Home › Careers in Fundraising › Business Life ›

Business Life

[Recommended Book]

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

4.52
Average: 4.5 (25 votes)
By Stephen R. Covey
Another example of how business principles can effectively be applied in the nonprofit world.

Publisher's Description:

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People is a comprehensive program based on developing an awareness of how perceptions and assumptions hinder success—in business as well as personal relationships. Here's an approach that will help broaden your way of thinking and lead to greater opportunities and effective problem solving.  Read more



[Recommended Book]

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

1
Average: 1 (2 votes)
By Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
Solid business concepts every nonprofit manager can and should apply to their nonprofit.
 
Publisher's Description:
 

"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.  Read more



[Tutorial]

Do I Really Want This Job?

3
Average: 3 (2 votes)
By Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
CAPITAL VENTURE CEO/President
Originally published in AFP's "Advancing Philanthropy" magazine
How to Assess an Organization's Philanthropic Culture

Sometimes, the good news is you got the job; the bad news is you got the job. Many development officers, especially after a grueling job search, are so delighted to get an offer, they say yes without thinking and then find themselves, within a few months or even a few weeks, wondering why they took the job.

Before accepting a position, you should think about, and ask, some critical questions about the philanthropic culture of the organization making the offer. How can you determine the culture of an organization? A good place to start is by researching the organization's website and printed publications. If you know someone who works for this organization, serves on its board, has received services from the organization or volunteers there, have a heart-to-heart talk with these people as well. During the interview ask questions and observe the surroundings.  Read more



[Recommended Book]

Fundraising as a Career: What, Are You Crazy?

2.5
Average: 2.5 (6 votes)
By Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
Launch your career in nonprofit fundraising!
Publisher's Description:

Practical answers for those:

  • looking for a career change
  • planning to hire development staff
  • striving to advance in a development position
  Read more



[Recommended Book]

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

3
Average: 3 (3 votes)
By Jim Collins
A must read for managers who want to apply good business techniques to their nonprofit.

Publisher's Description:

The Challange
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?  Read more



[Recommended Book]

Governance for Collaboratives

0
By Joan Roberts
A Guide to Resolving Power and Conflict Issues

Publisher's Description:

In Governance for Collaboratives: A Guide to Resolving Power and Conflict Issues Joan Roberts explores: * Collaboration as a tool for change (not a panacea) * Member self interest * Using collaboratives as a tool to address complex problems * Whether collaboration can provide a critical mass for large scale change * The unique characteristic of a collaborative where "everyone has a stake but no one owns it" * The convening role * The tension for collaborative partners in wearing two hats (their own organization and the collaborative) * Having the right people at the table * Organization policies for collaboratives and its member organizations * How to address power imbalances * Unlearning traditional ways of organizing  Read more



[Workshop]

How to Develop Your Fundraising Career [1.5 CFRE Credits]

February 12, 2013
Sponsored by: FundsforNGOs.org
Webinar
Presenter: Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE

Fundraising has recently become accepted as not only a profession but as a “hot career.” Even with the need for a more professional approach to fundraising and the sheer numbers of people entering this profession there are still many nonprofits, and many individuals who do not see fundraising as a profession, and even many who still view fundraising with a “tin cup” mentality.  Read more



[Tutorial]

Investing in Your Development Staff

0
By Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
CAPITAL VENTURE CEO/President
Originally Published in NonProfit Direct: The NonProfit National Resource Directory

Many nonprofits wonder why it is so difficult to find and retain good development officers. For some organizations, finding good development officers is challenging because of the lack of understanding about what a development officer should actually be expected to do, setting realistic goals, and screening candidates effectively when the person doing the hiring often does not understand the field of development. For others, finding the good development officers is not the challenge, but retaining them becomes difficult.

One of the reasons it is challenging for some organizations is because they are not willing to make an investment in the development staff. Remember that old saying, "it takes money to make money?" Well guess what, it's true! Especially when it comes to making an investment in professional development for your development staff.

Whether you are hiring a development office with little or no experience or filling a top-level position with a seasoned professional, there will be an investment to make. So what should you expect to invest in a development officer?  Read more



[Tutorial]

Making the Transition from the Corporate World to Development

5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
By Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
CAPITAL VENTURE CEO/President

Most development professionals did not grow up thinking "I want to be a fundraiser when I grow up." Some of us entered the field of development from other areas of the nonprofit world, some through volunteer channels and some from the corporate world. In recent years the latter path has become a popular route into development. As banks and other corporations downsize, as corporate leaders seek more meaningful work, and as the field emerges into a respected profession; we are likely to see even more people following to path to development from the corporate world.  Read more



[Recommended Book]

My Life in Leadership: The Journey & Lessons Learned Along the Way

0
By Frances Hesselbein
Publisher's Description:
Tracing her development as a leader, Frances Hesselbein reveals her remarkable personal story and the principles that have served and guided her well throughout her extraordinary life. Written in an intimate and compelling voice, this book delivers key leadership lessons applicable to leaders in every walk of life.

My Life in Leadership offers a look at what shaped Frances Hesselbein personally and as a leader, from her youth in the hills western Pennsylvania to her professional journey with the Girl Scouts of the USA where she went from troop leader to transformational CEO, to how Peter Drucker handpicked her to found and lead the Drucker Foundation, and how she later transitioned the Foundation to the Leader to Leader Institute. With excitement and humility, she relives the key moments that have shaped her life of leadership including the day she received the country’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This remarkable book also includes stories about her world travels to deliver her message of leadership and her notable experiences with as well as what she has learned from some of the most distinguished leaders of our time including Peter Drucker, John Gardner, Max DePree, Presidents Clinton and Reagan, General Eric Shinseki, Jim Collins, Warren Bennis and Marshall Goldsmith.

These fundraisers give Panas inside information on what it takes to be the best. The very best. What they have to say may surprise you.  Read more



Syndicate content