CNE Blog

Black-led nonprofits that actively partner with CNE

100 Black Men of Central Virginia – Eliminating the achievement gap of African American males in K-12

Abundant Life Ministries – Demonstrating God’s love through holistic community development in the Prospect neighborhood

African American Teaching Fellows – Recruiting and supporting African…

Frank Dukes on Hope and Resiliency During the Pandemic

In this time of the COVID-19, Sean Tubbs and CNE are producing a series of interviews with area leaders to gain their wisdom. In this first installment, Mary Davis Hamlin interviews…

Lynn Divers Joins CNE as Senior Philanthropy Manager

The Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) is pleased to announce that Lynn Divers has joined our team as Senior Philanthropy Manager.  In this role, Lynn will function as a front-line fundraiser, while also managing the systems and strategy to…

Recommended Resources from CNE Staff

• Andrew Robinson, CNE’s Program Manager, shared that his partner and daughter are “finding the helpers” in VPM’s new podcast, Social Distance Assistance.
• Mary Davis Hamlin, CNE’s Senior Consultant, shared these questions: “What have you lost? What are…
  
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What We’re Learning

Four Kalamazoo Nonprofits Launch Shared Services Collaborative

Four nonprofits have banded together in an effort to leverage resources, increase efficiency, and expand their impact in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

What We’re Learning

Four Kalamazoo Nonprofits Launch Shared Services Collaborative

Four nonprofits have banded together in an effort to leverage resources, increase efficiency, and expand their impact in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

What We’re Learning

Listen

Current Trends in Grassroots Advocacy

How has grassroots advocacy changed in the past few years? And what are the current grassroots advocacy trends that your organization should be leveraging to have greater success?

What We’re Learning

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Six Easy Questions to Ask Your Foundation Program Officer 

If you’re a nonprofit leader who seeks grants from private foundations, you know what it feels like to be politely interrogated. In the midst of answering all those questions, it…

What We’re Learning

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Nonprofit Storytelling with Financials

In this webinar, Stephanie Skryzowski will show you the foundation of financial management, why transparency in your financials is important, who should see your financials, how to present the financials, and specific reports and metrics…

What We’re Learning

Can Philanthropy Become a True Partner in Indian Country?

A look into the potential for philanthropy to build communities within Indian Country, and how to actually do so.

What We’re Learning

Filling the Gaps in Collective Impact

Nine supporting activities that can help make collective impact approaches to social change more nuanced and rigorous.

What We’re Learning

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Leadership in the Connected Office

What is leadership? Knowing that management is directive and leadership is connective is a great place to start, but social good leaders often struggle with understanding and balancing these two.

To explore what leadership really…

What We’re Learning

The Board’s Role in Donor Relations: Four Ways to Improve 

Helping create and sustain healthy donor relationships is one of the most important things your board team can do to support your organization. If you have strong donor relationships,…

What We’re Learning

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Giving With the Heart and the Mind – Achieving Impact Through an Intentional Empathetic Strategy

Many popular approaches to philanthropy prioritize measurement and maximizing charitable impact when making decisions about where monies should be invested. But, should all charitable decision-making…

What We’re Learning

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A Graphic Re-visioning of Nonprofit Overhead

Most nonprofit leaders agree that we need a new way to communicate about the true costs of our programs and the vital importance of strong organizational infrastructure. But we have not yet developed…

What We’re Learning

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Why Art and Music Matter in the Fight for Social Justice 

In my conversations with folks from arts and music organizations these past few years, though, I sense some existential angsts. A colleague asked me, “People are wondering what…

What We’re Learning

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Maximizing Nonprofit Internal Controls: An Essential Guide for Even the Most Pure

Whether your nonprofit is more like an intimate family or an enormous well-oiled machine, fraud can occur, and when it happens, it can damage your reputation, relationships…

What We’re Learning

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Who “Owns” Your Nonprofit?

Few would argue against the notion that boards of directors are supposed to represent the interests of “owners.” Yet, despite the intuitive importance of specifying ownership, over 70 percent of nonprofit board members interviewed regarding…

What We’re Reading

How to Capture the Support of Younger Donors

We’ve entered a period in philanthropy that is governed by a new set of gravitational forces. Sweeping innovations ushered in by the Information Age have produced a generation of 

What We’re Reading

Unbalanced: A Map of Nonprofit Stakeholders

It goes without saying that nonprofits take many different shapes and forms, but all have a variety of stakeholders—that is, individuals and entities with a stake in their work, either because it can…

What We’re Reading

Ignite Your Board Members’ Passion

Imagine this. Your gala is three weeks away, and even accounting for last-minute registrations, you are well below target. You review the list of table captains. The poorest performers? Five of your board members….