue. For instance, you may develop a new program that requires a high initial investment but will ultimately power your mission in the long run. Alternatively, you might simply hit a slow giving period or generate a significant amount of deferred revenue that will eventually become assets.
  • Evaluate trends. Determine your nonprofit’s baseline to assess how your organization’s current financial health differs from past performance. For instance, you may have lower net assets than other similar organizations, but if your records indicate they’ve grown over the past few years, you’re likely on the path to sustainability.

Interpreting a balance sheet requires your team to think critically about your nonprofit’s unique situation and how it contributes to financial health. After all, your organization is meant to leverage the resources at its disposal to power its mission, so a perceived dip in resources may have a large payoff down the line.

In addition to helping your team understand your organization’s financial health and make well-informed decisions, balance sheets also function as stewardship tools. Share your balance sheet with donors to demonstrate responsible fund use and assure them that you’ll continue to leverage resources appropriately to keep your mission alive.

The Flexible Career Paths of Grant Writing: 4 Options

Grant writing is a flexible, impactful career choice. It also meshes beautifully with the goals, skills, and desired lifestyles of many professionals from all backgrounds.

For example, nonprofit staff from diverse organizations of various sizes, marketers and communication professionals, stay-at-home parents, former teachers, and more regularly forge successful paths into the world of grant writing. Along the way, they unlock more freedom in their personal lives and bring more impact to their organizations.

If you’ve considered moving into grant writing, what can you expect? What options are available to you?

Let’s explore the four main career paths that we often see our members and friends in the Learn Grant Writing community build for themselves. We’ll also lay out our recommended career change approach, a straightforward process we call the Organic Networking Framework.

First, what will you need?

To start a grant writing career change, some level of training is essential. While grant writing is a field that allows you to learn as you go (to an extent), jumping in with no preparation is a recipe for disappointment and burnout.

A lot more goes into a successful and sustained approach to grant writing than just drafting a proposal. To really thrive, you’ll need to master additional research, analysis, communication, and project management skills, not to mention deepen your contextual knowledge about different types of grants and funders over time.

That said, grant writing training can take many forms depending on your needs and experience level.

Full training programs are best if you’re starting from scratch, especially programs that cover the complete grant writing process and, if needed, the business know-how you’ll need to secure paid freelancing clients. If you already have some experience with grant writing, additional training or a refresher course certainly can’t hurt. Online classes are generally your best bet, but you can opt for something less intensive as needed. We’ve rounded up a selection of the best grant writing resources, including a wide range of training courses, to help you compare options.

Whatever the case, we also recommend finding a community of other grant writers to join. Hearing from other grant writers, learning from their challenges, sharing your experiences, and celebrating wins together can be an invaluable way to sharpen your skills and build your own career momentum.

Career Paths as a Nonprofit Grant Writer

The most common career paths for nonprofit grant writers generally fall into two general categories—in-house grant writing for a nonprofit and freelance grant writing as an independent consultant.

1. Becoming a Better In-House Grant Writer

Let’s say you already help secure funding for your organization and have maybe even pitched in on (or led) previous grant projects. With this career path, you’ll make grant writing a real area of specialization through extra training and resource allocation.

For context, it pays off when nonprofits invest wisely in grant writing. Grants are a critically important revenue stream for organizations of all sizes, and they play a key role in building nonprofits’ capacities to drive impact.

Why? Because unlike fundraising, which is a continuous effort that requires ongoing (and often a lot of) time and resources, grant writing can be a more efficient path to growth. With an upfront investment of time and resources, you can work to win a large grant that helps your organization build a new program and fund it for a period of time (during which you can secure additional funding or build a sustainable plan for it). All you’ll need to do is run the newly funded program and spend a couple of hours each month or quarter reporting your progress back to the funder.

This kind of effective grant program requires careful strategy, upfront work, and attention to maintain compliance and sustainability. However, it ultimately takes less time than constantly chasing new donors or over-relying on exhausting, unpredictable annual fundraising.

You’ll need: Additional grant writing training scaled to your needs, as well as a plan to pitch the importance and benefits of grant seeking to your organization if everyone isn’t yet on the same page.

2. Becoming a New In-House Grant Writer

Maybe you work at a nonprofit but have never helped with grant writing before. Perhaps you don’t even directly help with fundraising, but you have the desire (or have been asked) to secure more funding for the organization.

Don’t get overwhelmed—training, preparation, and enough time will set you up to succeed.

