Resources
Below are resource materials that Nonprofit Works uses or has used in our consulting, training, and workshops, which we make available to nonprofit organizations for use in their planning, fund development, communications, and governance.
They are provided under a Creative Commons “Attribution / Non-Commercial / No Derivatives 4.0 International” license, which means you are welcome to use, reproduce, share — as long as you maintain the attribution to Nonprofit Works and do not sell them — and even alter them for your own internal needs (as long as you do not share the altered versions outside of your organization).*
*Since you are required to maintain attribution to Nonprofit Works, sharing altered versions would imply that any changes you made to the documents were also in the original version we created.
Planning
- Presentation: Strategic Planning Overview — An overview of the steps and elements an organization should consider before getting underway with the actual strategic planning process.
- Sample Strategic Planning Matrix — A sample layout that can be customized and built to capture an organization’s goals, action plans, person(s) responsible, and timeline
- Sample Board Survey: Strategic Planning — A sample survey to request a board of directors’ input on the strategic planning process and the goals and needs to be addressed through it.
- Organizational Development Overview — An overview of the main steps involved in organizational development, including mission, vision, goals, and strategic planning.
- Logic Model Template — A tool for planning outcomes, methods, inputs, and an evaluation strategy for programs and projects.
Budgets
- Budget Basics — A guide and set of basic principles for creating budgets, including those used for grant writing and fund development purposes.
- Budget Planner — An outline to help brainstorm and plan annual and program budgets.
- Sample Line-Item Budget — This budget format can be used to describe a program or project budget in relation to an organization’s overall budget, and how a grant request will be used.
- Sample Revenue Projection — An example of a revenue projection showing actual and planned funding sources for the purposes of grant writing and fund development.
- Logic Model Framework for Budgets — A framework for creating program and project budgets by starting with intended outcomes (results) to determine the necessary activities (action plan) and required resources (inputs).
- Multiple-Program Budget — A framework for listing multiple program and project budgets so as to create a total program and project budget.
Fund Development
- Steps to Building an Effective Grant Writing Program — A comprehensive overview of general steps required for successful grant writing, including planning, research, approaching grantmakers, preparing information, and submitting and following up on grant proposals.
- Master Grant Application Outline — A basic template to help prepare grant writers for questions and content that most grant applications require.
- Grant Tracking Form — A form for organizations to track the contact information, plans, suggestions, and next steps for the individual grantmakers to which they’re planning to apply.
- Sample Grant Research Spreadsheet — A spreadsheet for tracking and organizing information during an organization’s grant research process.
- Grant Information Sources — A basic one-page list of government, foundation, and corporate grant sources
- Establishing Relationships with Grantmakers — An overview of basic methods for approaching grantmakers prior to applying, to introduce your organization and project and request their guidance.
- How to Write a Letter of Inquiry — An outline for creating and sending a letter of inquiry to a grantmaker to introduce your organization and project, and request permission to apply for a grant.
- How to Write a Letter of Introduction — A suggested outline for creating a letter of inquiry to introduce your organization to a grantmaker and seek their guidance and advice (and sometimes permission) about applying.
- Development Writing Tips — A reference outline to guide communications with individuals and audiences for fund-development purposes
Communications
- Communications Profile worksheet — A basic two-sided worksheet enumerating an organization’s mission, goals, audiences, messaging and tools. Can also be used as an internal exercise to familiarize staff with communications elements.
- Media Profile worksheet — A quick two-sided worksheet that helps organizations prioritize their media outreach efforts in terms of goals, target audiences, stories, media platforms, messaging, news hooks, and pitches.
- Story Development flowcharts — A two-part decisionmaking process to help non-profit organizations choose and develop story ideas for news publications and other platforms. The first flowchart focuses on story framing, and the second on ‘newsworthiness’ (story timing).
Board Training
- Board of Directors Application — A sample application to be used once you’ve identified prospective boardmembers.
- Board of Directors Nomination Form — A sample form for staff and boardmembers to nominate new potential boardmembers.
- Board of Directors Position Description — A sample “job description” for boardmembers, including responsibilities and expectations.
- Sample Board and Committee Structure — A sample diagram depicting the relationship between a board of directors, board committees, and staff.
- Sample Board of Directors Evaluation Form — A sample survey to ask members of a board of directors to evaluate their individual participation and activity, and the board’s overall operation and effectiveness.
Memberships
