When people talk about mistakes nonprofits make with their websites, the first thing that comes to mind is usually either no direct donate button from the front page, or an unclear mission statement. But I'd like to focus on a different type of mistake; lack of transparency. First off, what do I mean by "transparency?"

There's lots of talk about how nonprofits should be using "Web 2.0" - interactive applications, two-way online communications, user generated content, "social media," etc. - perhaps so much so that it can be bewildering to smaller, grassroots organizations who are just struggling to get the word out locally and are wondering what they need with a World Wide Web. The key for these organizations to remember is to ask how each

One of the clients I'm working with has always only had one budget for the entire organization. This is fine for small nonprofits that only really have one or maybe two programs, but this client has grown out of that stage, and has at least five or six distinct programs and program areas that should be broken out of that budget. While we were working on that, the question from staff came up of, "How do we allocate the overhead costs to each program?"

This is the question that has haunted many a nonprofit Executive Director and Development Director. How to encourage Board giving without either asking too little or scaring off new members. A posting today on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's website asks if "the expectation of giving is something that is simply understood?"

This morning I was searching out blogs with "nonprofit" as a keyword when I somehow stumbled across the "Esdena: Student Marketplace" blog and read a post called " Welcome back MIT! and Why Do People Hate Corporations ." Now, I'm fine with the MIT part (welcome back to school), it's the rest of the post where the writer has some interesting things to say about our nonprofit sector.

How many of you have taken Andy Goodman’s storytelling seminar ? Pretty mind-blowing, huh?  Andy unlocks the secrets of good story-telling, decoding a formula for narrative going at least back to Aristotle’s Poetics. There are easily thousands of non-profit communicators who have passed through Andy’s program. 

I am completely biased in this post because of my own studies in journalism. That said: Newspapers are downsizing. Jobs are being cut. The journalism field is in the midst of a re-invention.

Let's face it: People have short attention spans. Especially when it comes to the Internet. We're all clicking around furiously trying to nab the quickest, most-reliable answers to our questions. (And, And, often, we're just browsing for things to entertain our instant-gratification-seeking minds.)

By my most recent count, there are 106 fundraising blogs out there. My definition of "fundraising blogs" is deliberately broad -- these are blogs that are touch on fundraising in some way, at some time. That's a lot of talk about fundraising. More than a normal person can (or probably should) read.

I can guarantee you this: A lot more people hate the US Air Force than hate your nonprofit organization. For that matter, a lot more people love the Air Force. And that means people say all kinds of things about the Air Force in blogs and other social media places. And the Air Force is doing something about it.