If your organization is small or has never pursued grants before, the key difference you may encounter in this situation is that you’ll likely need to ensure leadership fully understands what grant writing entails, including:

  • Investments of time and resources
  • Reporting requirements
  • Attention to organization and relationship-building
  • Persistence and ongoing work (even just a few hours a week to start)

Many grant newcomers fail to understand the full scope of what’s needed for long-term success, instead assuming that a stressful application blitz will pay off with funds and then be done. If your proposals are denied, you could then lose organizational buy-in to keep trying—but remember that grant seeking is a long game that pays off. If you lose one grant, you could easily win another by adapting your plan and resubmitting next year.

Organizations need to understand that they stand the best chances at ongoing success when grant writing is a sustained activity, not a one-off longshot. This means that part of your job as the new in-house grant writer is to advocate for grant writing as a long-term strategy.

You’ll need: More in-depth training if you’re starting from scratch and a plan to fully align the organization on what’s required to support the full, ongoing grant lifecycle.

Career Paths as a Freelance Grant Writer

Going the independent route as a grant writer is a popular choice for a few reasons. Self-employment unlocks more freedom in your day-to-day life while allowing you to drive impact for nonprofits in your community. For many freelancers, it’s also quite lucrative.

There are two general paths you might take toward starting as a freelance grant writer, depending on your level of commitment:

3. Starting a Grant Writing Side Hustle

For freelance work on the side, consider launching a grant writing side hustle. This option can work well for part-time professionals, stay-at-home parents, and others who can’t or don’t want to build a new full-time career.

To get started, follow our recommended career change strategy (explained below), and build a small client roster. And make it your own—keep your work scaled to your personal goals and capacity.

You’ll need: Grant writing training appropriate for your needs and a plan and vision for your side hustle. It’s also important to find initial contacts to pitch your services (or an idea of who you’d like to connect with) and time—building any freelance endeavor takes time and patience.

4. Starting an Independent Grant Writing Consultancy

A small freelancing business is a step up from side-hustling and, for many grant writers, the eventual goal of their hard work. This route involves building your side hustle into full-time consulting work for multiple nonprofit clients.

By starting with a side hustle and growing your operations, you’ll benefit from all of the relationships you’ve built along the way with nonprofits, funders, corporate giving programs, government offices, and others.

You’ll need: All the same necessities as a grant writing side hustle but with an extra dash of patience—you can move as fast or as slow as you want, but it takes time to build a successful track record without burning yourself out.

Our Recommended Career Change Framework

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to change your career, but there are some common steps you can follow and adapt that will help you approach the process more intentionally. We call it the Organic Networking Framework, and it allows you to step into a new career at your own pace through building freelance experience. Here’s how it works:

  1. Create an outreach list. Who would you like to work with? For grant writers, this will mean nonprofits that you know (personally or otherwise). Gather a list of these potential clients and begin reaching out with a request to simply chat and learn more about their grant writing efforts and goals.
  2. Host an informational interview. Once you’ve secured a meeting, approach it with the intent to simply listen and learn, not to pitch your services right away. Aim to uncover your contact’s current state and grant goals so you can find an easy way to offer them value.
  3. Determine a quick-win deliverable. Reach back out to offer a quick deliverable that the contact will find valuable. For grant writing, this often means a Funding Strategy, or a roadmap of the next grant opportunities a nonprofit should pursue over the next year or so. This is an easy way to get your foot in the door without committing to or pitching a larger service that the client might not yet be ready for.
  4. Create the deliverable. Once the client agrees and you sign a quick contract, create the deliverable that you’ve offered. Deliver it on time—or earlier!
  5. Amend the contract. Provide your deliverable to the client, and then offer your services to take it a step further. Again, Funding Strategies work particularly well for this because you can easily lay out your plan to put its grant roadmap into action. Explain how you can write the proposals for the opportunities in the Strategy. Once you have determined the details with the client, amend the contract to extend your work.
  6. Repeat and keep improving. Repeat steps 2 through 5 to complete more paid work, building your knowledge and contacts along the way.
  7. Earn $15K through freelancing work and decide next steps. After reaching a revenue goal (whatever makes sense for you, although we recommend $15K for freelancers), think about what you’d like to do next with your new skills and track record. If your goal is to freelance, keep the momentum going. If it’s to find a new full-time job, begin applying and showing off your skills.

This framework offers a customizable, easily-repeatable way to build not just your know-how but your confidence. What it doesn’t mention, however, is training. Again, grant writing training is essential. Programs like the Global Grant Writers Collective are built with freelancers in mind, with specific training coaching on the business skills you’ll need.

However you approach your career change, setting yourself up to succeed through training and freelance work can give you the skills and confidence you need to wow your first clients (or employer) and create a powerful snowball effect. Happy grant writing!

