Conducting an information interview can be a great way to learn about different nonprofit careers. Follow these tips to get the most out of your next information interview.
Career Q&A: A primer on conducting informational interviews
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Articles
Events without fundraising
This article suggests some reasons why nonprofits may wish to hold an event without the intention of raising funds.
Why do we give?
According to recent Ipsos Reid statistics, around 80% of Canadians give to charity every year. That means close to 25 million of us make some sort of philanthropic gesture per annum. It’s an incredible stat.
Human Resources Q&A: Bonding remote teams through leadership and communciation
How to create and maintain a team environment when many people work outside the office.
Email Donor Newsletters: Improve open rates for online fundraising success
One of the greatest challenges in email fundraising is poor open rates. The majority of donors who subscribe to email donor newsletters receive them but never open them. Improve your open rates today using these proven methods.
Career Q&A: Putting your career plan into action
Is going above your immediate supervisor to discuss your future ambition with your organization ever a good idea?
User-centric writing: It’s not about you
If you want to engage your constituencies, then your content needs to reflect their needs, call out to what they are interested in, and offer opportunities to take action, volunteer, donate, and most importantly create value so they will return to your space online.
Governance Q&A: Balancing a community’s needs with your organization’s ability to deliver
A look at the values-based decision-making options available to organizations when facing new opportunities.
The dirty (half) dozen: Six myths that can stop your nonprofit career cold
Examine the six myths about a career in the nonprofit sector – before eagerly jumping into it!
Five emerging patterns of volunteerism
This article outlines five trends in volunteerism.
The future of volunteer centres in Canada
The number of communities interested in starting volunteer centres outnumbers the ones where volunteer centres are closing their doors. The future of volunteer centres hinges on building awareness, being relevant, and successfully expanding traditional functions.
Evaluating your not-for-profit organization
Not-for-profit organizations are increasingly investing time and resources in planning. Equally important is the task of evaluating the work and progress of the organization, especially as it relates to delivering such plans.
Career Q&A: Addressing the question of weakness during a job interview
If life circumstances have forced you to take a number of short-term jobs, how do you prove to a future employer that you can be counted upon?
Charities and the appeals process
This article outlines the appeals process charities undertake when disputing a penalty imposed by the Canadian Revenue Agency.
How to market your event
This article offers some suggestions for advertising and marketing an event. (out of date? Misses social media)
The little loan that could: Microcredit yields macro effect
The Global Microcredit Summit is being billed as a watershed event for the microcredit community and will have ramifications for hundreds of millions of people over the next decade. So why might this summit be one of the seminal moments in world history?
First aid for projects
This article looks briefly at projects in crisis and provides you with some key first aid steps to follow when trying to resuscitate them.
Human Resources Q&A: Making sure employees implement new learning
How to make sure employees transfer training to the workplace.
Boost direct mail donations without asking for them
How well you steward your direct mail donors is key to whether they will keep giving.
Board assessment? Why bother?
An article describing the benefits of performance assessment for a board.
View from the top: The realities of being an executive director
The executive director (ED) is the fulcrum between day-to-day management of the office and the board of directors. It’s a unique and rewarding position, but according to many who occupy it, it’s also a lonely one.
Governance Q&A: Conflicts of interest beyond the board and executive levels
Conflict of interest is possible and serious throughout all levels of staff. The Code of Conduct for staff, and staff training and orientation, should address it explicitly.
Exploring the next generation of retirees: The baby boomers
This article provides key tips to prepare your organization for baby boomer volunteers.
Succession planning: What you didn’t know you need to do
There’s much talk these days about the impending retirement of the generation we refer to as baby boomers. How will the organization function without the efficacy and strategic aptitude of Mr. or Mrs. Retiree? How can an organization ensure it finds talented people to fill their shoes?
Key ingredients to a successful government grant application
Three key ingredients to add to charities’ formulas for successful business grantwriting
The ‘how-to’ of public policy engagement
Whenever policy is made, or is slated to come down the pike, it affects the greater social landscape, and by extension, the charitable infrastructure. But do voluntary sector organizations really understand how to jump into these policy discussions effectively and make their positions and feedback known?
