Nevada Nonprofit Center - Resource Library

Resource Library

NvNC's Resource Library is a collection of online resources, trainings, tools, etc., to provide accessible, self-driven capacity-building to Nevada's nonprofits. Our team has done the research so that you have a strong starting place on topics across the core capacities of nonprofit management. This list was compiled through a wide range of reputable sources, including other nonprofit state associations, the National Council of Nonprofits, nonprofit consulting organizations, and more.

Dig through this list, and please feel free to provide feedback on the goods and the bads, and most importantly, what's missing. We are here to help you, and your feedback will help us do just that. Have thoughts? Email our pal, Steve.

The initial Resource Library was funded through a subgrant from the Washoe County Community Reinvestment Program using federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. The content is ours and does not necessarily reflect the official position of Washoe County or the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The library continues to grow based on community recommendations.

Board Development & Governance

Board Roles and Responsibilities – National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List). — Definitions of Fiduciary Duties and additional information and pointers.
Becoming a More Effective Nonprofit Board – The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Board performance is widely recognized as a critical ingredient in a nonprofit organization’s ability to achieve impact. This article explores the key elements of what effective board performance looks like, and how nonprofit boards can become more effective.
A Guide to Non-Profits - Nevada Attorney General’s Office — Board of Directors governance responsibilities, including relevant Nevada Legislation.
BoardSource — BoardSource is the recognized leader in nonprofit board leadership research, leadership, and support. We provide nonprofit board resources to increase board effectiveness and strengthen organizational impact, and serve as the national voice for inspired and effective board leadership.
Blue Avocado (Online Magazine) — Blue Avocado is an online magazine with hundreds of articles written by nonprofit leaders, for nonprofit leaders.
Governance & Leadership – The National Council of Nonprofits (Resource List) — This page highlights our most-viewed tools, research, and resources on Governance & Leadership.
A Template for A Great Board Orientation – Joan Garry (Template; Guide) — A list of documents to include in a board orientation binder and an overview of the board orientation session.
Nonprofit Board Orientation Checklist – BoardSource (Tool) — Ensure you are providing new board members with the necessary materials and information during the orientation process. Based on information from The Board Building Cycle and Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, this nonprofit board orientation checklist includes important information such as: materials to share with new board members, general expectations of board members, an outline of the information to provide new board members about the organization
A Board Member “Contract” - Blue Avocado (Sample; Template) — Overview of board member contracts or agreements listing the responsibilities of board members. Sample included.
Sample Governance Documents - CompassPoint — CompassPoint is pleased to share our Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and key governance documents below. We are grateful for the extensive pro bono advice and counsel with regard to those documents provided by Tom Silk of Silk Nonprofit Law.
Board Self-Assessment Survey - CompassPoint (Tool) — A sample brief board self-assessment survey for planning board development activities.
Revisiting the Financial Oversight Role of Nonprofit Boards: A More than Monitoring Approach – Nonprofit Financial Commons (Webinar) — The importance of the Board’s role in strategic financial management.
Nonprofit Policy Review Checklist - BoardEffect — The process of reviewing policies can be time-consuming, but in the end, it will protect your organization, the people involved with it, and your board of directors. The process doesn’t have to be daunting. A categorized policy review checklist will help to keep you on track.
Nonprofit Law Resource Library – Hurwit & Associates (Resource Library) — A library of nonprofit law resources created by attorneys, including Nonprofit Organizational Charts and Board Roles and Responsibilities, and State-by-State Registration & Compliance resources, designed to help organizations understand and navigate state and federal legal compliance requirements.
Internal Controls for Non-Profit Organizations - Texas CPA (Tool) — This is not an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of internal controls but rather to highlight some good basic practices organized around financial management policies for small organizations especially those that rely on paper systems.
Diversity on Nonprofit Boards – National Council of Nonprofits (Article) — Describes the importance of diversity on boards and practice pointers.
Stand for Your Mission (Website) — Resources for advocacy for nonprofit board members.
Ethical Leadership for Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — Describes the importance of ethical leadership and practice pointers.
Nonprofit Board Essentials – Northwestern University Kellogg (Webinar) — A free, video-based, on-demand board education program, covering fiduciary duties, governance and nonprofit finance.

Communications & Marketing

Marketing and Communications – National Council of Nonprofits (Resource List) — List of Marketing and Communication tools, research, and resources.
101 Guide: Marketing and Communications Planning for Nonprofit Organizations – Prosper Strategies (Guide) — Marketing is a key driver of mission. But what holds most nonprofits back from achieving their full marketing potential? Trying to do too much at once, with too little focus on the strategies and tactics that make the biggest impact. That’s where marketing and communications planning comes in, and this guide breaks down the process.
Best Nonprofit Annual Reports 2022 – Nonprofit Fundraising (Article) — Your annual report is an opportunity to showcase the impact your donors have made on the lives of the people you serve. This post includes several great examples for inspiration in creating your 2022 nonprofit annual report.
How to Create a Standout Nonprofit Annual Report + Template – DonorSearch (Guide) — In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about nonprofit annual reports.
Become a Storymaker – TechSoup (Guide) — Video storytelling guide
Digital Storytelling Toolkit – TechSoup (Toolkit) — In this short article, we've compiled some of our favorite digital storytelling resources, both from our own archives and other sites.
Storytelling for Impact – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — From the beginning of civilization, storytelling has maintained a uniquely impactful position in defining culture, motivating action and bringing people together. Today’s marketers need to be better storytellers than ever before as more and more stories are told all around us. Join Firespring’s Kiersten Hill as she goes through tips, techniques and tools to help the modern marketer tell better and more impactful stories to activate their audiences around ideas and actions.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Nonprofit Website – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Go beyond the basics with Molly Coke as she talks about how to leverage technology to help support your mission and make your life easier: marketing automation, website conversion with powerful landing pages, key fundamentals for creating a nonprofit website, and website accessibility
Apparo Nonprofit Resources: Self-Service Technology Training and More – Apparo (Resource Library) — Apparo transforms communities and improves lives by connecting nonprofits to technology expertise and resources that amplify their impact, including marketing technology.
Top 5 Free Marketing Tools – Zippia (Resource List) — Article includes Top 5 Free Marketing Tools
5 Amazing Free Tools for Nonprofits – Zippia (Resource List) — Article includes five free technology and marketing tools for nonprofits
Communication Planning Process – The Foraker Group (Tool) — A communication plan provides a roadmap to ensure that resources of the organization are used efficiently and effectively in reaching its goals. This document outlines the basic elements of a strategic approach to communication.
Policy For Responding To Media Inquiries Example – The Foraker Group (Sample) — Does your staff know what to do if the media calls? This guide will help you develop a policy that clarifies who will talk and how you will prepare for an interview.
Social Media Guidelines – The Foraker Group (Guide) — Guide outlining uses of social media, how to use different social media channels to support your mission, developing a social media calendar, and developing social media policy.
Steps To Re-brand Your Organization – The Foraker Group (Tool) — An organization’s brand is one of its most important assets. If you are considering a rebranding campaign, this document outlines the basics steps you need to consider.

