Thinking of fundraising as a form of sales can feel like a splash of cold water. The analogy reminds us of fundraising’s transactional nature — the donor is the buyer, and you, the nonprofit representative, are the seller. But this analogy can also be empowering. Steeped in the charity mindset, as those of us in the social sector tend to be, we can sometimes think of fundraising as a glorified form of begging. But with a sales mindset in place, you remember you have a product to offer that has value to the buyer. And as with sales, the quality of your product is key. 
The product in question is, of course, the impact your organization produces. Said impact continues to be one of the top reasons donors give. For example, “The Giving Environment: Understanding How Donors Make Giving Decisions” (opens as a pdf),  a 2022 study by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy noted that donors seek organizations “that make greater effort to educate the donors on what’s being done with their money and how it’s making a difference,” as well as “demonstrate greater efficacy and impact.” With so many options from which donors can select, standing out through a stellar impact offering is imperative. So here are some tips for doing just that. 
1. Appraise the Value of Your Organization’s Impact
In “The End of Fundraising,” author Jason Saul argues that power has shifted to social good creating organizations in an era where, increasingly, “mainstream economic currency” is attached to the social and environmental outcomes nonprofits produce. 
Whether through keeping youth in school, keeping families in their homes or reducing social determinants of ill health, the work of nonprofits, in addition to alleviating suffering, has economic value — including to the private sector actors that benefit from a strong labor force, growing consumer markets and vibrant neighborhoods. Saul’s primary prescription is to think beyond the philanthropic market to the social capital market and its impact investors. 
But even when dealing with traditional philanthropy, communicating the economic value of social impact can be helpful, if only for the confidence boost it provides. Measuring said value in such terms can be tricky, and even futile with some types of social outcomes, but social return on investment is a method that provides a useful starting place. 
2. Match the Features of Your Impact With Your Donor
Impact comes in many forms and not all aspects of it will be attractive to all “buyers.” Small gift donors and corporate employees — in short, people less familiar with how the social sector works — may be more interested in compelling human interest stories and numbers reflecting the organization’s reach. 
Institutional donors, such as foundations and public agencies, may be interested in more structural changes, e.g., how is an organization addressing systemic issues like inequitable access to healthcare. The latter may also be interested in whether the organization is pioneering scalable models for addressing tough issues, like low high school graduation rates.  
Being able to properly communicate the right features of your impact to your donor type is key. For lay and informed donors alike, however, nonprofits would do well to demonstrate their ability to tackle complex issues in ways that have sustained impact. 
“Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the movements for racial equity and justice evoked an increased desire in donors to have a greater and long-term impact on issues through strategic giving choices,” according to the study on how donors make decisions, which primarily consulted individual donors.
In other words, even small-gift donors have an understanding of the differences between Band-Aid solutions and more long-lasting remedies; and they want to see that sophistication of programming reflected in the impact the nonprofit conveys.
3. Raise the Quality of Your Impact
Armies of fundraisers, reels of heart-warming videos and arsenals of fundraising tech can’t fully compensate for poor impact. At risk of overstating the obvious, impact — the real changes that your organization accomplishes in lives — is the mast upon which your organization’s flag flies; it’s raison d’etre; its justification for taking up oxygen in this world. 
Creating quality impact does require resources. The good news is, many of these resources can come from funds designated for programs, which are more plentiful than unrestricted resources. Structuring program grants in ways that build learning, research, co-creation with participants and expected pivots into the design, give nonprofits the flexibility to more methodically explore cause-and-effect relationships, run small pilots, select from multiple approaches, and set expectations with donors, partners and program participants that the quality of impact is a priority. 
Do-goodism still exists in the popular imagination as a form of morally motivated DIY-ism. It comes with the assumption that when fueled with heart and passion, doing good is as simple as ladling soup into bowls to feed the hungry. In truth, doing good, properly and well, is hard, and requires reams of training, professionalism, skill, and learning agility. Making the investments of time and talent in improving the impact of your work — and communicating the right aspects of that story to your donors — will help your organization gain a commanding advantage in the marketplace of buyers and sellers of good.
The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.

