It’s not hard thinking up venture ideas. Often they seem to come out of the woodwork. Get some folks together for an hour and you’ll come out with a couple dozen of them. Include some entrepreneurial people from outside your group and you’ll get some new ideas that you might have missed. But also step …

Good business plans do not need to be long business plans. With rare exceptions, keep your plan to no more than twenty pages, including financials and appendix. If you can say what needs to be said in fewer pages, that’s even better. It’s unlikely anyone will actually read a longer plan, so don’t waste your …

Last week two friends asked for guidance on news releases they had written. One was just beginning to do public relations consulting work, the other was more in the marketing field. Both made common mistakes that even seasoned professionals can make: They missed addressing to whom the primary message was for in the release. The …

(Be sure to see “Musts” 6-10 in this blog, too) 5. Please, do not — you MUST NOT — write your own fundraising materials. And, if you insist on doing so, pay an experienced fundraising writer to review and comment on your writing. Writing for fundraising is an Art. Most fundraising letters, case statements, grant …

We live in traditional organizations that are functional and vertically managed. The design is similar to creating and operating a “marching organization.” Work is aligned by function and managed vertically up and down the line. When errors happen, they are pushed up to the next level of command. A control structure reinforces the hierarchy of …

What type of highly confidential information do you store on your mobile device? Contacts who would hate to see their information shared with spammers or identity thefts? Passwords? Photos or videos you or others wouldn’t appreciate appearing on YouTube? Text messages flirting with someone who isn’t your spouse? It’s an odd quirk of human behavior …

When you ask Board members if they’ve been trained, it’s not uncommon that they’ll answer, “Yes”. But many times, they’ll be wrong. Board Orientation Board orientation is about the unique aspects of the organization. It might include introductions and team building among Board members, overviews of the organization’s products and services, celebration of the organization’s …

I’ve worked with nonprofit organizations for a very long time. I’ve noticed two distinctly different approaches to leading: reactive versus proactive. You’ll very likely notice each of the two distinctly different types in the following paragraphs. Fundraising The reactive nonprofit is continually fundraising and then spending whatever funds are obtained — so the organization is …

Spring is a busy time for people- planting, finishing school papers and exams, playing outdoors. As the sun gets longer in the sky we find more energy to do many things. Do you equally find time to reflect on who you are being? The Ying-Yang symbol represents balance between female and male energy, receptivity and …

The most important section of your business plan is its executive summary. That’s right. It’s the first thing that people read, and it should crystallize everything that’s compelling and essential about your business and how you will succeed with it. And you need to do that all on one page. Gulp. If you’re looking for …