If your nonprofit message matters, design matters

This post is for nonprofit boards and the nonprofit staff who love them.
I was reading this blog post from Good magazine, and it made me think of those board meetings, when everyone’s sitting around listing all the to-dos for the annual fundraiser. This is for those of you who, when you start to wonder how [...]

3 GivingCity stories I wish I could do…

I just don’t have the time. And I’d be happy to assign them but I just don’t have the money. So instead, these stories sit and wait. Would you believe I mentally sketch out GivingCity stories all the time? Very frustrating.
1. Giving Circles
Reportedly, giving circles are on the rise and proving to be very popular [...]

What it takes to have nonprofit collaboration in Austin

A successful collaboration or merger can seem like a miracle. As the former associate director of Community Action Network and a nonprofit consultant, Sam Woollard, a GivingCity contributor, has participated and lead the formation of a number of collaborations around  Central Texas.
“Collaborations and mergers are all about the timing,” she says. “Even if there’s a [...]

For I Live Here, I Give Here – and for GC – patience

I go to church. There, I said it. I attend Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterianon William Cannon. I go to church for a lot of reasons, but the two biggest drivers are my children and the Reverend Larry Coulter.
Larry does exactly what I’ve always believed a church leader is supposed to do: He tells us what [...]

How does the stimulus package impact Austin?

Last month the Community Action Network – a partnership of 18 public, private, and nonprofit entities in Central Texas – hosted a learning session about how local government agencies will be spending the millions of dollars we might see in our community. More than 200 people filled the room to listen in; browse the links CAN [...]

5 Reasons Why We Still Need United Way

The recent news about United Way Capital Area having to lay off 10  employees is disheartening. UW runs pretty lean, and the people there work around the clock and even on weekends to accomplish their mission. When you work for United Way you take on a lifestyle, not just a job.
Andrea Ball’s story was on [...]

Thank goodness for Recognize Good, new Web site that lets you thank someone

See? I was just talking about this exact thing the other day: A public recognition site for volunteers. Except the RecognizeGood people have made a site with the potential for much more than that.
I’ve tried the site. First you register – name, city, etc – then you just fill out the thank you. You include [...]

The Silent Auction … of Doom.

I’m with Alan. From his most recent post:
Live and silent auctions are what really kill me. You go out and panhandle every merchant you can find to give you stuff to sell then you present it in such a way to the consumer to make them feel philantropic while they shop for bargains at your [...]

Nonprofit panic: The economy sucks. Are we doomed?

Do people give less when they worry about having less?How will nonprofits and charities, which rely on your donations, weather the economic downturn, which seems less about the effect on our wallets than the effect on our psyche?
The Austin nonprofit community – like small businesses, individuals close to retirement, parents about to put kids in college, [...]

BLOG ACTION DAY: Mando’s videos bring new voices to the conversation about poverty

There are people who talk about poverty every day in Central Texas, and there are people who live in poverty every day in Central Texas, and for the most part they are not the same people. They don’t even look like the same people.
All that is to say what I think lots of people don’t [...]