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Get your copy of this Essential Auction Resource for Nonprofits.  When it comes to planning your next benefit auction event, one of the most critical elements for success is making sure that the items you’re putting up for bid during your live and silent auctions are irresistible. Download The Ultimate A-to-Z List of Live & Silent Auction Item Ideas for Benefit Auction Success today to get started on brainstorming amazing ideas for unique live and silent auction items!

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Blackbaud announced the general availability of SKY API endpoints for Blackbaud CRM and Blackbaud Altru that will make it easier for customers to expand further and extend the capabilities of these solutions to meet their fundraising and constituent engagement goals—and to drive better outcomes and achieve their missions ultimately.
“The inclusion of SKY APIs empowers our partners to create new integrations rapidly, benefit from a standard deployment model, and offers customers new alternatives to address their unique needs and transform business processes,” said David Marcucci, director of product management at Blackbaud. “One of our goals has been to bring Blackbaud CRM and Blackbaud Altru more closely into the SKY ecosystem to enable customers to leverage the core platform benefits of SKY more fully, and this launch is our first step.”
Accelerating Growth of the Blackbaud Marketplace
Blackbaud’s growing network of third-party development partners use SKY APIs to build and connect applications for the Blackbaud Marketplace quickly. In turn, Blackbaud CRM and Blackbaud Altru customers will be able to leverage applications in the Marketplace to seamlessly integrate with complementary point solutions that meet their specific use cases and needs.
As part of the rollout, Blackbaud worked closely with partners in a client technical preview to test and optimize endpoints. “The Blackbaud CRM SKY API release has been seamless, and our development team was able to quickly adopt this new framework to drive matching gift software innovation,” said Adam Weinger, president of Double the Donation, a Blackbaud Partner. “This integration enhancement will enable our clients to easily activate our solution and begin driving matching gift funding automation from donors without extra operational lift.”
Enabling Customers to Take Full Advantage of the Microsoft Power PlatformBlackbaud CRM and Blackbaud Altru customers can use SKY API templates and connectors to harness the low-code automation and application development capabilities of Microsoft Power Automate and Microsoft Power Apps.
Leveraging the Power of the Blackbaud SKY Developer Community
Customers and partners can speed development by deploying updates and enhancements that come with the SKY Developer Portal, accessing a dedicated SKY API support team, and utilizing the help, stories and learning opportunities that come from being part of an 8,000-member-strong SKY API developer community.
Source: Blackbaud 
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.

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MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving will provide 250 $1 million unrestricted operating gifts to small nonprofits. The application process is now open, with awardees expected to be announced early next year. Scott will also provide $500 gifts through her donor-advised fund for each eligible applicant that satisfactorily completes the required peer-review step of the process.
Acknowledging the disproportionate amount of giving going to larger organizations, Scott’s open call, announced this week, aims to reach smaller nonprofits with the greatest need and access to the fewest foundational resources and opportunities. 
Lever for Change, a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation that has influenced more than $1 billion in grants to 145 organizations, is managing the effort.
“This Open Call is designed to empower and strengthen communities across the United States that are often overlooked,” Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, said in a statement. “We are looking for organizations that are making a meaningful difference in people’s lives. The awards will recognize teams that demonstrate the potential to make progress toward reducing disparities in health, education, economic outcomes, and other critical issues.”
This is the first time Scott is seeking direct input from nonprofits. Her team previously researched potential nonprofit awardees quietly. Her gifts were only made public when nonprofits announced them — that is until she released a database to improve transparency around her giving, which has totaled more than $14 billion since 2020. 
The internal research on Scott’s end was done, in part, to limit the burden on the organizations she sought to fund. While the open call application is required to be considered for her upcoming round of $1 million unrestricted gifts, there is no financial or narrative reporting required after receiving the award. Scott has become known to do her due diligence up front and then trust the organization to make the best decision for how the money is spent. 
“We are excited to be partnering with Lever for Change to create this new pathway to support for organizations making positive change in their communities,” Scott said in a statement. “Teams on the front lines of challenges have insights no one else can offer, so there are three big headlines here in my heart: Community changemakers can nominate themselves. Community changemakers get feedback from their peers. Community changemakers have a powerful role in funding decisions.”
Open Call Eligibility and Guidelines
U.S. nonprofits and territories with an annual operating budget ranging from $1 million to $5 million in at least two of the past four fiscal years are eligible to apply. However, organizations, as well as affiliates of those organizations, that previously received gifts from Scott are not eligible. Organizations also must have been in existence for at least three years and do 90% of their work within the U.S. and its territories.
Organizations will be judged based on a predetermined scoring process that aims to reduce assessment bias. The scoring rubric focuses on equity, track record, community leadership and team capacity. 
Scott is aiming to benefit organizations whose mission aids in improving individuals, families and communities by providing access to healthcare, affordable housing, education, job training and employment, asset ownership or civic engagement. Those in need may include people who are:

