A foundation is a private nongovernmental organization created for “charitable, educational, religious, scientific and literary purposes,” according to Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. It’s organized by a single source—like a family or corporation—which then distributes grants to help fund other nonprofits. There are three key differences between a public charity and a private foundation: A  foundation is generally sustained through private investments, securities and other funds, not donations from the public. While nonprofits provide […]

You work for a nonprofit. And that means spending minimal amounts of money and pinching every dollar to get by, right? That’s the way many nonprofits think, but it’s not necessarily true. The secret is this: you shouldn’t feel bad about spending money. Well, unless you’re buying yachts and sports cars with money that should go toward your mission, but that shouldn’t have to be said. Should it? Don’t do that. At Cause Camp a […]

What are planned gifts? Planned gifts are quite literally what they sound like. Well…sort of. The term simply means that somebody has planned to give a gift to an organization at a later date, often after their passing. Most often, cash (or money in general) probably comes to mind. However, there are a variety of types of planned gifts instead of cash, including: Life insurance Personal property Other real estate Retirement plans Should I be […]

Nonprofit professionals don’t like to compare their work to that of the for-profit world. And it makes sense: nonprofits exist primarily to help those in need, and for-profit organizations exist primarily to make money. However, certain aspects of nonprofit work truly are synonymous with for-profit practices, even if they’re called something different. A perfect example is fundraising. Or, in for-profit terms, sales. That’s right: fundraising is sales. Again, it’s easy to see why fundraisers are […]