With the end of the year on the horizon, your supporters may be thinking about making charitable contributions they can deduct on their 2017 federal tax returns. If you want to keep those supporters on your side, though, you need to explain that different types of donations can carry different tax benefits — and some donations aren’t deductible at all. Continue reading All charitable deductions aren’t created equal →

Overheard in a nonprofit’s office: “It’s so hard to find good board members. It’s going to be really difficult to fill these board openings.”

If your organization struggles each time it needs to fill a board vacancy — and doesn’t always come up with the candidates it desires — it may be time to consider creating a board compensation program. Continue reading Is board member compensation a good idea? →

Donors and other stakeholders continue to look for more accountability and transparency from nonprofits, especially regarding fundraising. Not only is the sum of money raised in campaigns meaningful, but how efficiently you’re able to raise it, too.

Interested parties look beyond total dollars raised to also consider associated costs in fundraising efforts. Cost ratios that present fundraising costs as a percentage of funds raised (also known as cost-per-dollar) focus on the expense of fundraising, while return on investment (ROI), importantly, focuses on the returns. It makes sense to track both. Continue reading Make the most of your fundraising by measuring ROI →

Online nonprofit revenue in 2016 grew by 14%, and email revenue grew by 15%, according to a new study by nonprofit consultants M+R. Based on input from 133 nonprofits, “Benchmarks 2017” found that Web traffic, email list size, Facebook fans, and Twitter and Instagram followers were all on the rise in 2016, while most individual email metrics were down. For example, the emails opened per number delivered fell 7% overall, for an average just under 15%. Continue reading Newsbits →