As a keen volunteer at our local charity, AlphaTutorials, I was tasked with helping them try to attract more students, as they were in decline every year. The charity seeks to improve the education of those in need for free, while also providing tuition for students. This is done with the help of local teachers who volunteer their time. The centre had helped me a couple of years prior, by allowing me to earn my A level Psychology, which was something I decided to do to improve my own education. It felt right that I do something to help them back.

One thing was apparent when I sat down and tried to figure out how I would help AlphaTutorials as a volunteer. I knew that the main resource we had available at our disposal was knowledge. We had qualified teachers in all the main subjects taught across the UK, from Mathematics to the sciences, and therefore it made sense to try to utilise this to our advantage somehow.

Only a few weeks prior, I had stumbled on the story of Pat Flynn, who wrote about how he had sold educational resources which proved popular when he started his website SmartPassiveIncome.

I saw no reason why we couldn’t do the same, with our goal being to funnel students to the centre, but also diversify into resources. We sat trying to understand our market and we found websites…

This blog post is for nonprofit organizations and charities that are looking to increase their online exposure (without spending loads of money) so they can receive more volunteers, donations, attention etc.

Here are some tips for nonprofits to improve link earning within their online communities.

Link earning is building relationships with valuable websites within ones specific industry that generate high quality content.

Link earning helps improve search engine rankings and drives traffic to the website. It’s great when people share your content; it’s even better when they are real people doing it of their own accord. Quality content is the foundation and incentive for shareability.

Because many people use the internet as a means to express themselves and display their identity, content that relates to people is often shared more. More successful content invokes an emotional response. Nonprofits should carefully consider the psychographics of their target market.

Content is more than words, though. A picture, a joke, an infographic, a meme, a video, a song--all of that constitutes content. Your goal should be to provide something that appeals to a variety of senses.

Nonprofits might also have access to data that…

In April, I left the helm of the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, after ten years of building it into a force for strength and progress in serving the state’s nonprofit community. It was not easy to leave the Alliance, because I still consider the position of CEO of the Alliance to be one of the best anybody could have. To work every day with and for some of the most inspiring and passionate people dedicated to building a stronger Arizona was a dream come true. Only the opportunity I am now pursuing at Open Primaries to reform our political system could draw me away, because I know that nonprofits need a stronger partner in government in order to succeed.

So, as I made my transition – keep in mind that I am still working a nonprofit, just a c4 instead of a c3 – the moment gave me reason to reflect upon the 10 years of experience I had at the Alliance and with colleagues across the country through the National Council of Nonprofits. I first tried to remember what it was like in 2005. The economy was booming, and nonprofits were talking about creative ways to sustain themselves through social enterprise. Meanwhile, we were concerned about the huge leadership transition coming, as baby boomers, in the top positions at so many nonprofits, were heading into retirement years. And there was much talk about nonprofits running themselves more like businesses.

Wow, ten years passed, and here we are in 2015: social enterprise is the rage, the boomer…

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Paris, France to attend the 5ème conférence de fundraising pour le secteur culturel (5th conference on fundraising for the cultural sector) put on by the  Association Française des Fundraisers (French Association of Fundraisers). I was able to participate thanks in part to professional development grants from  Arizona Commission on the Arts and Sigma Alpha Iota. When exploring your own professional development, I encourage you to think outside the box when it comes to identifying opportunities as well as ways to fund your experience. 

This was my first return visit to France since studying abroad in Montpellier twelve years ago. It was wonderful to again be immersed in French culture and language. I rented a little apartment in the Canal Saint Martin neighborhood through Airbnb and pretended for one week that I was “une vraie Française.”

As the development director at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), which celebrates the music of every country in the world, my team has a platform to fundraise internationally…

This blog post is second in a two part series on Foundation Supported Social Enterprises. Click here to read part one.

Why did they do this? 

The Nick Simons Foundation did not have a large staff. The foundation opened in 2005 when Nick Simons, a great lover and visitor of Nepal died. Nick Simons was keenly aware of the medical needs in high altitude low income countries such as Nepal. The family foundation members were interested in funding the development of a unique anesthesia machine that neither requires electricity nor compressed oxygen to function.

This device would be invaluable for infrastructure-weak health systems in low income countries that often suffer from energy shortages or no energy access at all. They wanted to be closely involved with the venture and they want to commercially market and sell the product- a product with a social benefit. They recognized in order to be successful that they need an income stream and they did not want to become a fundraising foundation. Instead they thought of operating a social enterprise. They formed Gradian Health Systems.

“For us at Gradian, this structure has worked terrifically – as a start-up social enterprise we are able to pursue non-profitable objectives with a steady, reliable source of funding…