Fairmount Ventures has been reaching out to nonprofit leaders over the past few months to learn how they are responding to the COVID crisis in order to glean lessons learned to inform the sector. Here’s what we’ve found: leaders who were savvy and forward-thinking before the crisis are bringing that same idea-generation approach to the world they are navigating today. While every organization faces its own amalgam of internal circumstances and external challenges, our team has identified some useful approaches worthy of closer examination.    Continue reading →

Recently, celebrities and the ultra-rich have been grabbing headlines through pandemic-inspired philanthropic action – from Jack Dorsey, chief executive of Twitter and Square, announcing plans to donate $1 billion to coronavirus relief efforts, to Kynetic executive chairman and Philadelphia 76ers partner Michael Rubin launching the “All In Challenge,” an online fundraising auction leveraging star power in the sports, business, and entertainment sectors to provide food to those in need.

While Rubin is busy securing once-in-a-lifetime celebrity experiences for online bidding from donors like Kevin Hart, Peyton Manning, and Drake, what about the everyday donors, volunteers, and philanthropists who power our local nonprofits and charities?  How are the COVID-19 and unfolding economic crises affecting individual giving now, and likely for the foreseeable future?

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Fairmount Ventures is committed to supporting our constituents and clients as the world now navigates uncharted territory. We’re keeping our human and furry loved ones close, sharing Zoom pro tips and backgrounds, and working remotely with clients to develop rapid response outreach to their supporters in this moment of urgency and need. In short, we’re digging deep within our 28 years of firm experience and collective expertise to help Philadelphia-area nonprofits navigate the short, medium, and long-term. Here’s some of what we observe, and advise, on what nonprofits need to know this week:

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The world changes; opportunities arise; internal needs shift. Effective nonprofit leaders know to redeploy their team, recruit people with specific capabilities, and sometimes – reluctantly – lay off staff whose skills no longer align with what is needed in order to make room for others whose do. Staff have job descriptions, are organized to maximize their talents, and are evaluated to assess and enhance performance. And yet – when it comes to utilizing volunteers in major fundraising efforts, how frequently are these same axiomatic management principles deployed? Continue reading →

Fairmount’s day-to-day client work is continually enriched by the skills and insights of our Research Assistants. Working a flexible 10 hours a week around their studies, RAs help generate a wide range of data to inform our consulting team’s strategy recommendations – socio-economic and census information, background on funder grantmaking priorities and awards, research-informed best practice in the nonprofit sector, and donor wealth capacity and philanthropic giving history, among others. This latest spotlight on our team features RA Rachel Urban (Temple University/BS in Community Development and BA in Economics, December 2019), who shares more about her goals and experience working at Fairmount Ventures. Continue reading →

Not long ago, we asked the executive of a well-known, established nonprofit what she wanted from her board. “Get me a lot of money and stay out of the way,” she quipped. We both laughed

Nine months later she was fired. Continue reading →

If you are still grooving to Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca or your car cassette player, we have your back.

The rest of us know that the world has changed in linear and unforeseen ways, creating a different environment for nonprofits since the days of shiny gold suits. Looking forward, we know that the world will continue to change, so how do we prepare for both the logical progressions and the unexpected? In an era of uncertainty and abundant choice, nonprofits can maintain the status quo and hope for the best, quickly pick one path and stick with it, or suffer the paralysis of analysis in perpetual hesitation. All are dangerous. Continue reading →

Fairmount’s day-to-day client work is continually enriched by the skills and insights of our graduate-level Research Assistants. Working a flexible 10 hours a week around their studies, RAs help generate a wide range of data to inform our consulting team’s strategy recommendations – socio-economic and census information, background on funder grantmaking priorities and awards, competitor reviews, research-informed best practice, and donor wealth capacity and philanthropic giving history, among others. This latest spotlight on our team features RA Matthew Forrest (University of Pennsylvania, MPA, Fels Institute of Government Class of 2019), whom we asked to share more about his expertise and experience working at Fairmount Ventures. Continue reading →

Emily McNair, Project Manager, is a seasoned development and communications professional whose work at Fairmount channels her direct experience in the human service sector, her passion for writing, and her keen awareness of organizational and interpersonal dynamics. Her client projects span resource development planning, strategic campaign support, and developing tailored materials that position nonprofits successfully among multiple stakeholder audiences. Emily studied Anthropology and holds a B.A. in that field from Bard College. Continue reading →