Meredith Noble is the co-founder of Learn Grant Writing and author of the book, How to Write a Grant: Become a Grant Writing Unicorn. She has secured over $45 million in grant funding, and her students have secured over $627 million – a number that grows daily. Meredith can be found adventuring in Alaska or reading.

The title of the article, Multi-Channel Marketing: The Key to Reaching Supporters

Multi-Channel Marketing: The Key to Reaching Supporters

Marketing research indicates that it can take up to 50 touchpoints to make a sale. A few factors influence the exact number of interactions needed, such as industry and where the individual is in their journey. Regardless, this fact points to one major takeaway: multi-channel marketing is essential for driving action.

This holds true in both the for- and nonprofit sectors, meaning your nonprofit needs to connect with supporters repeatedly to inspire support. Multi-channel marketing, the act of contacting supporters across multiple platforms, is often the key to acquiring new donors, volunteers, and advocates. It also spreads awareness of your services and programs to beneficiaries.

To strengthen and diversify your nonprofit’s outreach strategy, we’ll explore why multi-channel marketing works and how your team can use it.

What is multi-channel marketing?

Multi-channel marketing is a strategy that involves communicating with supporters across multiple platforms, such as email, direct mail, and social media. This approach ensures messages reach supporters where they are active and increases the number of times they see your communications.

For example, perhaps your nonprofit is promoting matching gifts. You start by creating a dedicated webpage explaining the program and its impact. To maximize reach, you repurpose that content into a compelling Facebook post, include a mention in a fundraising letter, and send a brief but impactful text message reminder.

For nonprofits, multi-channel marketing builds donor trust and cultivates stronger relationships by providing consistent messaging across various touchpoints. It leverages the strengths of different channels—such as the personal touch of direct mail, the immediacy of social media, and the storytelling power of email—to create a unified donor outreach strategy.

Omni-Channel vs. Multi-Channel Nonprofit Marketing

Multi-channel marketing is related to omni-channel marketing. With multi-channel marketing, you reformat the same message for multiple platforms. With nonprofit omni-channel marketing, each message builds on the one that came before it, integrating multiple channels to create consistent experiences for supporters.

Omni-channel marketing is a more personalized strategy designed to guide supporters through their giving journey. For example, your nonprofit might send a direct mail donation request, thank the donor with an emailed eCard, and then text the donor an invitation to follow you on social media.

Both strategies are valuable and should build upon one another to maximize impact. Start with multi-channel marketing to attract new supporters, learn the basics of communicating via multiple channels, and discover which tactics work best. Then, transition to an omni-channel approach to nurture relationships and encourage long-term giving.

Why does multi-channel marketing matter?

Your supporters don’t all engage with content the same way. Some prefer email, others scroll through social media, and some respond best to direct mail or phone calls. Multi-channel marketing helps you meet supporters on the platforms they actively use.

Instead of relying on a single outreach method, use multi-channel marketing to:

  • Expand your reach. The more platforms your nonprofit markets on, the more prospective supporters will see your content.
  • Build brand recognition. Repeated exposure builds familiarity. When supporters consider which nonprofits to give to, they’ll likely gravitate toward organizations they’ve already heard of. By getting your nonprofit’s name and mission in front of the same supporters repeatedly, they’ll come to know and trust your organization.
  • Improve conversion rates. Each touchpoint pushes supporters toward giving. A donor might ignore your first email, but a follow-up text or social media post can prompt them to give. Providing multiple touchpoints ensures supporters can respond in the most convenient way.

Whether you’re soliciting donations or looking for extra volunteers, diversifying your outreach will keep your cause top of mind for current and potential supporters. Consistency will ensure your message reaches the right people at the right time.

Essential Platforms for A Nonprofit Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

Your nonprofit will need to find a unique combination of platforms that drives results. Select your outreach methods based on what channels your audience uses and how confident your nonprofit is in its ability to maintain an active presence.

Let’s explore a few popular channels.

Email

Email is a powerful channel for driving donations, sharing project updates, and educating supporters about your mission. In 2023, nonprofits experienced a 7% growth in their email subscriber lists. This growth positions email as a reliable channel to deepen your nonprofit’s connection with its audience.

