Top products from r/nonprofit
We found 23 product mentions on r/nonprofit. We ranked the 35 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
1. The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need (Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need: Top Grant Writers &)
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 2
2. Managing Transitions, 25th anniversary edition: Making the Most of Change
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Da Capo Lifelong Books
3. TONOR Conference USB Microphone, Omnidirectional Condenser PC Mic for Video Conference, Recording, Skype, Online Class, Court Reporter, Plug & Play Compatible with Mac OS X Windows PC Compute
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Omnidirectional Mini Microphone -▲▲It is not a Speaker or Speakerphone, it is a condenser microphone.▲▲ The microphone has an omnidirectional pickup pattern with a pickup distance of 11.5 ft, making it easy to capture the most subtle sounds from 360° directions and transmit the sound more l...
4. The Forgotten Foundations of Fundraising: Practical Advice and Contrarian Wisdom for Nonprofit Leaders
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
5. The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management (Afp Fund Development)
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
7. The Work of Leaders: How Vision, Alignment, and Execution Will Change the Way You Lead
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Pfeiffer Company
8. The Practitioner's Guide to Governance as Leadership: Building High-Performing Nonprofit Boards
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
9. Developing Dynamic Boards: A Proactive Approach to Building Nonprofit Boards of Directors
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
10. How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation (National Edition)
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
11. Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
12. A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery
Sentiment score: -1
Number of reviews: 1
Free Press
13. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Great product!
14. Managing a Nonprofit Organization in the Twenty-First Century
Sentiment score: -1
Number of reviews: 1
16. Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
17. Fundraising Fundamentals: A Guide to Annual Giving for Professionals and Volunteers
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
18. Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Jossey-Bass
I can hear it in your voice, to coin a phrase, Brad: you're chomping to take the reins and realize the vast potential of your school, and fulfill the vision you have for it. But at the end of the day, a successful nonprofit leader inspires others to create an impact, working together, far more than they could ever achieve on their own. You might have the ten strongest horses, but if they aren't all pointed to the same destination, your cart will be pulled apart. This means going back to my first suggestion, which is to bring your leaders together to make sure you are all aligned. The precursor to this step is to have a frank, earnest talk with your dad about HIS vision for the school. (If he brought you in, I'd be curious to hear HIS answer about to whom the school belongs...) Then you can share your vision, which might inspire him to try new strategies and think in new ways.
Once you have THAT conversation, it's then time for you two to confer about which people to invite to board positions. That shifts the designation of board members from a power struggle to a candid conversation about a means (leaders) who can deliver you to the end (the vision).
What does this have to do with your initial question? Because visioning conversations like these make the difference between managing and leading. ANYONE can 'run a nonprofit', but true community leaders create opportunities for people to do great things. Had I known that, I would have engaged the myriad people who offered to help me with all the work that I insisted on doing myself, and SO MUCH MORE would have been done.
Also, this book will change how you lead:
https://www.amazon.com/Work-Leaders-Vision-Alignment-Execution/dp/1118636538/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470002677&sr=8-1&keywords=vision+alignment+execution
Hope this is helpful. Kinda cathartic for me... :) Thanks for the opportunity to share!
M
I would say the "project" is what you hope the person you are hiring will accomplish. You want to talk about the organization and the people or things you will be helping. What will you be able to do better or more of since you're able to hire this person? In six months, you report on your progress toward that goal.
I'm sure you know this, but it never hurts to have a reminder: just make sure you're connecting this employee/hire to THEIR mission, not just your own.
Best of luck!
ETA: I really like The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need though it isn't. But it is a great help.
Happy belated birthday. I finally have some time to respond to this when I'm at the office and have relevant things handy.
Books to read:
I'm a student with no degree or professional experience in the field and I'm a grant writer. It's certainly possible to get into it. Fortunately, I had a lot of opportunities in high school to get solid training in writing (i.e. debate team, student publications, newspaper staff and stuff like that). So talent and solid writing skills are a must. But here's what I did to build up a good skillset in this particular field:
This is a good way to start. I got my job sort of by chance, I just happened to be talking to someone at the right time and had the right connections.
warning- if you really don't think a nonprofit can make it, don't jump onto a sinking ship. Ultimately, funders don't fund programs because of the programs themselves. I do a lot of brainstorming with our staff and have the ability to speak my peace/give advice and they hear me out because for the most part I know enough to know what works and what doesn't.
