The FAMCare Blog

In his new book, Effective Fundraising, Harvard Business School professor emeritus, F. Warren Mcfarlan, identifies the board of trustees as nonprofit's core fundraising asset. The book outlines the broad range of roles trustees can play in contributing to the crucial function of fundraising. While some rare souls are enthusiastic about directly soliciting gifts, Professor Mcfarlan says, others may be more effective at expanding networks, making introductions, lending credibility, or providing the coaching and context that contribute to a successful "close".

Nonprofits exist to assemble assets in support of humanitarian missions. Financial assets are the most obvious but human assets are the most essential. Without hordes of volunteers, many of our most iconic nonprofits would simply disappear.

Nonprofits mostly start with great ideas and big hearts trying to address a problem nobody else seems to care about. From Doctors Without Borders to Feeding America, Americares Foundation, Direct Relief, and United Way Worldwide, there are countless examples of large, successful nonprofits around us—but even these were only just ideas at some point.

Many nonprofits may have started around the same time as these successful ones, but we don’t even know about them—probably because they’ve ceased to exist.

As a budding nonprofit, here’s what you need to avoid.

Turning the calendar page to welcome a "new" year is an ancient time-keeping practice. Celebrating a "new" year is still the perfect opportunity to pause and take stock of life's evolving circumstances and prepare our minds and hearts for the task at hand.

Another whirlwind of a year is coming to an end, and sadly we still haven’t said a final goodbye to the pandemic.

But there’s something festive and warm about December that even coronavirus hasn’t been able to touch. In fact, if anything, the pandemic has brought people’s hearts together like never before, and the giving spirit is stronger than ever.

This is why it’s time to seize the opportunity and put your best foot forward for planning the year-end campaign to ensure your organization has a great start to 2023! That’s right 2023! 

Here are a few tips to get you started for your 2022 year-end fundraising campaign.  

Sometimes this blog can do nothing more than report the devotion to service demonstrated by social service agencies and nonprofits across the country. Four nonprofits reached far outside their comfort zone to help mitigate the devastating effects of COVID-19. Here are their stories.        

“2020 has been a year of societal upheaval so massive it is like a rent in the Universe...and a tipping point has been reached.” (NPQ, Spring, 2020)

Nonprofit Role More Vital Than Ever

In this unprecedented environment the vulnerable population designation that is nonprofit’s primary area of concern is spreading wider and deeper across American society.

The COVID economic downturn has nonprofit management shifting into emergency mode. “Putting on the brakes” would be an understatement. Nonprofit sustainability, or the ability to continue delivering relevant social impact over the long term, has always been important to nonprofit leaders. But as the spread of COVID-19 causes upheaval in just about every aspect of society and highlights the deep social inequities many nonprofits are working to address sustainability is becoming even more of a top priority.

Some people say that the devil is in the details, but some say details can be a devil to deal with!  According to Heather Lytle, Executive Director of F.A.C.T. (Family Advocacy and Community Training), an agency that mentors and empowers families to improve the quality of life and opportunities for children and adults with disabilities, “FAMCare was our first choice for case management because they understand that a small, family organization of 40 employees needs a software that focuses on the details without being too clinical.”  F.A.C.T. has been a FAMCare client since 2014 and chose them over several other products because of their ability to modify the software to fit F.A.C.T.’s needs, as well as the constant technical support that FAMCare offers its clients.

We are suddenly sailing in uncharted waters. A deadly viral pandemic has infected the entire world. So many people are in distress. They need so much help. Nonprofits, as they always do, are responding. But in these troubled times, the nonprofits themselves will need help.

Overwhelmed by your client’s need, it’s possible to neglect your own vulnerability.