In this three-part series, Dunleavy’s own Engagement Team Leader, Susannah Coleman, reports on research she conducted in the summer of 2021 for her Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies. Her study reveals some important new insights about the impact of organizational culture on fundraising success. In this first installment, we begin with the identification of three hallmarks of good organizational culture that, in turn, set the scene for the development of a subset of organizational culture – the culture of philanthropy.

Great news! Your Board of Directors has just approved a capital campaign! Your members/students/ alumni/staff/athletes are finally going to get the brand-spanking new shiny building /facilities/ equipment/future they so richly deserve. Fantastic! So, why are you trembling and your knees knocking together? Isn’t this what you have been asking for? Oh, you’ve never been involved in a capital campaign before. Got it. Or maybe you’ve been through the capital campaign process, but it didn’t go so well, or it was just really, really hard. Yep, got that too. In the following few paragraphs, we’re going to unpack your next four plays to put you on sure footing for your most successful campaign ever!

The Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM] reported in a recent article that 2021 will likely bring a “turnover tsunami.” The pandemic and its impact on nonprofit organizations has left many long time leaders determining that now is a good time to move on. Those left in the wake of this exiting wave are scrambling to fill those C-Suite positions with in-demand talent and leadership that can lead the organizations through the challenges of an unforeseeable future. The change at the top represents a chance to revitalize the mission of the organization. But for many nonprofit Boards – those who carry the burden for executing a successful leadership search – seizing the opportunity within the transition is beyond their capacity as volunteers and busy professionals in their own right. As a first step in this process, we offer the following seven questions to those on the cusp of an executive search.

Anyone who has been around the nonprofit fundraising space for a minute knows that the last two months of the calendar year are all about the appeal. For many organizations, more individual gifts are made in November and December than in all the remaining months combined. Your donors expect an appeal letter (or two or three). Some donors even schedule all of their annual giving for the last week in December. The cycle is as predictable as Black Friday and turkey on Thanksgiving and holiday music in the grocery store. But what if you could flip the script and surprise your donors with a meaningful gift for them – without breaking the bank? What if you could turn the whole topsy-turvy race for end-of-year dollars on its head and replace it with an intentional outreach that delights your most faithful friends? I know, sounds pretty good. It’s possible. But you have to plan ahead. And, first, you need to ask yourself one simple question.