The Inside Scoop on Maximizing Volunteer Engagement

Less than 3 weeks to go until Conference Day!  There will be many exciting educational sessions to choose from -  one of which is entitled “It All Adds Up: Maximizing Volunteer Engagement”, led by Meg Moore and the RGK Center’s Sarah Jane Rehnborg. 
Here’s the inside scoop from Dr. Rehnborg on what the session is all [...]

What’s In It For You? Development Professionals Edition

For this edition of the Crossroads Conference series, What’s In It For You?, I interviewed Dori Flores, Executive Director of The Seton Fund and member of the Greenlights Board of Directors about what nonprofit fundraisers can expect on September 24.
Ann Starr: What do you think are the most common challenges that development professionals face?
Dori Flores: [...]

What’s In It For You? Board Leaders Edition

The annual Crossroads Conference isn’t just a great opportunity for nonprofit staff to network, learn and grow – it’s also a conference for highly engaged volunteers, especially board members. To shed some light on the event’s value for board leaders, I interviewed Suzanna Caballero, Greenlights’ own Board Chair. Suzanna is also a [...]

What’s In It For You? Financial Managers Edition

When it comes time to pull together the list of sessions we’ll offer at the Crossroads Conference, one of our main objectives is to be sure to offer great diversity. We aim to provide something for every major nonprofit profession and volunteer role, and for every level of nonprofit professional experience.
In the weeks leading [...]

The Crossroads Resource Swap

The 8th annual Crossroads Conference for Nonprofit Excellence is just nine weeks away and we’re really getting excited about this year’s event!
One of the new things we’re introducing for 2009 is called the Crossroads Resource Swap. The “Swap” is based on the idea that we nonprofits can and should look for ways to [...]

A Real Privilege

One of the best things about being at Greenlights is that we regularly come in contact with truly inspiring people and their work. And when the annual Crossroads Conference and the Nonprofit Excellence Awards roll around, this is especially true.
We are currently accepting nominations for the 2009 Nonprofit Excellence Awards, and through them [...]

Talking Like Normal People

I recently learned about an amazing national nonprofit called MomsRising.org, a group dedicated to “bringing motherhood and family issues to the forefront of the country’s awareness…[and to] creating both cultural and legislative change, on both the national and state levels.” The organization’s tagline states that it’s “where Moms and the people who love [...]

Strategic, Quarterly Having-of-Fun

Woo-hoo! It’s Friday, we’re heading into a 3 day weekend, and the boss will be out of email range in Africa for the next 2 weeks! (Just kidding, Matt…we’re not really that excited about not seeing you for so long…)
In fact, as I write this blog today on the topic of having fun [...]

Growing Up On Sesame Street

At the invitation of my Greenlights colleague and fellow mom, Tara Levy, my family and I recently attended the Open Door Preschool spring fundraiser and taco eating contest. Open Door is a place where kids of all abilities are welcome and included and the crowd at the event certainly reflected that diversity. As is [...]

How Fundraising Could Solve All The World’s Problems

Kimberly Caldwell and I were speaking to a freshman class of UT students about careers in the nonprofit sector when I had a revelation. It came when one young woman asked why so many nonprofit organizations pay notoriously low salaries to their wonderful, committed employees.
I answered that, in general, this is probably not due [...]