Mentorship is an elusive idea. Magazines are full of advice on building and maintaining most kinds of relationships (employment, marriage, parenting), but there are few road maps for finding and nurturing mentorships. This despite the fact that most, if not all, leaders will include the support they received from mentors as part of their recipes... Read More
Producing audit-ready financial records for a private foundation can be an intimidating task—even for financial professionals. With fiscal year-ends that may differ from a calendar year (they do at roughly 50% of private foundations according to Thomas F. Blaney, CPA, CFE and partner, director of foundation services at PKF O’Connor Davies)—there often is no simple 12-month... Read More
Recent press coverage has been rife with stories of public companies taking forgivable loans under the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP). In times of economic uncertainty, it’s understandable that many businesses quickly applied for whatever programs were available. But businesses with strong banking relationships crowded out many nonprofits from accessing the funding stream. The initial $349... Read More
What’s your foundation’s brand? Many foundations don’t recognize the value of investing in their brand. Yet, organizations that prioritize and integrate strategic communications into their core operations have a distinct advantage meeting their goals and executing their missions. What Is a Foundation Brand? Your foundation brand isn’t your logo. Your brand is the complex mix of... Read More
Imagine you are running your first marathon. Coming up on the final mile, your energy is flagging, but you know you can make it. Then, all of a sudden, you see a sign that reads “Finish line 4 miles ahead.” Whether you could physically make it or not is beside the point now. Your mental... Read More
Funders create charts and graphs—visualize their data—for different audiences and different purposes. Sometimes funders serve as unbiased disseminators of data as-is; other times they seek to tell a story—and fast. It’s not that one method of data visualization—as is vs. storytelling—is better or worse. But it is up to you to figure out when your viewers expect each style and... Read More