Library
Click on categories below (document tags) to call up all documents in that category (number of documents is given in parentheses), or enter in Tag box. Type in a keyword below to find documents by a word in their title or description.
In addition to the resources in the Library, Valley Nonprofit Resources’ website has available publications that can be downloaded for free from its past projects – the MENDing Poverty conference series, Raising the Bar Project, Latino Multifamily Group Program, and Latino Multifamily Groups for Type II Diabetes Project.
A Timeless Fundraising Strategy That Also Looks Good
An article written for The NonProfit Times, applies the idea of a “capsule wardrobe” to fundraising and marketing. The article defines the staple pieces in a fundraising closet and offers advice to those looking to organize or update their fundraising plans.
A Too-Sad Truth About the Nonprofit Sector
Is there something in society's subconscious that expects nonprofits to operate in "poverty-like ways"? This article provides a number of replies, asserting that the "poverty" approach is often not the most effective for a nonprofit to use in reaching its objectives.
A White Paper: On Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship
The term fiscal sponsorship actually refers to several different, often overlapping arrangements; the common denominator is generally that a group wishing to conduct a charitable program without incorporating or obtaining Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognition utilizes an existing 501(c)(3) nonprofit as its fiscal sponsor. Many groups, though charitable in nature, lack the legal status they need to receive grants from foundations, individual donors and government agencies. Regular tax exempt
Achieving Growth Through Partnerships
When is a partnership the right path for greatly expanding the impact of a successful nonprofit? That's the question recently faced at BELL (Building Educated Learners for Life), a highly effective provider of summer and after-school programs that boost at-risk kids' academic performance and self-confidence. While partnerships can be an efficient way to quickly expand impact, the reality is that they are hard to forge and take more time and effort than you might think. BELL's journey to teaming
Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage
Is an article written by Martin Reeves and Mike Deimler. Sustainable competitive advantage no longer comes from traditional positioning or resources. Instead, it stems from the four organizational capabilities that foster rapid adaptation: the ability to read and act on signals of change; the ability to experiment rapidly and frequently-not only with products and services but also with business models, processes, and strategies; the ability to manage complex and interconnected systems of multipl
Advice and Tips for Nonprofits Creating a Marketing Team
This is an easy to follow, step-by-step process for turning a nonprofit's staff and board into a marketing team.
All Aboard: Boards that Work
Building off the 2014 Money for Our Movements debate, at the last Grassroots Institute’s Conference, in this piece Kim Klein and Stephanie Roth argue that nonprofit organizations can have the boards they want and need, and offer ideas for how to achieve them.
America's Dirtiest Job: Nonprofit Telemarketer?
So many people hate telemarketing calls that there are whole websites devoted to ways to torment and infuriate the people making those calls. Are telemarketers evil fiends who should be despised and tortured whenever possible? Read this article featuring first-person accounts of individual experiences in nonprofit telemarketing.
America’s Nonprofits Get Out the Vote
New survey analysis on the prevalence of nonprofit voter engagement and its intersection with race, leadership, and community served. Seven in 10 voters say they think it is a good idea for nonprofits to offer voter support services, like voter registration, election reminders, and election day transportation. Additionally, nonprofits effectively reach communities underrepresented at the polls, including low-income, young, and voters of color. Finally, nonprofit voter engagement significantly bo
An Executive Director's Guide to Financial Leadership
There is a world of difference between financial management and financial leadership, and refocusing a nonprofit’s approach fiscal sustainability and agility is essential. Outlined in this expert guide are such activities as transforming annual budget analysis, deciding whether or not income diversification is appropriate, achieving a robust reserve, and equipping the board for effective financial governance.
An Open Data Overview
Should an organization be sharing the information it gathers about programs and services? There are benefits to doing so—and there are risks. Generally, sharing data is not common practice, but as funders increasingly demand information about the effectiveness of the organizations they support, more and more nonprofits are doing so. This article discusses how to share data.
Are You – Or Your Organization - Guilty of Trickle-Down Community Engagement?
“Trickle-Down” is when an organization bypasses the people who are most affected by a certain issue, engages and funds larger organizations to tackle these issues, and then hopes that miraculously the people most affected will help out in the effort, usually for free. According to this article, such an approach often sabotages community engagement efforts.
Asking Questions About Sustainability, Scale, and Systems Change
Asking Questions About Sustainability, Scale, and Systems Change is an article written by Ryan Glasgo & Sandhya Nakhasi for Stanford Social Innovation Review. The article details a flexible, mission-based approach for nonprofits trying to plan for scale, systems change, and sustainability at the same time.
Auditing Your Hiring Practices in 10 Steps
Is an article written for The NonProfit Times. In the article, authors Maxine Harris and Michael B. O'Leary provide some sample questions to help audit the hiring process and assess the extent to which it follows evidence-based practices.
Automatic Revocation of Nonprofits' Tax-Exempt Status: What Nonprofits, Grantmakers, and Donors Need to Know
Is a GuideStar report by Linda M. Lampkin of the Economic Research Institute. On May 17, 2010, the IRS began revoking tax-exempt status from nonprofits that failed to file three consecutive annual returns. This report provides information on which organizations are at risk, what steps affected organizations should take, and the impact this action will have on the nonprofit sector.