Collaboration

Evaluating a Potential Partnership - The Standards for Excellence Institute (Tool) — A set of questions to assess a potential partnership, including alignment, benefit, continuity, delivery, equity and financial.
Partnerships: Frameworks for Working Together - CCF National Resource Center (Guide) — The Partnerships: Framework for Working Together guidebook will be helpful to any organization or coalition of organizations that wants to know more about establishing and managing partnerships.
The Collaboration Map - La Piana Consulting (Infographic) — The infographic below presents the range of ways that independent organizations can come together in pursuit of a shared goal.
Understanding Sustained Collaboration - Sustained Collaboration Network (Website; Resource Library) — We are a network of nonprofit funders and intermediaries committed to advancing nonprofit impact through sustained collaboration.
Collaboration Roadmap - Sustained Collaboration Network (Tool; Resource Library) — Our roadmap to collaboration is designed to guide you through every step, ensuring a seamless and rewarding partnership experience. From initial conversation to exploring common goals and values to reaching a board resolution, this framework of steps helps keep the project moving and aligned.
Strategic Partnerships - The Standards for Excellence Institute (Guide) — Guide on types of strategic partnerships, partnership due diligence, agreements, memoranda of understanding (MOU), or similar documentation, and board role.
Merger and Alliance Assessment Tool - La Piana Consulting (Toolkit) — Understanding the various partnership options, clarifying mutual expectations, and gauging organizational readiness are key to successful collaboration. The MAAT helps nonprofits explore integrated forms of partnership in an accessible and non-intimidating manner.
The Partnership Matrix – La Piana Consulting (Guide) — Guide to understand different types of partnerships across collaboration, strategic alliances, and corporate restructures (mergers, asset transfers, etc.).
Making Sense of Nonprofit Collaborations – The Bridgespan Group (Report) — Associations, joint programs, shared support functions, and mergers are all means to grow impact, be it through advocacy, lowering costs, or increasing scope and scale of programs. But little is known about how frequently these collaborations take place, nor how successful they are. A survey of both funders and nonprofits charts the landscape.
Cutting Through the Complexity: A Roadmap for Effective Collaboration – SSRI (Article) — Collaborations and networks rarely achieve their ambitious goals. Here’s what it takes to make them actually work.
Success Factors in Nonprofit Mergers - MAP for Nonprofits and Wilder Research (Report) — A study of 41 direct service organization mergers in Minnesota, 1999-2010.
Steps to Create an Ecosystem Map – CivicMakers (Tool) — A quick guide for creating an ecosystem map (aka system map, ecosystem map).
Mapping Our Ecosystem – Tamarack Institute (Tool) — A quick guide for creating an ecosystem map (aka system map, ecosystem map), which breaks down different types of actors and conditions to include.
System Mapping: A Guide Developing Actor Maps - FSG (Guide) — A longer guide to developing actor map (aka system map, ecosystem map) including a facilitation guide.
10 Dangers to Collective Impact- SSRI (Article) — Thousands of collective impact efforts have sprung up over the past decade, but many have struggled to achieve intended outcomes. Here are 10 barriers to success and three lessons that can help groups avoid these dangers.
How to successfully orchestrate collective action - World Economic Forum (Article) — Here's how change-makers can avoid pitfalls of power and design collective action initiatives to tackle societal challenges.
Collective Action Framework - Root Cause (Article) — We apply a holistic Collective Action Framework that is grounded in relationships to guide networks in designing strategy, facilitating partnerships, coordinating service delivery, and sharing responsibility for outcomes.
The Four Components of Effective Collective Impact – Clear Impact (Article) — In “The Four Components of Effective Collective Impact,” author and Clear Impact Senior Consultant, Dan Duncan, highlights and describes what he believes to be the four critical components needed to implement a successful Collective Impact initiative, and more importantly, to improve the well-being of communities around the world.

DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion)

Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter for Nonprofits - National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — Practice pointers, questions to consider, and resources to offer inspiration and guidance about how to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental values – and how to integrate these values throughout the operations and activities of your nonprofit.
So you don’t think race, equity, diversity, and inclusion are relevant to your mission – Nonprofit AF (Blog post) — To put it simply: race, equity, diversity, and inclusion affect ALL nonprofits, and thinking your org is exempt indicates a level of privilege and lack of awareness that may be detrimental to the work. No matter what your organization’s mission is, you still need to think about these things.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - National Council of Nonprofits (Resource List) — The tools, research, and resources needed to operate more effectively, efficiently, and ethically. This page highlights our most-viewed resources on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Self to Systems: Leading for Race Equity Impact - ProInspire (tool) — This Leadership Model is a tool to support individuals and organizations with core commitments, corresponding practices, and reflection questions that can create and sustain racially equitable experiences and outcomes within the social sector.
Three Organizational Decision-Making Best Practices That Embrace Inclusivity - The Bridgespan Group — Three nonprofit leaders share their approaches to more inclusive decision making.
More Than Numbers: A Guide Toward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Data Collection - Charles and Lynn Schusterman (Guide) — A guide for collecting the demographic data organizations need to make informed decisions and reflect the true diversity of the communities they serve.
Navigating DEI Challenges: Strategic Advice for Nonprofits to Meet the Moment - NonProfitPRO (Tool) — Framework and key questions to consider when navigating the complexities of equity work, maintaining your organizational values, and leading with clarity and strength
Diversity Is Not a Dirty Word: A 5-Point Checklist to Survive DEI Messaging - NonProfitPRO (Tool) — Checklist to lean into your DEI messaging strategy in this critical moment and live your organizational values long-term.
Maintaining DEI Commitments: Legal Considerations in Today’s Climate, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits – Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (Article) — Clarification of DEI terminology and current law, outline of the current legal landscape, and practical considerations for nonprofits on the legal status of DEI work.
How Nonprofits Can Incorporate Equity into Their Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning – The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — For nonprofits, doing evaluation well includes using methods that engage, respect, and benefit the constituents and communities with whom you work.
The Equitable Evaluation Framework - Equitable Evaluation Initiative and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations — The EEF offers guidance, context, and underpinnings to explore, question, learn, and unlearn in ways that help inform actions and decisions.
Five Ways that Nonprofits Can Make Decision Making More Inclusive—and More Effective – The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — A nonprofit executive team's effectiveness is essential for an organization's success. Yet often these teams underperform for a variety of reasons. The five steps laid out here can help nonprofit executive teams move from underperforming to high performing in their work to advance their organizations' missions.
Strengthening your nonprofit through more equitable and inclusive hiring practices National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — Practice pointers for more equitable and inclusive hiring.
Inclusive Communication: An Introduction To The Vocabulary Of The Disability Community – Candid (Webinar) — This session covers general terms and words on physical disabilities, hearing and visual disabilities, mental and cognitive disabilities, and seizure disorders. Beyond specific language, learn from communications and nonprofit experts on how to ensure overall storytelling is inclusive of people with disabilities.
Foster an Inclusive Culture for Your LGBTQ+ Staff and Partners – Candid (Webinar) — This webinar recording provides a 101 overview of LGBTQ+ identities and the discrimination and exclusion experienced by the LGBTQ+ community. After watching the video, you should have resources and action steps for creating a more inclusive work environment and an increased ability to serve the LGBTQ+ community.

Impact & Program Evaluation

Data Playbook – Schusterman Foundation — In our Data Playbook, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies lays a framework for how organizations of all kinds can not only capture data more effectively but put it to work underscoring your mission.
Impact measurement: How to measure your nonprofit’s impact – Candid (Article) — This post discusses different strategies nonprofits can use to measure social impact and express outcomes. Determine what makes the most sense for your organization and its valued stakeholders.
Evaluation and Measurement of Outcomes - National Council of Nonprofits (Article; Resource List) — Background on the importance of measuring outcomes and list of relevant resources.
How Nonprofits Can Incorporate Equity into Their Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning – The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — For nonprofits, doing evaluation well includes using methods that engage, respect, and benefit the constituents and communities with whom you work.
5 Ways to Simplify Your Data Practices So You Can Focus on Your Mission- National Council of Nonprofits (Article) — Measuring impact in a meaningful way is increasingly critical for nonprofits, but it’s often a daunting challenge. Below are five ways to start moving your data practices from a place of overwhelm to ease.
The Equitable Evaluation Framework - Equitable Evaluation Initiative and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations — The EEF offers guidance, context, and underpinnings to explore, question, learn, and unlearn in ways that help inform actions and decisions.
A Practical Guide to Nonprofit Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning - The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — Thoughtful approaches to measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) can help every nonprofit hone its strategy and improve its programs. Even organizations with limited resources for measurement can effectively learn—and improve.
A Practical Approach to Nonprofit Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning – The Bridgespan Group (Webinar) — Performance measurement isn’t just a yardstick for success, it’s a tool for learning, decision making, and improvement that leads to greater impact.
Logic Model Development Guide - W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Guide) — The program logic model is defined as a picture of how your organization does its work – the theory and assumptions underlying the program. A program logic model links outcomes (both short- and long-term) with program activities/processes and the theoretical assumptions/principles of the program.
Evaluating Advocacy - National Council of Nonprofits (Article; Resource List) — Background on importance and challenge of measuring advocacy outcomes and list of relevant resources.
What Matters: Investing in Results to Build Strong, Vibrant Communities - Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco & Nonprofit Finance Fund (Online Book) — What Matters: Investing in Results to Build Strong, Vibrant Communities features essays by dozens of leaders, exploring the possibilities of an outcomes-based world.
The Nuts and Bolts of Program Evaluation: Designing Effective Logic Models and Evaluating Service-Oriented Nonprofits – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Whether you are new to program evaluation or looking to refine your existing skills, this webinar will provide practical ways to help you evaluate the impact of your nonprofit's programs.
Making Your Nonprofit’s Case with Quantitative Data – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — In this session, we'll explore how to design accurate and informative evaluations that leave your supporters with a clear picture of your progress.
State of Evaluation 2016: Evaluation Capacity and Practice in the Nonprofit Sector – Innovation Network (Report) — Recent findings (from 2016) about how nonprofits engage in evaluation, and the capacities and characteristics of their organizations.
Advocacy & Social Movements- Innovation Network (Resource List) — Innovation Network evaluates the hard-to-measure areas of advocacy and social movements through both qualitative and quantitative data.
Exploring Participatory Practices that Shift Power in Evaluation - Innovation Network (Presentation) — Innovation Network and the Institute for Community Health will share examples of how we are moving toward participant ownership by incorporating participatory practices in evaluation and learning design in their projects.
How Nonprofits and NGOs Can Measure Progress Toward Systems Change - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Across a range of issues, there are organizations for which systems change has long been at the core of their work. But how do these nonprofit leaders, accustomed to measuring direct service work, know if they’re making progress against their systems change goals? The work of Lend a Hand India provides some insight.
BUILDing for Growth Workshop: 5 Common Mistakes Nonprofits Make With Data and How to Avoid Them – La Piana Consulting (Webinar)
How to Write Grant Reports [Template] - Instrumentl (Article) — This article explores what a grant report is, what should be included in your grant report, five easy steps to write a grant report, and sample grant reporting templates.
Getting started – BetterEvaluation (Resource list) — Use this list of resources to get started with some of the basics about evaluation.
National Center for Charitable Statistics – Urban Institute (Platform) — NCCS is a research center and open data platform dedicated to advancing the knowledge and understanding of the nonprofit and charitable sector.
Introduction to Evaluation – Community Tool Box by the Center for Community Health and Development at the university of Kansas (Guide) — Learn how to develop an evaluation plan, identify stakeholders' interests, and conduct a participatory evaluation.