You can enhance your email strategy by:

  • Improving subject lines. Subject lines determine whether an email gets opened. Aim for 50 characters or fewer to avoid getting cut off. Use urgency, curiosity, or personalization to elicit an emotional response and boost your open rates (e.g., “You Can Change a Life Today”).
  • Issuing just one call to action (CTA). Emails that ask donors to take multiple actions, like donating, volunteering, and subscribing to your newsletter, may confuse recipients.
  • Varying the content you send. eCardWidget’s donor retention guide recommends sending donation appeals, personalized thank-yous, impact stories, and mission updates to keep donors engaged. Switch up the format by using letters, monthly newsletters, and digital greeting cards.

Even with these strategies, your emails will only be effective if delivered successfully. If your emails have a high bounce rate, your subscriber list is likely outdated. Use an email append service provider to fill in missing emails and correct defunct ones. In turn, supporters will receive your focused, inspiring emails.

Social Media

Many supporters likely use social media. Focus on the platforms where they’re most active. For inspiration, here’s how to incorporate social media into your nonprofit’s multi-channel marketing strategy:

  • Facebook. Facebook commands a massive audience. While advertising isn’t discounted for nonprofits, Facebook’s audience targeting tools allow you to direct ads to high-value prospects. For organic posts, focus on compelling storytelling, high-quality visuals, and mission-related news stories.
  • Instagram. An Instagram account can be impactful if your nonprofit’s mission lends itself to eye-catching photographs. For example, the animal shelter Perry’s Place went viral for its “Naughty & Nice Cat of the Week” marketing campaign.
  • X (Formerly Twitter). Share timely updates, post about relevant trending topics, and engage via replies and shares. Additionally, keep an eye out for upcoming competitors like Threads and Bluesky.
  • TikTok. Nonprofits have flocked to TikTok in the past few years. However, the future of TikTok in the United States is unclear due to recent legislation. If your nonprofit decides to pursue a TikTok strategy, consider signing up for TikTok for Good, which provides nonprofits with free marketing tools like donation stickers and fundraising livestreams.

When it comes to social media, only create accounts if you know your organization will be able to maintain them. Abandoned accounts can make supporters question your organization’s health.

Nonprofit Website

Your nonprofit’s website is an essential marketing tool. It serves as the central hub for information, tells your organization’s story, and enables supporters to donate or sign up for opportunities.

To create an inspiring website, follow these best practices:

  • Communicate your work. Feature an ‘About’ page, create individual program pages, post case studies, and write blog posts about your mission. Show the difference your nonprofit is making.
  • Feature compelling visuals. Use high-quality images and videos that showcase your nonprofit’s impact. Photos of beneficiaries and volunteers create emotional connections, infographics simplify data, and videos tell inspiring stories.
  • Include trust signals. Showcase impact metrics, testimonials, and reports to build credibility and reinforce donor confidence.
  • Make it easy to navigate. Feature important pages in your website’s navigation menu. Include strong CTAs across key pages to guide visitors toward donating, volunteering, and getting involved.

To improve your website’s discoverability, optimize its content for search engines. That means using relevant keywords in each page’s copy, meta description, and headings. An effective SEO strategy also involves ensuring your site loads quickly and is mobile-friendly. In turn, your site should show up to supporters and beneficiaries looking for nonprofits like yours.

Search Ads

Google processes more than 8.5 billion searches every day. This means the search engine has a massive audience that nonprofits can tap into with search ads. These ads appear at the top of search results for websites related to the user’s query.

For example, here’s a search ad for a nonprofit that explains the organization’s mission to combat adolescent depression. The ad promotes multiple landing pages for learning more and getting involved:

A screenshot of a search ad for the nonprofit Erika’s Lighthouse.

Paid advertisements can get expensive quickly, but fortunately, Google provides nonprofits with credits to spend on search ads. The Google Ad Grants program provides up to $10,000 in ad credits per month to approved charitable organizations. Participants can use their grant money to bid on mission-related keywords and promote specific pages on their websites through text-based ads.

Your nonprofit might promote its:

  • Donation page to encourage financial contributions to your mission
  • Volunteer opportunities to recruit people to help out
  • Fundraising events to encourage registrations
  • Educational content that shares valuable insights and mission updates
  • Program pages to inform people about your services

Essentially, your nonprofit can promote any content that will push its mission forward. If your organization complies with the program’s rules, the grant will renew each month.

Text Message

Text messages connect you with your audience almost immediately, making them effective for quick updates and urgent messages. While text messaging can be a powerful part of your multi-channel marketing strategy, it’s also easy to overuse.

Many people keep their phones within arm’s reach, meaning they will likely see your nonprofit’s messages quickly. While this is convenient for getting your message seen, it also means supporters will be aware of how often you message them. During busy times of the year for marketing, like the end of the year or during election season, it’s easy for supporters to get overwhelmed with text messages.

