Illinois Nonprofit Principles and Best Practices 2020

January 9, 2020

Nonprofit organizations serve a critical role in today’s society by providing opportunities for advancing divested and underserved populations, facilitating volunteerism and civic engagement, and developing innovative approaches to solving complex issues--to name a few. In order to effectively serve the community, however, nonprofits must balance maintaining their commitment to excellence, equity, and accountability while successfully realizing their missions, managing resources, and executing proper governance. In order to help Illinois nonprofits strike this balance, set forth on the following pages are thirteen key principles of nonprofit governance, followed by best practices for consideration in effectuating on these principles.

Spotlight

ATHENA International

ATHENA International is a non profit organization that supports, honors and develops women leaders. We partner with local communities to honor and recognize outstanding individuals who assist women to achieve their full leadership potential. Since 1982 over 7,000 individuals have been recognized. We also have a program that "link"​ women business owners with a panel of professional advisers and a program that connect established women leaders with emerging leaders.

OTHER WHITEPAPERS
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Getting Boards to Fundraise

whitePaper | December 10, 2019

Ask most board members if they were told they’d be responsible for fundraising when they joined the board and you’ll hear a lot of no’s. Somewhere in the recruitment process, the fundraising part of their job got downplayed. Maybe it wasn’t you, maybe it was a board member who let them off the hook.

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A BASELINE ANALYSIS OF CYBER RISK FACTORS IN THE NONPROFIT INDUSTRY

whitePaper | March 3, 2022

Welcome to this special IRIS Risk Retina® focused on the nonprofit industry! IRIS Risk Retina is a service from the Cyentia Institute built on the highly-regarded Information Risk Insights Study (IRIS) series. The goal of Risk Retina is the same as that of the IRIS research—to offer a clearer focus on cyber risk through real-world data and rigorous analysis. To succeed in this mission, we’ve partnered with Advisen to leverage their Cyber Loss Data containing ~100,000 historical events collected from publicly verifiable sources. It’s the most comprehensive incident dataset we’ve seen and is used by many cyber insurers and reinsurers for that reason. Upon that solid foundation, we add our own supplemental research, data science techniques, and security expertise to provide the analysis presented in this IRIS Risk Retina.

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The Secrets to Creating a Successful CRM Strategy

whitePaper | November 26, 2019

Our dedicated team has delivered digital projects to over 100 customers in the charity and membership sector. Throughout these projects, as well as dedicated events, roundtables and partnerships, we have learnt a lot about what makes a successful CRM strategy. As part of our commitment to non-profits, we’ve taken some key learnings from our team, our customers and attendees at our events, and compiled this guide to help you in the planning, execution and maintenance of your digital strategy. Thank you to all of our contributors for sharing valuable insight and advice.

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Marketing Automation 101 for Nonprofits

whitePaper | November 4, 2019

Did you know 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations, and 59% say personalized engagement based on past interactions is very important? Customer expectations are higher than ever, and marketers are trying to fulfill those expectations. But what does this have that to do with a nonprofit? Well, constituents engage with a nonprofit the same way they do with a company. They explore your website, research your mission, and sign up for newsletters, but instead of buying a product, the result will be to donate, volunteer, or become a member. Personalized messaging throughout this process is extremely important.

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Race to Lead: Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap

whitePaper | February 21, 2020

The nonprofit sector is experiencing a racial leadership gap. Studies show the percentage of people of color in the executive director/CEO role has remained under 20% for the last 15 years1 even as the country becomes more diverse. To understand the causes of this disparity, the Building Movement Project conducted the Nonprofits, Leadership, and Race survey with over 4,000 respondents. The study found few differences between white and people of color (POC) respondents in their aspirations or preparation for leadership roles—in fact people of color are more likely to be interested in becoming a nonprofit leader than whites. Survey respondents identified Boards of Directors and executive recruiters as key barriers to the hiring of more people of color executive directors/CEOs.

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22 Ideas to reenergize your fundraising in 2022

whitePaper | January 6, 2022

Nonprofits successfully navigated the challenges posed by the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and though the traditional methods of fundraising and giving were challenged, new trends have emerged for both donors and nonprofits. To help you make the most of the new year, we’re going to take a look back at lessons learned in 2021.

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Spotlight

ATHENA International

ATHENA International is a non profit organization that supports, honors and develops women leaders. We partner with local communities to honor and recognize outstanding individuals who assist women to achieve their full leadership potential. Since 1982 over 7,000 individuals have been recognized. We also have a program that "link"​ women business owners with a panel of professional advisers and a program that connect established women leaders with emerging leaders.

Events