Grant Writing

Four common grant proposal documents (free samples included) - Candid (Article; Template) — In this blog, we share the major types of grant proposal documents (LOI, Cover letter, Proposal Budgets, Full Grant Proposals), their components, and free sample resources to show you what a successful version of each one looks like.
Instrumentl Grant Writing Webinars (Resource Library; Webinar) — On demand Grant Writing Classes.
Instrumentl Free Grantwriting Courses (Resource List) — Free Courses to Learn Everything About Grants. Get comprehensive tips to source the best-fit funders, quickly determine their ROI, and craft compelling proposals to win more grants.
Instrumentl Free Comprehensive Guides to Master Grants (Resource List) — Free Comprehensive Guides To Master Grants. Learn how to strategically prospect, track and manage your grants.
Free Templates - Instrumentl — Why start from scratch when you can use one of our free templates? Created especially for nonprofits and grant professionals.
Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Blog – Grant Professionals Association (GPA) — A blog capturing helpful grant writing tips and insights.
Grant Tips & Best Practices – Grant Professionals Association (GPA) — A list of grant writing tips across planning & prioritization, research & prospecting, proposal development & submission, stewardship (management), and professional development.
Charitable Grant Opportunities for Southern Nevada – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — A Guide for Nevada Nonprofits Searching for and Applying to Charitable Local Grant Programs.
Needs Statement Guide – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — A guide to writing an effective needs statement.
Logic Model Development Guide - W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Guide) — The program logic model is defined as a picture of how your organization does its work – the theory and assumptions underlying the program. A program logic model links outcomes (both short- and long-term) with program activities/processes and the theoretical assumptions/principles of the program.
Should We Consider Federal Grants? – Nevada GrantLab (Tool) — Overview of federal grants and assessment tool to determine readiness.
Federal Grant Readiness Rubric – Nevada GrantLab (Tool) — Determine your organization’s strengths and needs for obtaining and sustaining federal grants on a direct or pass-through basis.
Bid / No-Bid Analysis Form – Glen Price Group (Tool) — Tool to analyze considerations for applying for a funding opportunity.
3 Steps to Lay the Groundwork for a High-Scoring Federal Grant Application – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — Following these 3 steps will set you up for success in developing a high-scoring grant application and running a high-quality program.
Distinguishing Between Allowable and Unallowable Costs – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — This guide lists common allowable and unallowable costs (inclusive of most recent CFR updates, August 13, 2020).
Preparing a Grant Budget – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — The 3 Must-Have Core Components of Every Federal Grant Budget.
8 Best Practices for Developing a High-Scoring Federal Grant Budget – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — Developing a federal grant budget and writing a corresponding budget narrative can be challenging– especially while navigating all the finance jargon, inconsistent formatting requirements, and rigorous scoring rubrics. This guide will help you through it by sharing 8 best practices to adopt in the budgeting process.
9-Step Guide to search and view Nevada organizations with current federal awards- Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — How to use grants.gov and USAspending.gov to understand local federal funding competition.
Quick Guide to Preparing a Federal Grant Proposal: How to Locate and Integrate Legitimate Evidence Based Practices into a Grant Application – Nevada GrantLab (Guide) — Evidence based practices can be found in many disciplines and across many interventions, and they signal to federal grant reviewers that your program rests on a solid foundation and their investment in your program with federal grant dollars will be sound.
Post-Award Toolkit – Nevada GrantLab (Toolkit) — Tips and resources for navigating federal awards, including a post-award checklist.
4 Major Post-Award Compliance Requirements – Nevada GrantLab (Toolkit) — An Auditor’s Perspective: Quick Guide to Being an Excellent Federal Grant Manager.
Sample MOU Agreement – Nevada GrantLab (Template)
Letter of Support Template – Nevada GrantLab (Template)
Subgrant Agreement Template – Nevada GrantLab (Template)
Instrumentl (Paid platform) — Grants platform for finding and managing grants.
Nonprofit Grant Funding ROI Calculator - Instrumentl (Tool) — Tell us about your grant program to see how much additional funding you could gain.

Financial Management

Budgeting for Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Article; Resource list) — Overview of nonprofit budgets and list of relevant resources.
Nonprofit Audit Guide – National Council of Nonprofits (Guide) — National Council of Nonprofits has created this Nonprofit Audit Guide© to provide charitable nonprofits with the tools they need to make informed decisions about independent audits.
Nonprofit Accounting Basics - The GWSCPA Nonprofit Financial Accountability Taskforce (Website) — A collection of articles and videos on nonprofit accounting and financial management, including on starting a nonprofit, audits, governance, internal controls, etc.
Nonprofit Financial Commons (Resource Library) — Longtime partners Nonprofit Quarterly, Propel Nonprofits, and BDO created the Nonprofit Financial Commons, a rich portal and peer community where nonprofits of all sizes and types can find and share information and tools to help them act strategically on their own financial models.
Federal Funding Resources - YPTC (Resource Library) — To help nonprofit organizations navigate the 2025 federal funding changes, YPTC’s Federal Awards team regularly produces webinars and other resources for free on our website.
Financial Management – National Council of Nonprofits (Article; Resource List) — Guidance on financial policies and a list of financial management resources.
Financial Management Self-Assessment Tool - Nonprofit Association of Oregon (Tool) — This assessment tool is geared towards executive staff and fiscal managers who oversee financial management strategy. Tool to assess nonprofit financial systems and policies including financial planning/budgeting, execution, recording, reporting, and monitoring.
Financial sustainability check-up chart - Social Impact Architects and Charles River CFO (Tool) — Self-assessment tool to assess financial management systems and healthiness of financial position.
Cash Flow Primer Video – Propel Nonprofits (Video) — Video explaining how to project and plan your cash flow.
Cost Allocation Primer – Propel Nonprofits (Video) — Video explaining how to determine, account for, and allocate those costs properly.
Managing Restricted Funds – Propel Nonprofits (Article) — This resource article aims to define funds with donor restrictions and funds without donor restrictions (previously unrestricted, temporarily restricted, and permanently restricted income), and give nonprofit leaders the tools to record, report, and effectively manage contributed income and net assets.
Nonprofit Cost Analysis Toolkit – The Bridgespan Group (Toolkit) — Although nonprofits generally have a good understanding of their revenues, knowledge about costs can sometimes be less robust. This is particularly the case when it comes to the true, all-in costs of providing services, running programs and otherwise operating the organization.
Operating Reserves for Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Article; Resource list) — Article summarizing the importance of operating reserves and cash reserves policies.
When Financial Stress Hits Your Nonprofit, Try These Steps – Nonprofit Risk Management Center (Article) — Brief article summarizing steps to take in times of financial crisis.
Financial Self-Assessment Worksheet: Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses - Nonprofit Finance Fund (Tool) — Organizations that can clearly and accurately articulate their financial story and resource needs are better positioned to make a strong case for support. Use this worksheet to your nonprofit’s strengths and weaknesses.
Nonprofit Cost Analysis Toolkit – The Bridgespan Group (Toolkit) — Although nonprofits generally have a good understanding of their revenues, knowledge about costs can sometimes be less robust. This is particularly the case when it comes to the true, all-in costs of providing services, running programs and otherwise operating the organization.
Internal Controls for Nonprofits - National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — “Internal controls” are financial management practices that are systematically used to prevent misuse and misappropriation of assets, such as occur through theft or embezzlement. Internal controls are generally described in written policies that set forth the procedures that the nonprofit will follow, as well as who is responsible.
Internal Controls for Non-Profit Organizations - Texas CPA (Tool) — This is not an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of internal controls but rather to highlight some good basic practices organized around financial management policies for small organizations especially those that rely on paper systems.
Internal Controls and Separation of Duties Guide Sheet - The Office for Victims of Crime Financial Management Resource Center (OVC FMRC) (Tool) — Provides overview of internal controls and effective internal control practices, including example separation of duties.
Internal Controls Checklist - CompassPoint (Tool) — Extensive checklist of internal controls.
A Sample Nonprofit Financial Policies and Procedures Manual – Nonprofit Financial Commons (Template) — Financial Technologies & Management provides this template for crafting a financial policies and procedures manual for your nonprofit organization. Extensive and detailed at 21 pages.
10 Step Annual Budget Checklist - Propel Nonprofits (Tool) — Checklist for the budgeting process.
Nonprofit Budget Development Checklist - TREC (Tool) — Budget development checklist
True Program Costs: Program Budget and Allocation Template and Resource - Propel Nonprofits (Tool) — This guide and accompanying spreadsheet template break down the process of understanding true program costs, either through budgeting or financial reports, into several stages.
Demystifying the 4 Main Nonprofit Financial Statements – YPTC (Guide) — While these documents can be overwhelming to fully understand at first, we’ll break down the key concepts related to this topic, including: What Are Nonprofit Financial Statements? Why Are Nonprofit Financial Statements Important? Types of Nonprofit Financial Statements Explained; How to Best Compile Your Nonprofit Financial Statements.
Model Cash Flow Projection (Free Download) - ggm Nonprofit Consulting (Template) — Downloadable excel modeling Monthly Cash Flow Projection.

