The Nonprofit Science Podcast Sheela N. Mahajan

It’s undeniable that volunteers are a core part of nonprofit work. From serving on the board to helping us run programs, and fundraising events, even sealing and stamping our direct mail- we can depend on volunteers to do it all.

Building an enthusiastic, reliable, committed community of volunteers is the dream but it’s easier said than done. More often, volunteers enter our doors enthusiastic but fall off fairly quickly. Our reliance on volunteers raises a critical question and a problem that requires scientific thinking. So, the problem we’ll be addressing today is, how can nonprofits retain volunteers?

While the majority of people working in the nonprofit sector identify as female, leadership tends to be male dominated. This huge disparity hurts people who identify as female, it’s hurting every minority, it’s hurting our nonprofits, and it’s hurting the communities we serve.

Research tells us women are more likely to exhibit transformational leadership, teams led by women collaborate better, and nonprofits led by women have higher operating margins.

As Women’s History Month comes to an end, the problem we’ll be tackling today is: How can we get more women in nonprofit leadership positions?

If you’re on the Nonprofit Science email list, you received a request for questions for an Ask Me Anything- style podcast episode. These could be questions could be about topics I've covered on previous podcast episodes or just questions about problems you’re facing and want some research to help you work through them.

So many great questions were submitted and on this episode, I’m going to answer five of them.

Today we are joined by Dr. Jamie Levine Daniel. Dr. Levine Daniel is an Associate Professor of Nonprofit Management and Public Service at the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Her research focuses on nonprofit resource acquisition and service delivery within a context of power, policy, process, and practice. Not only is Dr. Levine Daniel involved in teaching and research but she is also the winner of several prestigious research awards.

During our conversation, we talk about why it’s important for nonprofits to think competitively, not just collaboratively. We delve into earned income, specifically how nonprofits can avoid the pitfalls of earned income. And, we get into organizational sense giving- what it is and why nonprofits need to think strategically about it.

Today we are going to dive into donor segmentation and discuss what the literature and latest research suggests are ways we can segment donors to effectively communicate with them and of course, raise more money.

If you’ve been putting off targeted fundraising messages for your donors because segmenting your donors is such a big hurdle to climb, this episode is for you. And if you’re currently segmenting your donors, but it isn’t getting you the results you were hoping for, then this episode is for you as well.

The problem we are going to tackle today is: How can nonprofits use donor segmentation to increase donations?

Today we are joined by Dr. Young Joo Park. Dr. Park is an assistant professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on financial management and how organizations can use sound financial management to achieve sustainability. During our conversation, we touch on many topics such as how to predict whether a nonprofit will dissolve or not, whether an earned income model makes sense for nonprofits, and we of course can’t talk nonprofit finances without addressing research into the overhead myth.