To retain donors, use text messages sparingly and only when an immediate alert to your audience is appropriate. You might use it to announce an upcoming event, send urgent appeals, remind volunteers about upcoming shifts, encourage donations throughout a campaign, or send donation receipts.

Key times to text supporters, which are written above.

Direct Mail

While much of modern nonprofit communication is digital, there’s still a place for direct mail. Receiving a letter in the mail can make recipients feel special and help your nonprofit stand out.

To build brand recognition, ensure your direct mail communication has the same branding as your online marketing materials. This creates a consistent experience across platforms and presents your nonprofit as a capable, professional organization.

Allegiance Group + Pursuant’s direct mail fundraising guide provides an excellent example of a direct mail insert donors can use to send donations to the Georgia Mountain Food Bank:

An insert donors can fill out and mail in to donate to a nonprofit.

Notice how it features the organization’s colors and an eye-catching image of a child, representing the families the food bank serves. The nonprofit makes it easy to select an amount and provide payment information with clearly labeled boxes. Alternatively, the nonprofit’s website URL is featured in a box, providing the option to give online.

To emulate their approach, start by creating a nonprofit style guide that includes guidelines for direct mail. This might include directions for font sizes, letterheads, and signatures.

Launch Your Nonprofit’s Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy.

By sharing your nonprofit’s messages on multiple channels, your organization can reach new supporters and reinforce your brand identity among current ones. Choose which channels you’ll expand to by assessing your audience’s interests, your nonprofit’s resources, and each platform’s outreach potential. In no time, you’ll strengthen your presence across both online and offline channels.

“Tips for Hosting a Successful Event for Small Businesses”

4 Tips for Hosting a Successful Event for Small Businesses

Picture this: Your small business has been operating online only, but now you’re ready to open a physical storefront. To generate excitement and attract new customers, you host a grand opening event with drinks, snacks, and a 10% discount on every purchase. At the end of the day, you’ve had your most successful day of sales yet and positive feedback from community members who are excited to come back.

Whether you want to boost sales or improve employee retention, events present a valuable opportunity for small businesses that want a concentrated burst to their results. After all, nothing beats the energy and excitement of an event when it comes to fulfilling your goals!

In this guide, we’ll explore four tips for ensuring your small business’s events succeed and bring you great results. Let’s begin!

1. Identify goals for the event.

Many small businesses see events as large investments and are determined to get a great return. However, this can lead them to try to do too much with a single event, resulting in lackluster outcomes.

Don’t expect your event to be a jack of all trades—instead, identify one or two goals it should meet. These might fall into the following categories:

  • Generate leads and sales
  • Increase brand awareness
  • Strengthen customer relationships and loyalty
  • Give back to the community
  • Network with other local organizations
  • Recruit new employees
  • Boost employee satisfaction

For example, let’s say your small business is a gym. You might host an event that helps you increase gym memberships and give back to the community. Your event may also offer tangential benefits, such as increased brand awareness and more connections with local nonprofits, but keep in mind that these are not the main focuses of your event.

Keep your event focused by setting a SMART goal—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. With SMART goals, you’ll always know how far away you are from your desired outcome, allowing you to know when to pivot or adjust your strategies.

2. Choose the right type of event.

If you want to celebrate your ten-year-old’s birthday, would you host a bowling party for them and their friends or take them on a brewery tour? Certain types of events are better suited for specific goals than others. Let’s take a look at the main types of events you may want to host to meet your small business’s goals:

  • Sales events. If you want to generate more sales or leads, choose an event like a business grand opening, product launch party, flash sale, exclusive shopping event, or pop-up store event.
  • Educational events. To increase brand awareness and authority or network with other local organizations, consider hosting workshops, webinars, expert panel discussions, and other educational events.
  • Community events. If you want to help build the community, you can host one of two genres of events. The first consists of entertaining and social events, such as community potlucks and bar mixers. The second is social good events, such as volunteer days or social good fundraising events, where you raise funds for a charitable cause.
  • Employee events. To boost employee retention and satisfaction, host employee events like team retreats and team bonding dinners. For employee appreciation, eCardWidget recommends hosting movie nights, group outings, and holiday parties.
  • Recruiting and networking events. If you want to recruit new employees or connect with other organizations, host local business networking mixers and recruitment fairs to get the partnerships and applicants you desire.

Feel free to get creative and customize these events to your business’s unique needs and industry. For example, if you’re a massage therapist trying to help the community, you might take a vendor booth at the annual community fair and offer free five-minute massages to attendees. On the other hand, if you run a sports goods store, you might host a 5K run instead and donate the proceeds to the local youth center.