Tools for nonprofit leaders: Tips for improving your website
If you’d like some ideas on the big picture of website planning, you you might find this article helpful.
Career Q&A: What to do when your job becomes obsolete
Careers within any industry are subject to change, with new careers opening up and other careers becoming obsolete. What do you do if the work you are trained to do is no longer needed?
Tips for frugal fundraisers
This article offers suggestions for cutting the costs of hosting large fundraising events.
The Very Long Engagement: Public policy and the voluntary sector’s role
Canada’s voluntary sector is as diversified as it is ubiquitous. Yet most nonprofit organizations share a common objective: the need to engage in an ongoing, mutual dialogue with government to help shape and influence public policy.
Financial literacy for boards: Part two
This article continues on from part one and is designed to help board members read and understand financial statements.
Human Resources Q&A: Job descriptions to find your ideal employee
Tips for writing a job description to attract the right employee.
Do your donors hear voices (in your donation request letters)?
Fundraising letters are about people. People talk. So your fundraising letters should include the voices of people.
The pitfalls and positives of strategic planning
A strategic planning consultant and three organizations – ranging in size from one staff member to a team of 180 – share the positives they’ve learned about strategic planning and how to overcome some of the pitfalls.
Governance Q&A: Does anything bad ever happen to nonprofit staff or volunteers who behave unethically?
How to respond to unethical – and potentially damaging – behaviour in a nonprofit organization.
Navigating your content online
Why information architecture is key to making your content usable.
The Nexus: Where nonprofit needs meet management expertise
Faced with stagnant attendance, declining subscriptions and staff turnover, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir asked Rotman NeXus, an innovative fresh-faced agency, to help their song regain a profitable sound.
Tools for nonprofit leaders: Succession planning in the not-for-profit world
What would happen to your organization if the CEO or senior fundraiser were incapacitated and not able to serve for several months or forever? As part of your planning process you need to plan to replace key people if required to do so. It is called succession planning.
Career Q&A: What counts as “experience” and how do I get it?
When job ads ask for a certain number of years of experience, what does that actually mean? And how do you go about getting that if you've just graduated from a school program or are making a career change?
Issues in implementing a project management office
This article provides you with some of the common yet hard-won wisdom and lessons learned that have been gained from professionals deploying PMOs.
State of the Arts Nation: Philanthropy in Canada’s cultural community
How often does the average Canadian reach into her pocket and make a donation to a favourite arts organization? How are arts organizations expected to thrive when faced with a highly competitive and saturated funding pool and ever-diminishing public funds?
Making your event stand out from the crowd
This article provides some tips to make your fundraising event unique
Financial literacy for boards: Part one
This article is designed to help board members read and understand financial statements.
Your not-for-profit fundraising letter program has three goals
Your direct mail fundraising program should have three goals: Acquire, Renew, Upgrade.
Governance Q&A: Transparency versus secrecy
The appropriate degree of transparency for an organization requires consideration of accountability, privacy, confidentiality and trust.
Content is king online
Today, with the evolution of the next generation of the web, popularly referred to Web 2.0, the web is all about content, connection and collaboration.
Charitable gaming ethics and issues
While most people can enjoy gaming responsibly, there is mounting evidence and concern that the activity is impacting Canadian society in harmful ways. Ironic then that many charitable organizations rely on gambling revenue for their causes.
Gimme Shelter: What it takes to be a successful umbrella organization
How does an umbrella organization fulfill its stated goals and satisfy its members who entrust it with their confidence and, sometimes even their fees?
Tools for nonprofit leaders: Using templates
As we build our inventory of tools for leaders of nonprofit organizations, we devote this month’s article to templates. A template is document or file having a preset format, used as a starting point for a particular application so that the format does not have to be recreated each time it is used.
Career Q&A: When and how to follow up on an application
When is the best time to follow up once you've submitted a resume? How do you follow up when a job ad states "no phone calls"?