Fundraising

Nevada Governor’s Office of Federal Assistance (Government Agency) — The Agency provides a range of grant-related support for the legislatively identified stakeholders. With a mission to increase the number of grant dollars Nevada receives, OFA works to reduce and remove barriers to federal grant funding through providing grant resources, advocacy, and coordination, among federal grant applicants across the state.
Federal Funding Resources - YPTC (Resource Library) — To help nonprofit organizations navigate the 2025 federal funding changes, YPTC’s Federal Awards team regularly produces webinars and other resources for free on our website.
Nevada GrantLab (Nevada Grants Database) — Based in Las Vegas, Nevada GrantLab supports nonprofits by improving access to resources that help them do their best work. Our team of experts helps identify funding opportunities that align with your organization’s mission and increases your chances of success. See Grant Writing for GrantLab’s grant writing resources.
Fundraising – National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource list) — Regulations and resources for fundraising.
Candid (Nonprofit, Funder, and Grants Database) — Candid provides the most comprehensive grants and nonprofit data to help you find funding, research nonprofits, connect with funders, and more. Claim your nonprofit profile on Candid.
How to Find Funding for Nonprofits – Candid (Toolkit) — Set of articles that describes how to use Candid to find relevant prospective funders.
Foundation Directory – Candid (Paid Funder Database) — Candid’s Foundation Directory gives you access to the information you need to be smart and strategic with your funding requests. With expanded, in-depth profiles of each grantmaker, you will have an inside look at the grants they have actually made.
How to Raise Funds for a New Nonprofit - Get Fully Funded (Article) — Brief guide covering steps to begin fundraising, myths about nonprofit fundraising, ideas for how to find donors, keys to making an ask, and how to build lasting relationships with donors.
Funding Options for Small and Grassroots Nonprofit Organizations - BryteBridge (Article) — Descriptions of funding sources for small and grassroots nonprofits.
Nonprofit Fundraising (Website; Resource Library) — Learn how to raise more money so you can help more people from fundraising experts who have been in your shoes.
A Nonprofit Fundraising Plan Example and Template to Inspire Your Organization – Prosper Strategies (Guide) — This post provides a look at what’s inside the Essential Nonprofit Fundraising Plan Template to help you determine if it’s the right place for your organization to start.
Fundraising & Development Toolkit - Texas Commission on the Arts (Toolkit) — Toolkit including information on building a fundraising plan; an overview of the different types of funding and their unique constraints; rules of thumb on boards and fundraising; guidelines on how to organize and develop your fundraising materials; a research checklist; sample fundraising plan and template; sample donor profiling and pledge forms; a sample breakdown of benefits for underwriters; sample cover letter, proposal, budget, and follow-up letter; a special events timeline; and more.
Community Progress Report – Truckee Meadows Tomorrow (TMT) — Provides useful data for Washoe County nonprofits to use in their proposals.
Nevada Corporate Giving Council Survey - The Moonridge Group (Report) — Located out of Las Vegas, the group conducted a 2023 Nevada Corporate Giving Council Survey. Read the study to improve your fundraising strategies and to get a better sense of how Nevada is doing on a national scale.
Measuring Fundraising Effectiveness (BoardSource) — BoardSource, along with our colleagues at the Association of Fundraising Professionals, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and GuideStar, has developed a new framework for evaluating fundraising effectiveness — one that provides a balanced approach that emphasizes how important it is to invest in strong and sustainable fundraising programs.
Fundraising with Email Marketing – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Fundraising should be easy, and it should work. But most nonprofit leaders struggle to come up with an effective fundraising strategy. They spend a ton of money on websites that don’t bring in new donors. They need to send fundraising emails, but are not sure where to start. When leads slow down, they’re at a loss for how to get them going again. The secret to solving these problems is an email marketing funnel.
How to Get Your Board to Help You Fundraise—Even if They Don’t Wanna– North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Are you a nonprofit trying to fundraise? You have a board – and believe it or not, your board should function as a fundraising machine.
#DonorLove – How to Keep Your Donors Giving – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Presented by Network for Good, this webinar centers around loving your donors and ensuring the most upside to retain one-time givers.
How to Make the ESG Shift Work for Your Nonprofit – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — In this webinar, Josh Jacobson and Janet Ervin from Charlotte-based social impact company Next Stage will share their findings from 3+ years of research on the changing world of corporate social responsibility and outline how "the ESG paradigm shift" will impact nonprofits going forward. They will also share recent case studies and provide tangible ways for your nonprofit to get ahead of the trend to engage and forge new partnerships with private sector companies.
Major Donor Strategy Deep Dive – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — This webinar will focus on practical and effective major donor strategies, honing in on cultivating donors that can support the organization in a meaningful way.
Fundamentals of Nonprofit Financial Sustainability – The Bridgespan Group (Resource List) — A collection of articles, tools, and templates designed to provide insights on structuring your approach to resourcing your mission-driven work. These materials include insights on funding models, fundraising, and cost management.
7 Incredible Fundraising Platforms – Zippia (Resource List) — Article includes 7 fundraising platforms
Start the New Year Right with a Year-Round Donor Engagement Plan - TechSoup (Article) — The year-end fundraising season is now behind you, but do you have a year-round communications plan so you can connect and engage meaningfully with your donors? Let's discuss seven ways you can make the most of January and beyond.
Candid’s Philanthropy News Digest – Candid (Newsletter) — Don’t want to go anywhere to get your grant news? Then subscribe to Candid’s Philanthropy News Digest, which aggregates grant announcements, RFPs and nonprofit sector news weekly – get all of this great information right to your inbox.
Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Research (Research Library) — Part of the University of Indiana, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy conducts studies and reports on giving behavior, trends and the overall state of philanthropy.
11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2025 - Johnson Center (Report) — Current trends and analysis shaping the philanthropic sector.
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (Resource Library) — CEP provides of-the-moment research on how foundations can improve their impact through feedback, strategy and grantee relationships. They also have an annual State of Nonprofits report sharing nonprofit challenges.
Giving USA (Report for purchase) — Comprehensive annual report on philanthropic giving trends in the US.
Insights - Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) — CECP publishes annual data and insights into trends in corporate social investment and giving, which is helpful for any organization looking to secure corporate funding or develop relationships with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments.
Capital Campaign Pro (Resource Library) — Guides, checklists, webinars, and podcasts to help you on your campaign journey.
Federal Grants Performance in Nevada – The Guinn Center (Report) — Nevada continues to be ranked among the lowest states in the nation in receiving federal grants, which are a key source of funding for health care, education, social services, and infrastructure, according to a new Guinn Center report.