3. Add extra value to boost event engagement.

You’re probably already familiar with the event planning process, from establishing a budget to choosing an event venue to purchasing decorations and hiring vendors. Those tasks are essential parts of creating a successful event. However, to take your event to the next level, look beyond them and consider how you can add extra value.

“Extra value” might seem vague, but it refers to any additional perk, benefit, experience, or activity you can offer event attendees. With this added value, not only will invitees be more likely to attend your event, but they’ll also be more engaged during it.

For instance, let’s say you’re organizing a team dinner for your employees where you’ll announce the winner of your Employee of the Month program. Instead of just making the reservation, you might pay for transportation from your office to the event and cover the price of everyone’s drinks. Additionally, you can have a small trophy or plaque made for the winner. These value-adds will ensure team members show up to celebrate your top-performing employees, resulting in greater workplace satisfaction.

Or, perhaps you run a gym and are hosting a marathon. Through this marathon, you’ll raise money on behalf of a local sustainability nonprofit and invest in the well-being of your community. For an extra value-add, you might take Sneakers4Good’s advice and partner with an athletic shoe reuse provider to collect gently worn, new and used sneakers that you’ll trade for more funds to donate. Additionally, offer runners free swag like t-shirts and water bottles to entice more community members to sign up.

4. Measure your event’s results.

Every event you host is a learning opportunity, as long as you take the time to evaluate your results and determine what you can do to improve in the future. After your event, start by looking at key metrics in your event management software:

  • Total registrations
  • Number of actual attendees
  • Number of new attendees
  • Number of returning attendees
  • Total revenue generated during the event
  • Attendee satisfaction levels
  • Engagement rates for specific activities or experiences

Additionally, evaluate metrics even after your event is over. For example, your grand opening may motivate individuals to make purchases even after the event. Or, you might experience elevated hiring metrics for a few weeks after hosting a recruitment event. These give you the big picture of your event’s impact.

Hosting any event is challenging. With these tips, you’re poised to host successful small business events that help you meet your goals, whatever they are!

The title of the article: Nonprofits that Sell Products or Services: 4 Considerations

Nonprofits that Sell Products or Services: 4 Considerations

Sustainable nonprofits have diverse revenue streams, from donations to grants to sales. However, while nonprofits that sell products and services can make more than enough revenue to sustain themselves, undertaking commercial affairs comes with several considerations. 

Nonprofits that rely heavily on product or service sales, like thrift stores, museums, and educational institutions, can experience the benefits of running a business and maintaining nonprofit status. To explain how, this guide will cover four considerations these types of nonprofits should keep in mind.

1. Audience Demand

A successful business sells the products and services its customers want. For many businesses, this involves assessing market needs and designing products or services they feel there is a demand for. However, many nonprofits already have a possible product or service and must find your audience. 

To assess and capture an audience, be sure to:

  • Conduct market research. Before pushing a product to market, you need to understand who is most likely to buy it, how many people are likely to buy it, and at what price point they will buy it. Look for nonprofits with similar sales offerings and assess their business models. Research audience demographics, delivery methods, and value propositions. 
  • Establish your value proposition. Getting Attention’s guide to nonprofit communications outlines three key aspects of a value proposition: audience needs, benefits received, and brand differentiators. In other words, to promote your nonprofit’s products or services, you must explain how they meet your audience’s needs, what the audience gets from a purchase, and how your offerings stand out from your competitors.  
  • Craft relevant marketing materials. Marketing is the art of presenting the right message to the right audience in the right location. For a nonprofit with a brick-and-mortar location, like a thrift store, this might be a radio spot, posters, or mailed flyers. In contrast, a nonprofit specializing in online sales might focus on its web presence and social media outreach. 

Expect to continually reconsider and reassess audience preferences. After launching your product or service offerings, gather data by surveying customers and requesting reviews. This will allow you to glean insights about your business model and audience.

2. Inventory Management

Once you know what products your audience wants, you must order, stock, and manage them. Many nonprofit stores follow the reuse model, where inventory comes from various sources, including donations. This means the exact items you have at any time may be unpredictable, if not outright chaotic. 

You can counter this by employing robust inventory management tools. ThriftCart recommends looking for the following features in inventory management software:

  • Real-time inventory tracking. Ensure you always know what’s in stock and what’s out of stock with real-time inventory updates. That way, you’ll always know what items need to be restocked to meet customer needs. 
  • Automated pickup and dropoff scheduling. If your nonprofit accepts donations to stock products, your inventory management tool can help supporters schedule delivery windows. This makes gathering stock simple for everyone. 
  • Customer reward options. Along with managing your inventory, many point of sale (POS) platforms also provide features that incentivize growth, such as customer reward and loyalty tools. Track customer purchases to offer them perks, send personalized marketing messages, and create custom discounts for upcoming marketing campaigns. 