I still have a long way to go for sure, but the above is how I got this far.
If it were me, I would maybe start with crowd-sourcing rather than grant-seeking. In general, grants have gotten pretty competitive, and they want to see a track record of success before they hand you money. It's really difficult to get grants as a startup.
If you have a university near you, I would recommend reaching out to some students in the Accounting department or Business/Management department, or if you're really lucky and they have an MPA program, some of the students there. Doing consulting work can bolster a student's portfolio and employability down the line, and they will probably give you advice at a lower price than you'd pay for an established pro.
If you're into reading a few more books, I would recommend this one for a general overview, and this one for fundraising information. I found them both to be very readable and informative, and you can dig through their bibliographies for additional sources.
The basic philosophy goes by a number of names and specific strategies, but give 'major gift cycle' or donor moves management a search. I unfortunately, don't have any electronic resources on the matter I can share that aren't confidential or pay walled. I'd recommend the AFP though as a great resource.
But this book may interest you. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0471738379/
In my fundraising class in undergrad we used this book . It's not an interesting read but it's packed with lots of useful information and points of reference. I would check out some university websites as well, they're pretty good at retaining annual donors.
Definitely go with a laptop or other computer as others have said. A smart TV won't have skype or zoom or other software installed or easily accessed. Basically, the org I worked for needed a rolling video-conference setup, so we did this:
-Got a rolling TV stand (nothing fancy, I think someone had an old tv stand at home that we used)
-Put a TV on the stand
-Used a Mac Mini (or similar computer) that we weren't using, attached that to the TV
-Used a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to control the computer
-Bought an external microphone (super important)
-Bought a webcam to put on top of the TV
​
We found that the TV was plenty loud, so an external microphone (USB, like this one) was more important than external speakers. Worked okay, never worked great -- but hey it worked good enough.
Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but it offers some really great guidance for transforming the way your board functions. Have started to implement some of the authors suggestions. May be worth looking into, but may not be worth spending $50+ on.
https://www.amazon.com/Practitioners-Guide-Governance-Leadership-High-Performing/dp/1118109872/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4ZW450XWE3TBYH6F7WHX
Nonprofit Bookkeeping and Accounting For Dummies
I've not read this book in particular, but I've found this series shockingly good at giving you basic education on any given subject.
Nonprofit Sustainability is a good one. A CEO I've worked with has specifically cited it as helping her to prioritize programs within her organization.
This is all about change management, and it requires clear goals and a plan to get there. The culture of an organization is so important and hard to change without a framework and real accountability. There are a million books on the topic. I've found Managing Transitions by Bridges and Bridges to be helpful.
Fundraising for Social Change by Kim Klein is one of my favorites. I saw her speak a couple years back and it changed the way I looked at fundraising.
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https://www.amazon.com/Fundraising-Social-Change-7th-Klein/dp/1119209773/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZX1S703K6R24TDP6YPC7
We used Carver's "Boards that make a difference" in one of my nonprofit classes in my MPA program. It was a good intro to Boards and Board governance issues.
http://www.amazon.com/Boards-That-Make-Difference-Organizations/dp/0787976164
Just a quick recommendation that you read about the Carver Model of Board Governance. (I have no connection to anything Carver.) I used it once to successfully establish the proper boundaries between the board and the ED.
https://www.amazon.com/Carver-Policy-Governance-Guide-Member/dp/0470392525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469061278&sr=8-1&keywords=carver+model
One of the issues for Directors in a not-for-profit is they get asked to play two roles -- operational volunteers and governors. To get around this, I create committees and the rule is operations can be discussed at committees, but governance is discussed at the board level.
This is the textbook that was used in my fundraising class for a master's in nonprofit management. Might be worth a read to gather your bearings and get a fundamental approach to development! The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management (Afp Fund Development) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119289327/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_m6JvDbK06C4Q2
Forgotten Foundations of Fundraising
This. And buy the NOLO
If anyone's actually interested in the slavery issue, or trafficking, I'd recommend reading A Crime So Monstrous- Face to Face with Modern Day Slavery.
It's pretty eye-opening, and also very difficult to read, but also has some very good points about why Western nations tend to focus on sex trafficking instead of the broader issue of slavery worldwide, and how politics plays into that.