Your livestreamer became a content creator.

In the last decade, livestream was king as a powerful tool for fundraisers, revolutionizing how organizations engage with some of their supporters. And of livestreamers, gamers were the king of kings.

After a nationwide search conducted by Turnkey For Good, ZERO Prostate Cancer has appointed Sean Kramer as its new Chief Development Officer. Kramer brings a wealth of experience and expertise in nonprofit development strategy, with past leadership roles at Carter Philanthropy, Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, Parkinson’s Foundation, American Cancer Society, and the American Red Cross.

How to fill the gap is a critical decision. Sometimes, organizations need the perfect fit to sit in an interim role until they are ready to hire. Sometimes, they can allow the seat to sit vacant for a small amount of time while they find the perfect fit to take the position full-time. These vacancies never occur at an ideal time and there are many things to consider when deciding on a placement or an interim.

I had to let go of all the assumptions and expectations I carried for my life. I lost everything that was familiar—working, driving, cooking a meal, reading a book—and everything I had imagined for myself as a new mother. With all this losing, though, I ultimately discovered new values, a new community, and new ways of seeing the world and my role in it. 

How do we at Turnkey For Good approach fundraising for these rare conditions? By emphasizing universal impulses like alleviating pain and suffering, and care for others. By focusing on the outcomes of these conditions rather than their rarity, we appeal to people's innate desire to help others in need and to care about them.

Strategy work is a big part of what we at Turnkey do within our social good community. That work typically results in a strategic plan for an organization or even for an initiative. With that strategic plan, paired like goat cheese and a great chardonnay, is the operational plan.

2023 was a year of transition for you, Turnkey, many of our clients, and the world. Transition brings change and uncertainty, but also new opportunities and the need to reflect on how to tackle challenges in a new way.

Your organization’s strategic plan is more than a roadmap to success that can be understood by everyone from the board chair to the part-time volunteer. It is your hedge against human nature, which can often send us down the wrong path when things get tough.

Are you encouraging board members to come prepared to debate, discuss, and vote on important issues facing your organization? Or are your committee and Executive Committee reports nothing more than actions for board members to approve?

The problem isn’t the board packet. It is the amount of information delivered in a way they can’t absorb in a time frame they can’t handle (during the board meeting).

There is a limit to human compassion. Understanding the hows and whys can help nonprofits raise revenue.

Let’s assume a LOT of people suffer from the condition your nonprofit exists to fix. Will that big number help in your copy for your appeals, or even your website?

No.

Volunteering on a local nonprofit board has changed my perspective on some things I used to say with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY, and with a microphone. As an example: “The federated model is inefficient. All organizations are on the path to single corp, without exception.”

Here’s where the federated model works brilliantly. Because the national organization is protected by a separate 501c3, they don’t mess with us.

Turnkey recently completed the search for the Chief Development Officer for The ALS Association. Patrick Reedy enters the role with deep experience at a range of nonprofits including Shatterproof as Chief Development Officer and JDRF as National VP of Leadership Giving, among other experiences.

Turnkey recently completed the search for the President and Chief Executive Officer for ZERO Prostate Cancer. Courtney Bugler, CFRE will assume the role in August 2023.

Bugler said of her new role, “I am truly honored and humbled to have been chosen to lead this organization. I have been preparing for years to do this job, and every aspect of my experience has given me skills, experiences, and a network to impact prostate cancer patients and their families.”

The low-dollar donor is becoming an endangered beast. In and of itself, the loss of immediate revenue is a problem. But the larger problem will show up later. Most sustaining, major, and legacy donors “started with one small introductory gift years ago,” which means fewer major hitters will appear. In addition, many people won’t be there to support our legislative and program activities. They’ll be missing because they, too, came from the small donor ranks, the rapidly declining largest part of our pipeline. The worst pain is yet to come—but there is something we can do to change this future.

On July 1, 2023 Stacey Murrell will become Turnkey For Good Chief Executive Officer. Founder and CEO for 34 years, Katrina VanHuss, will transition to Founder and continue to work inside the business.

Ian Joyce showed up at Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation after a robust and distinguished career in corporate marketing and communications. He brought that mindset to his new work in social good. But he found there was a missing piece—a pipeline.  

A Desire Path, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an unplanned route or path (such as one worn into a grassy surface by repeated foot traffic) that is used by pedestrians in preference to or in the absence of a designated alternative (such as a paved pathway).

Desire paths are everywhere if you know what to look for. It’s what we do with them that speaks volumes to our non-profit culture.

Turnkey recently completed the search for the Chief Global Advancement Officer for Pencils of Promise. Brad Wisdom will lead advancement at the organization under the leadership of Kailee Scales, CEO.

Turnkey recently completed the search for the Chief Development Officer for Pencils of Promise. Julie Baker will assume the role under the leadership of Kailee Scales, CEO.

An authoritarian mindset is most often the reason volunteer systems fail. Here we examine the impact of the authoritarian mindset on leaders and followers.

First, authoritarians have good intent. It is true, however, that they operate using a method that often impacts others both significantly and negatively. It’s who they are, and because authoritarianism is held by many in poor regard, most don’t want to see themselves this way.