Human Resources

Employment & HR – National Council of Nonprofits (Resource List) — This page highlights our most-viewed resources on Employment and HR.
Finding, Hiring and Engaging New Team Members – Center for Excellence in Nonprofits — Workshop handouts including example job description, identifying primary role expectations, and interview questions.
Human Resources Compliance Guide for Nonprofits – Nonprofit Hub (Guide) — This guide focuses on compliance in onboarding, recruiting, and managing employee handbooks in the nonprofit sector.
Trends in Healthcare – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Join this discussion for an overview of the current healthcare landscape as it relates to nonprofit employee benefits. We’ll explore various strategies employers are deploying to mitigate cost and risk, and the pros and cons of nontraditional health care options for smaller nonprofits including Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements (QSEHRA), Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO) plans, Professional Employer Organizations (PEO), and Association Health Plans (AHP).
Workforce Innovation: Attracting, Recruiting, and Retaining Talent in Nonprofit Organizations – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — In this session, you will gain insight on the hot topics of attracting, recruiting, and retaining top talent within nonprofits. This session is designed for staff responsible for the talent and growth of their organization. Learn how culture impacts each of these verticals and what other organizations are seeing and doing that are producing positive results!
Creating Family-Friendly Workplaces – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — Employers across North Carolina want to attract and retain the best employees, and they want those employees to be happy and healthy. Join this webinar to get strategies, resources, and tools to have a competitive advantage and leave ready to develop a plan that supports the health and well-being of working parents and their children.
Mental Shift: Employee Well-being to Family Well-being – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — As the employer, there are many things you can do to support not only your employee’s well-being, but also their family’s well-being. Join us to learn how you can improve the culture of your workplace while improving productivity.
Nonprofit Compensation Report – Candid (Report for purchase) — Nonprofit executive compensation.
Top 5 Sites for Finding Volunteers – Zippia (Resource List) — Article includes Top 5 Sites for Finding Volunteers.
The 7 Best Sites to Find Employees – Zippia (Resource List) — Article includes Top 7 sites for finding employees.
Strengthening your nonprofit through more equitable and inclusive hiring practices National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — Practice pointers for more equitable and inclusive hiring.
Talent Development Challenges for HR and L&D Leaders- The Center for Creative Leadership (Guide) — Creating greater collective capability in an unpredictable context isn’t easy. Learn the most common organizational talent development challenges that we hear from our clients, and get research-based recommendations to address them.

Legal Support & Compliance

Nonprofit Compliance Basics - Foundation Group (Article) — This brief article covers at a high level the primary compliance concerns, starting at the federal level, then moves to the requirements of the state.
Nonprofit Law Resource Library – Hurwit & Associates (Resource Library) — A library of nonprofit law resources created by attorneys, including Nonprofit Organizational Charts and Board Roles and Responsibilities, and State-by-State Registration & Compliance resources, designed to help organizations understand and navigate state and federal legal compliance requirements.
Starting a Nonprofit Organization in Nevada – Hurwit & Associates (Article) — Guide for Nevada registration & compliance, including initial and annual filings required by State and Federal laws
Nonprofit Legal Compliance in an Unfriendly Political Environment – NPQ (Article) — Checklist of compliance matters to help nonprofits prepare to address any threats.
Forming and Maintaining a Nonprofit Organization Nevada Edition - Foundation Group (Guide) — The purpose of this guidebook is to show you these steps to start a nonprofit. This guidebook is not so much a how-to guide, but rather a what-to-do guide.
Ethics and Accountability for Nonprofits – The National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — Resources for ethical principles, transparency and accountability, legal requirements for ethical conducts, and state law requirements.
Nonprofit Policy Review Checklist - BoardEffect — The process of reviewing policies can be time-consuming, but in the end, it will protect your organization, the people involved with it, and your board of directors. The process doesn’t have to be daunting. A categorized policy review checklist will help to keep you on track.
The Nonprofit Compliance Checklist: Must Know Essentials - Labyrinth (Article) — Overview of corporate, fundraising, operational, accounting, human resources, and record keeping requirements for nonprofits.
Nonprofit Solicitation Requirements - Nevada Secretary of State (FAQ)
Charitable Organizations Registration Requirements -Nevada Secretary of State (Article)
Human Resources Compliance Guide for Nonprofits – Nonprofit Hub (Guide) — This guide focuses on compliance in onboarding, recruiting, and managing employee handbooks in the nonprofit sector.
Financial Transparency and Public Disclosure Requirements - National Council of Nonprofits (Article) — Requirements for public disclosure of IRS filings and twelve additional compliance policies to increase financial transparency.
Charitable Solicitation: What Does It Take To Be Compliant? - Bloomerang (Webinar and transcript) — The top five things that you need to know about charitable solicitation compliance.
Nonprofit Insurance 101 - Nonprofits Insurance Alliance (NIA) (Guide) — Learning about insurance for nonprofits and finding the right coverages for your operations can be overwhelming. Nonprofits Insurance Alliance (NIA) has created this guide to answer your most frequently asked questions about insurance available to nonprofits.
A NONPROFIT’S GUIDE TO RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE – Public Counsel (Guide) — The goal of this manual is to walk you through the entire risk management process. Using the case of Happy Child Early Care and Education Center as an example, the manual will explain the three fundamental steps that every organization should take in order to create a risk management plan.
Insurance & Risk Management 101 for Nonprofits - Reed Smith and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program (Guide) — This alert will explain the basics of the insurance policies that are most commonly purchased by nonprofits – what they cover, when they are required, and what to do if there is a claim.
Maintaining DEI Commitments: Legal Considerations in Today’s Climate, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits – Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (Article) — Clarification of DEI terminology and current law, outline of the current legal landscape, and practical considerations for nonprofits on the legal status of DEI work.

Leadership Development & Coaching

Leadership Development: Five Things All Nonprofits Should Know - SSRI (Article) — Why leadership development takes courage but is the best investment a nonprofit can make.
Ethical Leadership for Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — Describes the importance of ethical leadership and practice pointers.
How Nonprofit Leadership Development Sustains Organizations and Their Teams - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — This article outlines an approach to investing in future leaders. Through Bridgespan’s work with hundreds of nonprofits over the past decade, we’ve found that the key to leadership development is for managers and staff to work together on a few simple practices.
Nonprofit Leadership Development Toolkit - The Bridgespan Group (Toolkit) — This toolkit is designed to help executive teams, in coordination with human resources professionals or other staff support roles, to develop and implement the foundational components of an effective leadership development system.
Nonprofit Leadership Competency Bank - The Bridgespan Group (Tool) — A bank of core competencies and leadership competencies for nonprofits, including rubrics for early to advanced stages for each competency.
Self to Systems: Leading for Race Equity Impact - ProInspire (Tool) — This Leadership Model is a tool to support individuals and organizations with core commitments, corresponding practices, and reflection questions that can create and sustain racially equitable experiences and outcomes within the social sector.
Stronger Together: How Leadership & Evaluation Drive Nonprofit Impact - Center for Creative Leadership (Article) — In this article, we’ll explore the powerful intersection of leadership development and program evaluation through the lens of 3 central themes that can be applied at both the individual and organizational level: Self-awareness, Measurement, and Authenticity.
5 Insights from Directors Sharing Power - CompassPoint (Report) — "5 Insights from Directors Sharing Power" explores how groups are aligning their leadership structures with their organizational identities and values.
- The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Nonprofit co-leaders share how they were able to integrate their lived experiences into their work to enhance the missions of their organizations. For more from the series, visit Learning Through Co-Leadership.
A Framework for Great Nonprofit Leadership - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — While there is little consensus on what makes a great leader, the three key categories shared here offer a reliable framework for thinking about the competencies and attributes a successful nonprofit needs in its leaders.
Increasing Nonprofit Executive Team Effectiveness - The Bridgespan Group (Article, Tool) — A nonprofit executive team's effectiveness is essential for an organization's success. Yet often these teams underperform for a variety of reasons. The five steps laid out here can help nonprofit executive teams move from underperforming to high-performing in their work to advance their organizations' missions.
Executive Team Effectiveness Toolkit - The Bridgespan Group (Toolkit) — The purpose of this toolkit is to help you and your nonprofit executive team improve your effectiveness in one or more of these five areas: CEO Management of the Executive Team, Work of the Executive Team, Executive Team Composition, Executive Team Meetings, and Executive Team Dynamics and Behaviors
The 70-20-10 Rule for Leadership Development - The Center for Creative Leadership (Article) — Learn how challenging experiences, developmental relationships, and formal coursework form a foundation for learning and growth, comprising the classic 70-20-10 rule or formula that emerged from our early research.
Insights & Research - The Center for Creative Leadership (Resource Library) — Resources from a top-ranked, global, nonprofit provider of leadership development and a pioneer in the field of global leadership research.

