Services at
M & L Nonprofit Consulting
The marketplace for nonprofit fundraising has become extremely competitive over the last 25 years. While the charitable giving pie has not gotten substantially larger, the number of organizations seeking funding from individuals, corporations and foundations has increased substantially. There is no reason to believe that in the future this trend will change.
That being said, the most successful fundraising organizations are ones that understand why people give to the nonprofit sector. The biggest factor for successful fundraising organizations and people is that they have learned the importance of developing and maintaining relationships with their donors and potential donors.
Because relationship building is essential for successful fundraising, our fundraising training will help you and your organization understand the basics of relationship based fundraising. With our friends, we thank them for their support of us. Donors like to be thanked as well. If we have a good idea for making a real difference in the world, we can only enlist others in our efforts if we help others catch the vision of what we want to accomplish. Donors want to capture of vision to make a difference. We just have to be able to tell a compelling story of how that is possible. We must learn how to help others think about the kind of legacy they hope to leave for future generations.
When you invite us to work with you, here are the kinds of fundraising tools we will help you with:
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Relationship Building with Friends and Donors 101
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Moving from cultivation to solicitation to sustained giving
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Thanking and connecting with donors regularly and sincerely
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Telling a compelling story of our work
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Creating a comprehensive annual plan for fundraising
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Implementing an Annual Fund Campaign
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Evaluating if “special” events are in our future
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The pluses and minuses of grants
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Assessing our plan for fundraising
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Dashboards and reporting
Sustainability for nonprofit organizations is The Most Important item that a board and leadership staff must address. Creating sustainable organizations means careful planning. Have you worked on a strategic plan lately? Would you like to learn how to go about create a “usable” Strategic Plan”?
The key is not just to create a plan. It must be a plan that is actually taking your organization some place positive and one that your nonprofit will actually use.
Here is what we can help you with in regards to a strategic plan and sustainable direction:
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Training on “why” to create a plan in the first place
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Who should be involved in the dreaming and scheming of a plan
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Who should be involved in implementing the plan
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Where should we be heading in the future or Is where we are heading now going to get us there?
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How to monitor a plan and make it user friendly
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What does money have to do with a good plan?
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What to do when the bottom falls out? Crisis management 101
Nonprofit boards of directors come in many shapes and sizes. Some like to be hands-on and are involved in matters that staff could be handling. Other boards work hard to understand their role as dealing with the “ends” policies and making sure that senior staff is watching after the “means” of organizational work.
Boards are important and necessary as the primary fiduciary agents of the nonprofit. Boards also matter because they are charged with carrying the mission of the organization and its future sustainability.
However, many board members are uncomfortable with a variety of tasks that boards are uniquely suited to perform such as: "friendraising", personal solicitations and bringing on new board members who share a passion for the work and who can bring significant funds to the organization.
If your board members would like to feel more comfortable with the many gifts they can bring to the table, here are a few of the trainings we can offer:
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Holding the vision and mission of the organization as board members
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Assessing board members gifts and graces
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Board effectiveness assessment
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Learning how to work as a team with the board and the CEO
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Learning how to cultivate donors and ask for major gifts
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How to spot a good “potential” board member and how to challenge current board members
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Annual board retreat model
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Best practices in board governance
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Legal responsibilities for board members