Many nonprofit rating agencies use financial ratios as a means to evaluate organizations, posting their findings online for all to see. Learning the lay of the ratings agency land will help you make the best of this information–and make sure your story is told a completely as possible.
Is There Enough Overhead in This Grant?
Calculating overhead costs is a tricky part of grant proposal writing, especially since funders often want these costs kept to a minimum. Learn to determine the true overhead costs for a program idea, then decide if the proposal will genuinely benefit your organization or run you ragged because it included too little overhead.
Budget Cuts and Sudden Overhead Conundrums
Most nonprofits run with minimal administrative infrastructure, so when cutbacks strike, overhead usually rises in proportion to program costs. Emil Angelica offers practical advice for weathering the current “perfect storm” of economic hardship and for explaining our suddenly higher overhead costs to funders.
How I Cooked the Books and Why
NPQ CLASSIC:
We are happy to re-issue the following classic on April 1st. We have, over the years, received many outraged emails over the misdeeds of Phil Anthrop, but this particular instructive confession of his elicited the most by far.
Anti-Terrorism Strategy: Arrest First, Sort Out the Facts Later
How many rights are Americans willing to forgo to feel safe? How are we to be safeguarded from mistakes or official abuse? The USA PATRIOT Act and PATRIOT-II are taking the answers out of our hands.
From New Hampshire, “With Love and Comfort”
Ellen Ahlgren never intended to launch a global phenomenon in community service learning. And thereby hangs the tale…
Departing? Arriving? Surviving and Thriving: Lessons for Seasoned and New Executives
In practical guidance for executive directors, Adams clarifies responsibilities and expectations as they approach their own transition—which is a unique opportunity for significant changes in an organization’s focus and capacity.
Spinning Straw into Gold
A glimpse into the way five organizations are weathering the current stormy funding environment and gaining a bit of strategy. Stay tuned: we’ll check in six months hence and see how they’re doing.
Welcome | Winter 2002
Welcome to the Winter 2002 issue of the Nonprofit Quarterly. It’s Christmas week and we’re racing our press deadline to get this issue to you by the New Year. For most of us, 2002 has been a time of immense challenge and substantial adjustment; 2003 promises more of the same. Appropriately, this issue is built
Living the Soaps: Recognizing the Subjective Factor in Executive Succession
So, who shot J.R.? And why did we care? Ted Ford Webb contends that internal politics and personalities shape most organizations—like subplots of long-running soaps—especially at the point of selecting new leadership.
Stepping Up: A Board’s Challenge in Leadership Transition
Tim Wolfred is adamant that since transition planning is ultimately a board responsibility, the involvement of the outgoing executive may be open to question. So what’s a board to do?
Executive Leadership Transition: What We Know
An ancient proverb says, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” Tracing the 20-year history of field research in leadership change in nonprofit organizations, the authors note that mission, capacity, and diversity are intimately and inextricably bound with how an organization manages its executive succession. And, if we all use this wisdom…