From marginalized, historically oppressed racial and ethnic groups.
Immigrants and migrants.
Affected by justice system involvement.
Survivors of crime, abuse, conflict, war and/or disasters.
LGBTQ.
From marginalized gender identities.
Disabled.
Income-constrained.
Experiencing poverty in areas with low economic mobility and access to supporting resources.

In its frequently asked questions, Yield Giving cautioned that the strongest applicants will be organizations providing its constituents with services, resources and opportunities that allow them to substantially improve their well-being.
“Organizations that work primarily to meet community members’ basic needs, including providing food, clothing, short-term emergency relief, and/or temporary shelter are unlikely to be a good fit for this Open Call,” according to Yield Giving. 
Open Call Timeline
May 5, 2023. Interested nonprofits must complete a short, approximately 15-minute registration process by May 5 at 4 p.m. CDT.
June 12, 2023. Interested nonprofits must submit an application, which Yield Giving estimates could take 10 hours or more, by June 12 at 4 p.m. CDT. The application includes succinct descriptions of the nonprofit’s work; community; approach; team; community involvement; diversity, equity and inclusion; impact projection; and more. It also requires a 90-second or shorter video and a financial picture, including an audited financial statement.
June to July 2023. Submitted applications will be reviewed to confirm eligibility.
July to August 2023. Other applicants will be required to score five fellow applicants, but for each organization satisfactorily completing those assessments, Scott will recommend a $500 donor-advised fund contribution.
September to October 2023. An external evaluation panel consisting of consultants, educators, foundation staff, among others, will evaluate the top 1,000 peer-reviewed finalists this fall. Each application will receive at least five assessments.
November to February 2024. Scott and her team will select up to 250 awardees from among the highest rated. 
March 2024. The awards will be announced.
Find Yield Giving’s Open Call registration and application here.

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Health and happiness advertising agency Common Good has been granted B Corp status—a private certification of for-profit companies of social and environmental performance—by nonprofit B Lab. The shop creates advertising and transforms business for brands on a mission to change the world.
Common Good has learned that doing what’s right can impact its own success. More importantly, it strengthens the community, minimizes impact on the planet, and gives its staff a sense of purpose.
B Lab certifies companies based on how they create value for non-shareholding stakeholders, such as their employees, the local community, and the environment. Certified B Corporations meet the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, and aspire to use the power of markets to address social and environmental problems. B Corps become certified through rigorous verification by B Lab and must meet strict standards to join a global community of leaders using business as a force for good.
“Becoming a certified B Corp shows the world that we actually walk the walk when it comes to using business to better the world,” said Kelly Reedy, CEO at Common Good. “We’re excited to join a movement of peer companies that think in the same way, and proud to further the conversation of what purpose a business should serve.”
B Corporations were first certified in 2007, and today, there are more than 6,000 in 80 countries. Any company—regardless of size, legal structure, or industry—can become a B Corporation. However, most are privately held small- and medium-sized businesses. It took Common Good two years to complete the thorough application and amendment process.
Being certified is just one more way to demonstrate that a company is using business as a source for doing good—and to show proof that they are accountable.
Source: Common Good 
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.

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Bonterra beyond beds
Credit: Bonterra

Invest in the right technology that better empowers you to serve people in need and reduce homelessness in your community.
Apricot has the capabilities to help you meet the growing number of participants, guide participants to a pathway of self-sufficiency, and quickly build reports that show impact, all while fulfilling compliance needs.

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