Inventory and point of sale systems are often highly specialized, so they work with a platform that fits your nonprofit’s sales model. For instance, a thrift store would likely use a different inventory management tool than a museum gift shop.

3. Marketing

To earn sales, your nonprofit needs to inform prospective customers of your offerings. Previously, we touched on the main components of marketing: creating a message for a target audience and displaying it in locations they are likely to see. Let’s break down each of these aspects a bit further:

  • Audience. Who is your nonprofit targeting? The research you did when assessing audience demand for your offerings should be used here. Use your data to get as specific as possible regarding your ideal audience’s demographic information, location, values, buying habits, and communication preferences. For example, a used book store might have several audiences, including lower-income individuals looking for deals and book lovers looking for unique or vintage tomes.
  • Message. Based on the audiences you identify, what messages are likely to resonate with them? Consider your audience’s goals and values. Do they want convenience, a good deal, or unique offerings? Based on your prior analysis, create messages that align with your audience’s preferences.
  • Distribution. Ensure your marketing messages are in locations where your audience is likely to look. This is essential for certain marketing strategies, like search engine optimization (SEO) for nonprofits. SEO relies on understanding what types of keywords your audience is likely to search for and creating content that targets those keywords. Conversely, to court a local audience, you instead invest heavily in distributing your message through traditional channels, like newspaper and radio.

After any marketing push, track the results to assess whether it had the desired impact. You may even discover new insights about your audience, such as by attracting a demographic you weren’t specifically targeting or learning that one communication channel has a higher conversion rate than expected. 

4. Financial Reporting 

To sell products and maintain nonprofit status, charitable organizations must be extra conscious of their finances and reporting requirements. For U.S.-based nonprofits, you must follow a few guidelines:

  • Products must be related to your mission. All commercial ventures must be related to your nonprofit’s mission. For instance, an environmental nonprofit selling t-shirts that promote awareness of endangered species would be considered mission-related. If it’s determined your commercial offerings are not mission-related, your nonprofit will need to track Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT), and if you make over $1,000 in non-mission-related sales, file Form 990-T. 
  • Donations are reported. Nonprofits that accept in-kind donations to fuel their inventory (like thrift or reuse stores) will need to report these contributions. This also applies to other types of in-kind donations, such as prizes you might solicit for a charity auction. And be sure to provide supporters with donation receipts for items that are valued at $250 or more to comply with IRS guidelines.
  • Revenue is invested back into the nonprofit. Nonprofits can and often do make a profit through sales of products or services. The key is that the extra revenue must be spent on mission-related activities. For instance, a thrift store might use its profits to buy items in bulk from wholesalers or restore vintage items.

If you need assistance properly managing your organization’s finances, consider working with an external accounting firm that specializes in nonprofits. These consultants will understand the unique challenges charitable organizations face and be able to help your nonprofit navigate potentially confusing reporting requirements.

Products and services bring in vital revenue for your nonprofit. Ensure you conduct your commercial ventures transparently, in an organized manner, and with an eye to your audience’s needs. To get started, consider your software needs and employ the right tools for managing the commerce side of your nonprofit.

The article’s title, “Top Ways Nonprofits Can Use a Learning Management System”

4 Ways Nonprofits Can Use a Learning Management System

No matter how straightforward your nonprofit’s mission is, the work behind it is complex. To power your operations, you need to recruit and retain a strong team of staff and volunteers. To ensure your long-term success, you need to maintain a confident and informed board of directors. To raise enough funds to sustain your programs and services, you need to convince your community that your cause is worthy of support.

By implementing a learning management system (LMS), you can facilitate all of these efforts and centralize training and education into one platform. Let’s explore the top ways your nonprofit can use an LMS to advance its mission.

1. Train Staff and Volunteers

Every day, your staff and volunteers work hard to keep your organization’s doors open—whether they’re crafting marketing materials, planning events, or compiling financial reports. By providing these dedicated individuals with continuous learning opportunities, you allow them to develop the skills and competencies they need to excel in their roles.

