Category: Organizational Assessment

How Do You Know If Your Fundraising Program is Really Working

How Do You Know If Your Fundraising Program is Really Working?

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Is your fundraising program really working? Today’s brief video helps you answer that question and more. Laurence talks about a trade secret, Development Audits, and explains the process. He also describes the conditions that signify when your organization needs one. It’s a few minutes long, with a terrific impact.

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Know Thy Organization!

Know Thy Organization!

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Organizational mission, vision, and values help you know who you are, where you want to go, and what makes your organization exceptional. As Dr. Holger Nauheimer explains, ″Without an understanding of the organization’s purpose, its actions are confined to management by objectives. Consequently, members of an organization without vision are not able to really take part in creating their own professional future—and the future of their working environment.″ LAPA recently had the privilege of facilitating a planning retreat that revisited and refined a 30-year old nonprofits basic assumption. After experiencing dramatic growth, the organization required

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Making Your Case

Making Your Case

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Right up front, a superb case communicates to the donor why funds are urgently needed and why philanthropic support makes sense. That must occur on the first page simply because many people will only read that page and possibly the last page. A case statement obviously shares your mission, but that is secondary to sharing the vision of the campaign. Placing the mission in a sidebar often serves well. We often write a short (5 pages) and a long version (ten pages) of the case, but recently I haven’t seen much need for the longer

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