The Library

Planning for 2011: Prospecting Within the Nonprofit Sector---Nonprofit organizations offer a wealth of untapped opportunity for new business development in 2011. Snapshot of the sector: There are more than 1.5 million tax-exempt organizations in the United States, In 2009, public charities reported $1.4 trillion in total revenue and $2.6 trillion in assets, In 2005, the nonprofit sector employed 10% of the U.S. workforce, more than the finance, insurance and real-estate sectors combined. Sources----"The Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Public Charities, Giving and Volunteering," The Urban Institute, 2010, "An Overview of the Nonprofit and Charitable Sector," Congressional Research Service, 2009 GuideStar's new report, "Planning for 2011: Prospecting Within the Nonprofit Sector," identifies the key challenges nonprofits are looking to overcome next year, including social media and other collaboration tools, online giving, board engagement, donor fatigue, and saving for a rainy day fund. Armed with this market research and combined with business strategy tips, companies and consultants offering affordable ways to help nonprofits overcome these problems are better poised to land viable prospects and increase sales in this valuable sector.

As a nonprofit, you face a complex and evolving environment. New organizations each day make competition fiercer, while a trend in the privatization of funding sources has created myriad challenges for building a case for funding and demonstrating results to maintain funding levels year over year. Your donors are different, too. A "thank you" letter is the bare minimum standard for stewardship. Today's donor wants to better understand and engage in your mission. And because of this increased interest and involvement, individual donors, as well as funders, have an increased focus on accountability, outcomes, and evaluation, as well. To keep your organization alive and in the forefront of your donors' minds despite these challenges, you may feel the need to reinvent your approach to fundraising - either upgrading areas of operations that seem to be under-serving staff, constituents, and beneficiaries, or reevaluating your programs as a whole. Technology can play a key role in efforts to enhance, optimize, or engineer processes and operations.

Upon final review and analysis of accounting and financial software solutions for your organization, there is bound to be a transition period in order to gain a better understanding of how to familiarize yourself with the system. Finding the answers you need in an accurate, precise and straightforward manner is not always simple, depending on the experience and technical background of the end user. How much faith and assurance do you have in the service and support staff who are working specifically to answer all your important questions?