With an LMS, your nonprofit can:

  • Design a structured onboarding process. Produce welcome videos and introductory courses that acquaint new employees and volunteers with your organization’s mission, values, history, and programs. These courses can be self-paced so that team members can complete them at their preferred learning speed.
  • Provide role-specific training. By creating learning paths tailored to specific roles, you can set employees and volunteers up for success in managing their individual responsibilities. For example, you might enroll managers in training courses that cover topics such as delegation and change management.
  • Construct a collaborative learning environment. Help new employees and volunteers build connections within your nonprofit from day one. Use discussion boards and forums on your LMS to encourage team members to interact and reflect on what they’re learning.

Bonus tip: Since your staff and volunteers have differing learning preferences, offer a variety of content types and formats to engage them. For example, one employee might appreciate podcasts since they enjoy auditory, self-paced learning. Another employee might be more excited to attend a virtual nonprofit conference because they love networking.

2. Educate Board Members

A strong nonprofit board steers your organization toward success and champions your mission across everything you do. However, nonprofit leaders have previously rated their board’s performance in understanding their responsibilities, the context in which the organization is working, and legislative issues as a C or C+.

To better equip your board members to fulfill their fiduciary, legal, and ethical duties, your nonprofit can use an LMS to:

  • Set up a consistent orientation process. Create educational modules that cover the basics of your organization in a logical sequence. Go over areas such as your mission, board expectations, current programs, and impact.
  • Improve board financial literacy. Brief board members on basic topics, including budgeting, audit preparation, and financial reporting. Incorporate your nonprofit’s real financial data into the training to allow your board to practice analyzing it.
  • Clarify compliance requirements. Maintaining compliance with IRS regulations, reporting requirements, and grant conditions can seem complicated to less experienced board members. Provide courses with relevant guidelines and real case studies for learners to reference anytime.
  • Engage board members in fundraising. According to Double the Donation’s rundown on recent nonprofit trends, major donor fundraising is more important than ever before. Make it easy for board members to participate in fundraising by offering courses on identifying prospects within their network, building donor relationships, and communicating compelling stories.

Bonus tip: Some financial and legal topics may seem dull or daunting to board members. Make the learning process more appealing by adding interactive quizzes that reinforce their knowledge and badges that reward their hard work.

3. Spread Community Awareness

An LMS can enhance your nonprofit’s marketing strategy by providing more opportunities for people to interact with your cause. Education is the first step to long-term engagement with your mission. The more people understand how important your work is, the more likely they are to donate and spread the word to others.

With an LMS, your nonprofit can:

  • Raise more. Boost your fundraising results by encouraging more people to engage with your cause. Produce courses relevant to your mission and make them available to your community for free. For example, a health nonprofit could teach its audience about preventative care and stress management. A disaster relief organization might host classes on how families can create emergency kits and evacuation plans.
  • Boost advocacy. Empower supporters to make their voices heard on relevant issues. Create training modules that prepare advocates for contacting legislators and equip them with strong storytelling skills. Launch webinars that explore how local policy changes affect your community.
  • Form local partnerships. Look for opportunities to partner with local schools, businesses, and other organizations to design co-branded education programs for the community. For example, a literacy-focused nonprofit could work with local libraries to develop courses that families and their children can enroll in to promote early childhood reading.

Bonus tip: Focus on accessibility so anyone can engage with your learning content. For example, provide text transcripts alongside videos, ensure your PDFs are compatible with screen readers, and make it easy for users to navigate your courses using only a keyboard. Look for an LMS that supports multiple languages to reach a more diverse audience.

4. Fulfill Your Mission

For many nonprofits, creating meaningful change within their community starts with education. Whether you’re helping beneficiaries lead better lives or address urgent needs in your area, an LMS can facilitate how you run your programs and services.

For example:

  • A nonprofit dedicated to bridging the digital divide can offer accessible courses to low-income communities that cover basic computer skills and online safety practices.
  • A nonprofit that helps people who were formerly incarcerated find employment can host virtual mock interviews, resume workshops, and mentorship sessions.
  • A nonprofit working to end homelessness can offer courses on personal finance, housing applications, and job searching to people experiencing homelessness.
  • A nonprofit that champions art and culture in the community can organize online workshops led by artists and video tutorials that people can follow.

Bonus tip: When researching LMS options, check whether the platform integrates with your existing software. For example, a Salesforce LMS integration makes it easy for your team to manage and adjust your learning program based on the data stored in your Salesforce system. The more connected your tools are, the better visibility you have into how your educational offerings are moving your mission forward.

As you create learning opportunities for your nonprofit’s community, look for ways to improve engagement over time. TopClass recommends using your LMS’s reporting tools to track learner progress, course hours, and test results to gain more insights into your learning program. Use this data, combined with learner feedback, to guide your strategy and build a better experience going forward.