Strength-Based Messaging: How to Accelerate Impact Through Inclusivity

Posted on by Alford Group

Online Webinar

Organizations in the nonprofit community have been leaders when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion – and yet much of the language used in fundraising communications has stemmed from needs-based messaging. This webinar makes time to elevate and uplift the work of nonprofits and the communities served through strength-based messaging. This session demonstrates how strength-based messaging empowers nonprofits, their communities and their donors with real world examples. Hear from a panel of experts who have been integrating strength-based messaging into grant-writing, donor communication, website content and more. Attendees left this session with immediate strategies to refresh and reframe cases for support and accelerate impact through inclusivity.

Slide deck: Strength-Based Messaging Webinar Presentation

Resource: Grants Plus Guide

Five Practical Steps to Diversify your Board of Directors

Posted on by Alford Group

By JoAnn Yoshimoto, Senior Consultant

Before we plunge into the practical “how-to” ideas, let’s consider a few often-ignored questions: Why are we even having this conversation? Why does board diversity matter? Some of the answers might be philosophical, ethical, equity- or values-based, others might be quantifiable, statistical, evidence-based, but every nonprofit organization must find its own answers to these questions.

Continue reading “Five Practical Steps to Diversify your Board of Directors”

Effective Storytelling: 4 Tips to Best Engage Your Audience

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By Mariah Fosnight, CFRE, Consultant and Doug Wallack, Client Service Associate

For over 40 years, Alford Group has tested the effectiveness of written material with a variety of stakeholders (donors, volunteers, partners, community leaders, foundation and corporate funders, etc.) for nonprofit organizations ranging in size, sector, lifecycle stage and geography.

Over that time, we have identified aspects of effective storytelling that remain universally true. Below are four tips to keep in mind while crafting your prose.

Continue reading “Effective Storytelling: 4 Tips to Best Engage Your Audience”

Tomorrow’s New Normal: 4 elements of an action-forward approach to planning

Posted on by Alford Group

MODERATORS:

  • Alexis Cooke, Senior Consultant, Alford Group
  • Jamie Phillippe, CFRE, Vice President, Alford Group

PANELISTS:

  • Felicia Davis, President and CEO, Chicago Foundation for Women
  • Darrin Goss, President and CEO, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina
  • Rachel Krinsky, Executive Director, LifeWire
  • Michele Stauff, Executive Director, Million Dollar Round Table Foundation

Slide Deck: Planning Webinar Presentation_Alford Group

Nonprofit Board Leaders and CEOs: Find excellent board members with these simple tips

Posted on by Alford Group

By Molly Hansen, Vice President, Alford Group  Read Molly’s Bio

How to find great, or even good, nonprofit board members is an ongoing challenge. For many nonprofit organizations the board development issue feels especially urgent right now. The competition for good board members is increasing.

The philanthropic environment has nearly recovered from the Great Recession, but many philanthropists are still very cautious about where to invest their dollars, time and energy. Organizations who have been largely supported by government grants and contracts, their long-held intention to diversify their revenue through board members with financial capacity and connections, are now faced with the reality that it’s harder than they thought to find strong board members.

Regardless of the type of nonprofit you serve, its size, or the nature of your board and organizational funding, the following tips will help you get started on a productive path of board development. Continue reading “Nonprofit Board Leaders and CEOs: Find excellent board members with these simple tips”

Diversity and Inclusion – the conversation between foundations and nonprofits: Thoughts from Brenda Asare

Posted on by Alford Group

What’s happening around diversity and inclusion among foundations?

At the AFP 2016 International Conference, Brenda Asare, President & CEO of Alford Group spoke briefly about foundations and their interactions with nonprofits around diversity and inclusion.

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The Long Road to Equity is Paved with Data, Innovation and Optimism

Posted on by Alford Group

At Alford Group, diversity is one of our core values and we are proud to have been the diversity partner with AFP and the AFP Foundation for the past 17 years. We hosted this year’s AFP Diversity Session, “Foundations Empowering Change: Not Business As Usual,” which featured a facilitator and panelists who are committing funds, insights, counsel, social capital, time and other resources toward building diversity, equity, and inclusion in their own organizations and the organizations with which they partner. They are:

  • Linetta Gilbert, Managing Partner, Gilbert & Associates (Facilitator)
  • Miki Akimoto, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management
  • HeHershe Busuego, The Boston Foundation
  • Beth Smith, The Hyams Foundation

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Let’s start at the very beginning…a very good place to start…

Remember that song from The Sound of Music? Just like Do-Re-Mi, we must understand and use a shared set of building blocks if we want to sing together. Linetta Gilbert provided us with a primer and reminder of the key terms and concepts we all need to use to share and advance our ongoing conversation. Continue reading “The Long Road to Equity is Paved with Data, Innovation and Optimism”