Organizational Assessment & Performance Measurement

A Guide to Organizational Capacity Assessment Tools - Hewlett Foundation (Guide) — Guide on the landscape of existing (publicly available) Organizational Capacity Assessment tools and best practices for using these tools in various contexts.
Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool - AmeriCorps Office of Research and Evaluation (Tool) — Assessment tool for leadership, management and operations, community engagement, programs and service, and evaluative capacity
McKinsey Capacity Assessment Grid - Venture Philanthropy Partners (Tool) — Assessment tool for aspirations, strategy, organizational skills, human resources, systems and infrastructure, organizational structure, and culture
Five Elements Assessments - 501 Commons (Tool) — Assessment tool for Governance & Boards, Fundraising & Financial Management, Management & Culture, Planning, Technology, & Administration, Communications & Relationships
Nonprofit Self-Assessment Checklist- Standards for Excellence Institute (Tool) — Assessment tool for Mission, Strategy, and Evaluation; Leadership: Board, Staff, and Volunteers; Legal Compliance and Ethics; Finance and Operations; Resource Development; Public Awareness, Engagement and Advocacy
Organizational Health Index (OHI) - McKinsey (Tool) — McKinsey's Organizational Health Index (OHI) is a staff-wide survey and diagnostic that measures how an organization's "ways of working" support sustained performance: Direction, Leadership, Work environment, Accountability, Coordination & control, capabilities, motivation, innovation & learning, external orientation.
CORE CAPACITY ASSESSMENT TOOL (CCAT) - TCC Group (Paid Tool) — The Core Capacity Assessment Tool (CCAT), developed by TCC Group, is one of the most widely recognized nonprofit assessment tools in the U.S. It is a survey-based tool designed to measure organizational effectiveness by assessing a nonprofit’s lifecycle stage and four core capacities: Adaptive, leadership, management, and technical. Cost: $350 per organization for the report alone, without an interpretation session. For $1,000, nonprofits can receive both the report and an interpretation session with a trained facilitator.
The Impact Capacity Assessment Tool (iCAT) - Algorhythm (Paid Tool) — The iCAT measures six major capacity areas and 28 sub-capacities: Resource Generating, Leading, Learning, Managing, Overseeing, Planning. Cost: $300 per nonprofit.
THE LONG ISLAND CENTER FOR NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT - Adelphi University's School of Social Work (Tool) — Assessment tool for Mission, Board governance, Planning, Resource development, External relations, Administration and management, Executive leadership, Finance, Human resources, Program planning and evaluation, Space, facilities, systems, technology.
Organizational Learning Self-Assessment Tool V1.0 - Ontario Nonprofit Network (Tool) — A simple set of questions to self-assess your organization's learning culture and identify steps for action.
BBB Standards for Charity Accountability - Give.org BBB Wise Giving Alliance (Tool and Assessment) — BBB's 20 Standards. BBB Standards for Charity Accountability aim to verify trustworthiness and promote best practices.
Checklist of Nonprofit Organizational Indicators - Management Library (Tool) — Our roadmap to collaboration is designed to guide you through every step, ensuring a seamless and rewarding partnership experience. From initial conversation to exploring common goals and values to reaching a board resolution, this framework of steps helps keep the project moving and aligned.
Organizational Mapping Tool - Ford Foundation (Tool)
The Organizational Mapping Tool (OMT) is an open-source, organizational assessment tool that is designed to help nonprofits identify and prioritize their organizational strengthening needs. Link to PDF.
Performance Measurement and Improvement – The Bridgespan Group (Article, Resource List) — Continuously tracking important data (typically by staff, using an internal data system) for accountability, learning and improvement (e.g. ETO, balanced scorecard, dashboards).
Workshop: Tools & Methodologies to Assess Organizational Culture & Take Action – La Piana Consulting (Webinar)

Organizational Planning & Development

Fundamentals of Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness - The Bridgespan Group (Resource List) — A collection of articles, tools, and templates designed to improve your organization's overall effectiveness. The content below offers insight and best practices to ensure your organization’s ongoing success on topics ranging from operating models and decision making to measurement and innovation.
Operating Models: How Nonprofits Get from Strategy to Results - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — A nonprofit’s operating model is the blueprint for how to organize and deploy people and resources. It serves as a bridge between strategy into results. Forging this bridge well requires tailoring a nonprofit’s model to deliver its specific strategy and equity priorities, looking across four major operating model elements.
5 Insights from Directors Sharing Power - CompassPoint (Report) — "5 Insights from Directors Sharing Power" explores how groups are aligning their leadership structures with their organizational identities and values.
Where Do We Go From Here? Using the Nonprofit Lifecycle to Plan Ahead - (Social Impact Architects (Tool) — The nonprofit lifecycle gives you a realistic sense of where your organization stands now – especially if transitions or trends have shifted your position – and whether all of its elements are working in alignment.
Strategies for Changing Your Organization’s Culture - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Culture is, in essence, an organization’s operating environment. As such, it influences how well an organization can meet challenges—and make changes. Here we share the stories of two nonprofit leaders faced with having to transform their organizations and how they were able to align their cultures with their new strategies.
Four Actions Nonprofit Leaders Can Take to Transform Organizational Culture - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Article describing how Simply articulating new beliefs and values alone won’t change behaviors of staff. The experiences of executive directors and other senior leaders who have successfully shifted their cultures reveal a counterintuitive lesson: It takes concrete actions to shift an intangible force like organizational culture.
Key Elements of Effective Organizations: Bridgespan's Organization Wheel - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — High-performing nonprofits think about their organizations as much more than the boxes and lines on an “org chart.” Bridgespan finds that truly effective organizations exhibit strengths in five key interrelated areas: leadership, decision-making and structure, people, work processes and systems, and culture.
How to Plan More Effective Nonprofit Management Team Meetings - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Many nonprofit leaders report that their management meetings aren’t as effective as they should be. This article offers practical guidance, templates, and tools to help your nonprofit leadership team optimize its meetings.
What Drives a Nonprofit to Choose Co-Leadership? Bringing Lived Experiences to the Mission- The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Nonprofit co-leaders share how they were able to integrate their lived experiences into their work to enhance the missions of their organizations. For more from the series, visit Learning Through Co-Leadership.
The RAPID Decision-Making Tool for Nonprofits – The Bridgespan Group (Tool) — This article focuses on a tool for addressing one of those questions: who should be involved and what role should they play? This decision-making tool is RAPID®, developed by Bain & Company and used by a range of nonprofits, including The Bridgespan Group, to make significant decisions.
Five Ways that Nonprofits Can Make Decision Making More Inclusive—and More Effective – The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — A nonprofit executive team's effectiveness is essential for an organization's success. Yet often these teams underperform for a variety of reasons. The five steps laid out here can help nonprofit executive teams move from underperforming to high-performing in their work to advance their organizations' missions.
How to Build a Nonprofit Dashboard for Your Leadership Team – The Bridgespan Group (Article) — What does your leadership team need to monitor to ensure you’re making progress toward your goals? A dashboard can answer this question.
Building the Capacity to Innovate – The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — A guide to help nonprofits build the mind-set and the muscles needed to identify breakthrough ideas, opportunities, and ways of working—and put them into practice.
BUILDing for Growth: Scaling Organizational & Leadership Structure in a Fast Growth Environment – La Piana (Webinar)

Resources to Navigate Uncertainty

Making Sense of Uncertainty: Nonprofit Scenario Planning - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Nonprofits can’t be sure how local, national, or even global events will affect society, the economy, or their own field six months or a year from now. But they can navigate the uncertainty with greater confidence by building scenario plans that can help them continue to pursue their missions.
A Nonprofit Checklist: Conducting a Risk Assessment for Federal Funding – National Council of Nonprofits (Tool) — Some initial steps that nonprofits can engage in to conduct a risk assessment as the Administration targets federal grants and contracts for termination.
Environmental Scanning: How to Get Started – Funding for Good (Guide) — When rapid changes are happening outside our organizations, having tools for strategic and nimble decision-making is more important than ever. One powerful tool that both nonprofits and businesses can use is an environmental scan.
Leading Your Nonprofit Through Change & Uncertainty - Prosper Strategies (Webinar) — Strategies for navigating financial instability, diversifying revenue in response to potential federal funding threats, scenario planning to keep your nonprofit prepared for whatever the current administration and world throws at it, and maintaining morale among nonprofit teams
Nonprofit Checklist: What To Do When Your Federal Grant or Contract Is Terminated - National Council of Nonprofits (Tool) — Steps nonprofits should take if they learn their federal grant or contract has been terminated
When Financial Stress Hits Your Nonprofit, Try These Steps – Nonprofit Risk Management Center (Article)
Nonprofit Scenario Planning in an Age of Chaos – La Piana (Article) — Article discussing how to plan for good to catestrophic scenarios with must do’s, might do’s, and won’t do’s
Resources to Navigate Uncertainty – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Resource List) — Nonprofits are feeling the pressure and anxiety of trying to meet their missions while navigating the whirlwind of changes in federal funding and policies. Below are resources and tools to help organizations prepare and stay grounded.

Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement

Bolder Advocacy - Alliance for Justice (Resource Library) — Unleash the advocacy advantage with our Resource Library, your go-to hub for hundreds of actionable how-to’s, insightful factsheets, and powerful tools that turn advocacy challenges into triumphs. Elevate your cause with confidence!
What Nonprofits Need to Know About Lobbying in Nevada – Alliance for Justice (Guide) — This Practical Guidance resource is designed to help your nonprofit organization determine if lobbying rules in Nevada might apply to your state or local work.
Nevada Leglislature (Website) — State legislative website, including links to contact information for members of the Nevada State Assembly and NV State Senate, legislative calendars, audio/video of House and Senate sessions and committee meetings, and text and summaries of pending and enacted state legislation.
Earning Influence - Independent Sector (Report) — Independent Sector convened an advisory group of nonprofit executives and policy practitioners to co-create recommendations on how to strengthen nonprofit advocacy. September 2025.
Why Should Your Nonprofit Advocate? - National Council of Nonprofits (Article) — Describes the importance of nonprofit advocacy.
Everyday Advocacy - National Council of Nonprofits (Resource list) — List of advocacy resources, including stories of a wide range of effective advocacy work by nonprofits.
Trends and Policy Issues - National Council of Nonprofits (Resource list) — List of resources for recent state and federal nonprofit trends and policy issues.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — This webinar recording explores key provisions in the House-passed bill that may impact charitable giving, nonprofit tax-exempt status, and federal benefits for those served by nonprofits. It also provides updates on potential changes as the bill moves through the Senate.
Social Change Ecosystem Map – Building Movement Project (Tool) — A framework for people and organizations to find ways to engage in social change efforts more effectively, collaboratively, and sustainably, particularly during times of unprecedented challenges.
Beyond the Moment: How Nonprofits Can Leverage Civic Engagement, Nonprofit Quarterly – Nonprofit Quarterly (Article) — The meaning of civic engagement, why it’s a viable tool for nonprofits, and why it’s urgently relevant now.
Advocacy Resources for Nonprofits – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Resource List) — List of Advocacy resources.
Share Your Story: Effects of Executive Actions on Nonprofits - National Council of Nonprofits (Survey) — Every day, nonprofits make a difference in communities across North Carolina. But too often, their impact is overlooked or misrepresented. Right now, we need your help to lift up and amplify the incredible work of our sector. Please share your story with National Council of Nonprofits, our powerful national network working hard to advocate for nonprofits like yours across the country, and encourage others in your network who may have a story to tell to do the same.
Staying Inside the 501(c)(3) Lines: Keeping Nonpartisan in Messy Partisan Times – Nonprofit VOTE (Webinar) — Overview of how nonprofits can simultaneously engage voters and continue their advocacy efforts in a 100% nonpartisan way.
Tracking Federal Actions Impacting the Nonprofit Sector – GrantStation (Article) — This article tracks ongoing developments of the federal actions impacting the nonprofit sector.
Stand for Your Mission (Website) — Resources for advocacy by nonprofit board members.
Using All the Tools in the Toolkit: Funding Advocacy for Social Change – The Bridgespan Group (Guide) — Provides research-based, tactical guidance on how, when, and where to consider funding advocacy
When Philanthropy Meets Advocacy - SSRI (Article) — Increasing numbers of Americans want charitable organizations to step into the public policy arena and lead the causes they care about.
Developing a nonprofit community engagement strategy - BoardEffect (Article) — A brief primer on community engagement, starting with a definition of what developing a nonprofit community engagement strategy looks like.
Best Practices for Meaningful Community Engagement - Groundwork USA (Guide) — Tips for Engaging Historically Underrepresented Populations in Visioning and Planning.
Nonprofits Integrating Community Engagement Guide – Building Movement Project (Guide) — The Nonprofits Integrating Community Engagement (NICE) Guide offers information, tools, case studies and other resources to help nonprofit groups develop core competencies on constituent and community engagement.
Community-driven Change – The Bridgespan Group (Resource list) — Community-driven change refers to the social process whereby communities actively participate in, often lead, and own the identification, design, and execution of solutions for the challenges they face.
About America’s Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Resource list) — Basic info about nonprofits, myths about nonprofits, and research, reports, and data, and nonprofit impact data.

Professional Development & Coaching

Nonprofit Professional Development - Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (Resource Library) — We've compiled our favorite (and affordable) professional development resources that you can use to help your nonprofit staff continue their training, including online trainings (paid) and other resources.
Four Mistakes Nonprofits Make When Using Competencies in Talent Management - The Bridgespan Group (Article)
Coaching for Talent Development - The Center for Creative Leadership (Guide) — Leadership coaching can be a transformational tool for talent development — but it doesn’t always live up to its promise. These common coaching challenges may be getting in the way. Learn how best to elevate your organization's approach to coaching, and common pitfalls to avoid.
Talent Development Challenges for HR and L&D Leaders- The Center for Creative Leadership (Guide) — Creating greater collective capability in an unpredictable context isn’t easy. Learn the most common organizational talent development challenges that we hear from our clients, and get research-based recommendations to address them.
NonprofitReady (Online training courses) — Free Online Training for the Nonprofit Professional.
Making the Case for Investing in Your Greatest Asset: Non-Profit People – Candid (Webinar) — In this video you will learn how to better invest in the people who power the nonprofit workforce for increased effectiveness and impact to advance the change we seek.
Case Making Collection – Fund the People (Toolkit) — Toolkit with qualitative and quantitative data for investing in talent.
Nonprofit Leadership Development Toolkit - The Bridgespan Group (Toolkit) — This toolkit is designed to help executive teams, in coordination with human resources professionals or other staff support roles, to develop and implement the foundational components of an effective leadership development system.
Four Mistakes Nonprofits Make When Using Competencies in Talent Management - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — When defined and used well, competencies help individuals grow in their roles and their organizations. When ill-defined and poorly applied, they can undermine a nonprofit's talent management process.
The 70-20-10 Rule for Leadership Development - The Center for Creative Leadership (Article) — Learn how challenging experiences, developmental relationships, and formal coursework form a foundation for learning and growth, comprising the classic 70-20-10 rule or formula that emerged from our early research.
Tips for Effective Coaching – The Bridgespan Group (Tool) — A short list of tips for effective coaching .
The Feedback Fallacy – Harvard Business Review (Article) — For years managers have been encouraged to candidly praise and criticize just about everything workers do. But it turns out that feedback does not help employees thrive.
Insights & Research - The Center for Creative Leadership (Resource Library) — Resources from a top-ranked, global, nonprofit provider of leadership development and a pioneer in the field of global leadership research.
TMCC EPIC (Educational Programs Inspiring the Community) (Community College Education) — Exploration is ageless. Experience Northern Nevada’s largest array of noncredit personal enrichment and professional development classes. Whether you want to enroll in an art, outdoors or health career training, you’ll find something of interest among the hundreds of courses we offer.

Starting a Nonprofit

Step by step to a nonprofit - Nevada Arts Council (Guide) — Short step by step guide for how to start a nonprofit in Nevada.
Forming and Maintaining a Nonprofit Organization Nevada Edition - Foundation Group (Guide) — The purpose of this guidebook is to show you these steps to start a nonprofit. This guidebook is not so much a how-to guide, but rather a what-to-do guide.
How to Start a Nonprofit – National Council of Nonprofits (Guide) — The pages in this section of National Council of Nonprofits’ website walk you through some of the questions to ask before starting a nonprofit, filings you’ll need to complete at the federal and state levels, and the standard policies and procedures that you may want your new nonprofit to have in place.
How do I start a nonprofit organization? - Candid (Guide) — Starting a nonprofit organization can be an inspiring way to give back to your community and help those in need. However, it is important to understand all of the steps involved in this process before moving forward. Growing and sustaining a nonprofit may take years of effort and a great deal of determination.
Guide to Succeeding in the Nonprofit Sector – Zippia (Guide; Resource List) — This guide has resources for everything from starting a nonprofit and the best networking platforms to finding volunteers and fundraising.
Fiscal Sponsorship vs. Nonprofit Formation: A Comprehensive Guide – Mission Edge (Guide) — Should you form your own nonprofit or partner with an established one through fiscal sponsorship? This guide will help you make choices that resonate with your mission and will best serve your next social mission.

Strategic Planning

Fundamentals of Nonprofit Strategy - The Bridgespan Group (Resource List) — A collection of articles, tools, and templates designed to support your organization in setting its strategic direction. The content below offers insights on strategic planning, intended impact and theory of change, program strategy, scaling, and more.
Useful Tools for Nonprofit Strategic Planning - The Bridgespan Group (Toolkit) — This resource shares definitions and applications for tools typically used during the nonprofit strategic planning process, including benchmarking, funding model, intended impact, landscape analysis, learning agenda, operating model, performance dashboard, program strategy map, theory of change
What Are Intended Impact and Theory of Change and How Can Nonprofits Use Them? - The Bridgespan Group (Article; Tool) — Clarify your nonprofit’s intended impact and theory of change to guide a clear, effective strategy. These powerful concepts can help your organization refine the goals it commits to achieve and map the road for how to accomplish them.
The Essential Nonprofit Strategic Plan Template - Prosper Strategies (Tool) — Our comprehensive guide provides step-by-step directions to develop your nonprofit strategic plan, including exercises for conducting research, identifying your stakeholders, setting priorities and developing a dashboard for implementation, accountability and tracking.
Strategic Planning Resources – 501 Commons (Article, Resource List) — 501 Commons provides practical templates – including links to tools that help you conduct a SWOT analysis, a Five Forces Analysis and an outline to a strategic plan – all to guide you through discussions and implementation.
Strategic Planning for Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Article, Resource List) — On this page, you’ll find links to resources for things like budgeting, timelines and agile strategic planning.
Strategic Plan Examples: 50+ Nonprofit Strategic Plans and How to Create Yours – Prosper Strategies (Guide, Sample) — This guide curates 50+ real nonprofit strategic plans and shows how to build your own with Prosper’s Essential Nonprofit Strategic Plan Template.
How Nonprofits Can Map Their Programs to Their Strategy - The Bridgespan Group (Article; Tool) — With a program strategy map, nonprofit leaders can make better decisions based on the impact and financial sustainability of their programs.
How Nonprofits and NGOs Can Get Real Value from Strategic Planning - The Bridgespan Group (Article; Tool) — The practical advice we offer in this article will help leaders avoid the pitfalls and get real value from the process.
Using Decision Criteria to Improve Nonprofit Program Choices – The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Strategic decision criteria are a powerful tool that help leaders discover which actions can make the most difference for their mission, and then focus available resources in those areas.
Make Your Organization More Resilient with Adaptive Strategic Planning - The Bridgespan Group (Article; Video) — An adaptive strategy, a strategy that enables your nonprofit to make progress toward long-term goals while flexing in the near term to meet challenges, is key to organizational resilience. Here's how to approach building one.
To Combat Adversity, Resilient Nonprofits Think Long and Short - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — To make themselves fit for a challenging future, nonprofits map out their boldest, far-off ambitions, even as they take steps to advance their impact by their next fiscal year. The first in a three-part series on building nonprofit resilience.
The CAPE Cycle - Mission Met (Video and Blog) — The CAPE Cycle is a simple four-step strategic planning process that helps executive directors and their teams approach strategic planning as a process, not as an event.
Stakeholder Interview Questions - CompassPoint (Tool) — A list of stakeholder interview questions for gathering input from funders and other external supporters and colleagues to inform succession planning or strategic planning.

Succession Planning

Nonprofit Leadership Transitions and Organizational Sustainability: An Updated Approach that Changes the Landscape - Nonprofit Quarterly (Webinar) — There are other ways we could think about leadership succession, ways that could limit occasions of harm, help diversify top leadership, smooth out bumps, and steadily increase an organization’s leadership quotient internally and among its peers on a more consistent basis.
Building Leaderful Organizations: Succession Planning for Nonprofits - CompassPoint (Report) — A monograph authored by former CompassPoint staff member Tim Wolfred addressing three forms of succession planning.
A sample template to provide guidance on writing an Emergency Succession Plan - CompassPoint (Template)
A self-reflection tool for executives who are questioning whether or not it's time to leave their positions - CompassPoint (Tool)
The Executive Director Legacy Statement - CompassPoint (Tool) — A tool with which an executive can clarify what he or she wants to accomplish before they exit their job.
A Succession Readiness Checklist - CompassPoint (Tool) — Tool that can serve as the basis for the Sustainability Audit.
Anonymous Staff Survey - CompassPoint (Tool) — A sample staff survey for input on capacity building and leadership needs
Stakeholder Interview Questions - CompassPoint (Tool) — A list of stakeholder interview questions for gathering input from funders and other external supporters and colleagues to inform succession planning
Sabbaticals: A checklist for preparing, managing, and re-entering - CompassPoint (Tool) — A checklist of activities for planning and mining the learnings of an executive during a sabbatical a way of testing the bench strength of your organization
Will We Get There Hire - Hire - CompassPoint (Report) — "Will We Get There Hire by Hire" offers reflections on over 15 years of executive leadership and transition data (building on our Daring to Lead series). This report looks at who leads, where executives come from, and why organizations aren't better prepared for transition.
Making Founder Successions Work - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — Conventional wisdom suggests that a ‘clean break’ is the best way to transition a founder. But many nonprofits actually benefit when they carefully plan an extended role for founders who step down.
The Nonprofit Board's Role in Onboarding and Supporting a New CEO - The Bridgespan Group (Article) — The number one responsibility of any board—for-profit or nonprofit—is effective management of the senior executive, especially a new one. Yet, nonprofit leaders often report to Bridgespan that their boards fall short of that goal. Here are five ways nonprofit boards can more effectively onboard and support their new CEOs.

Technology/IT

Tech Impact (Resource library) — On demand resources across technology topics, including reviews and consumer guides for technology solutions and systems (e.g., grants management systems).
Free and Low-Cost Guided Assessments and Policy Builders Tech Impact – (Paid and free tools) — Tech Impact offers a variety of low-cost technology assessments and policy builders to help your organization understand its current state, vulnerabilities, opportunities for improvement, and overall maturity.
TechSoup (Paid and unpaid subscription service) — TechSoup equips changemakers with transformative technology solutions and skills they need to improve lives globally and locally. Zero-cost memberships available.
Leveraging GenAI: Empowering Nonprofits for Social Impact – North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (Webinar) — With so much news and noise, it can be challenging to identify the right ways to use AI to help meet your nonprofit goals. As a nonprofit themselves, Apparo is ready to help you navigate the world of AI and find the right ways to adopt it into your nonprofit workflows.
Responsible AI Use: How and Why to Start Developing Policies – Global Giving (Article) — How to develop responsible AI policies and how they can positively impact your nonprofit.
How to Create a Generative AI Use Policy – TechSoup (Article) — To protect your organization against these sorts of risks — and to ensure that your staff knows how to use generative AI apps in an ethical, lawful, and effective manner — consider putting together an AI use policy for your organization. Here's how to get started.
AI Policy Template - NFPs AI (Template) — Elevate your not-for-profit's approach to artificial intelligence with our comprehensive AI Policy Template, designed to seamlessly integrate with your organization's ethical framework and operational goals.
Sample Nonprofit AI Use Policy Template – Freewill (Template)
NFPs AI / AI Impact Hub (Resource Library) — Discover our resources designed to help not-for-profit organizations take their first steps in AI integration.
AI Fluency for Nonprofits – Anthropic (Course) — Free online course that empowers nonprofit professionals to develop AI fluency in order to increase organizational impact and efficiency while staying true to their mission and values.
Nonprofit AI Use Cases – Claude (Resource List) — Uses cases to explore ways Claude can support the wide-ranging work of nonprofits—from writing and communications to research and planning.
Apparo Nonprofit Resources: Self-Service Technology Training and More – Apparo (Resource Library) — Apparo transforms communities and improves lives by connecting nonprofits to technology expertise and resources that amplify their impact.
5 Amazing Free Tools for Nonprofits – Zippia (Resource List) — Article includes five free technology and marketing tools for nonprofit

General Resources and Support

The Center for Nonprofit Business (Nonprofit Network) — A nonprofit membership-based organization providing professional development, technical assistance, networking, and advocacy support to strengthen Nevada nonprofits.
Nonprofit Quarterly (Online Magazine) — NPQ advances critical conversations that support and develop nonprofit, philanthropy, and social movement policies and practices.
National Council of Nonprofits (Nonprofit Network) — National Council of Nonprofits is the largest network of nonprofits in North America. We champion, inform, and connect organizations across the country to score big wins for nonprofits and the communities they serve. Online resources include trends and policy issues, running a nonprofit resources, and advocacy resources.
Candid (Nonprofit, Funder, and Grants Database) — Candid provides the most comprehensive grants and nonprofit data to help you find funding, research nonprofits, connect with funders, and more. Claim your nonprofit profile on Candid.
Nonprofit Hub (Resource Library) — Nonprofit Hub is an online educational community dedicated to giving nonprofits everything they need to better their organizations and communities. They have an incredible blog, free guides, webinars, podcasts, and more.
The NonProfit Times (Publication) — The Leading Business Publication for Nonprofit Management.
NonProfitPRO (Resource Library) — NonProfit PRO is the go-to source for nonprofit management and strategy. Developed for thought leaders and innovators, we cover topics ranging from internal issues such human resources, board and volunteer management to technology to tax and legal matters, news and, of course, raising funds.
Taproot Plus (Online pro bono consulting) — Get involved through Taproot Plus, our inclusive online program that enables nonprofits to connect with unlimited pro bono support and provides professionals with volunteer experiences tailored to their skill set and social cause interests.
Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Blog (Resource Library) — If you're interested in reading blog articles, reports, videos, and other resources focused on nonprofit sector trends, diversity, fundraising, learning opportunities, and remote work, The Alliance's Nonprofit Resource Library is the best option for you to continue learning.
Nonprofit Everything (Podcast) — Every two weeks the Nonprofit Everything podcast answers your questions about everything nonprofit. Your co-hosts Andy Schuricht and Stacey Wedding and their rotating panel of guest experts are ready to help!
NonprofitReady (Online training courses, Webinar) — Free Online Training for the Nonprofit Professional
North Carolina Center for Nonprofits Resource Library (Resource Library) — The Center's resource library has over 800 items covering the breadth of topics in nonprofit management. Find answers to your questions plus articles, sample policies, checklists, and more.
Nonprofit AF (Blog) — A humorous and insightful blog covering philanthropy and nonprofit topics
About America’s Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (Resource list) — Basic info about nonprofits, myths about nonprofits, and research, reports, and data, and nonprofit impact data.

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