Fundraising Is Not Sales: Things we learned and re-learned from Envision’s Development Roundtable Earlier this year, Chronicle of Philanthropy set off alarm...

Middle Management March Madness Here at Envision, we have front row seats for The Great Reshuffle, and boy oh boy is this...

Six Ways to Rekindle Your Relationship with Your Board (After Two Years of Pandemic Zooms) This Valentine’s Day, as you pen your...

We’ve made some key observations based on what we’ve heard from the hundreds of nonprofits we consult and the talented candidates...

What Would it Take to Love Your Job Again? It’s here – the Great Resignation, the mass exodus of talent across all...

Your Real-World HR Questions Answered! As we enter a new phase of the pandemic and workplaces are shifting again, many of us...

About Fran Reilly Fran Reilly is currently writing her first book on the importance of a free press through a personal...

It’s almost Spring in a long-awaited new year, but there’s a part of 2020 we still need to talk about. Don’t...

The phone rings, and a fellow nonprofit leader greets you on the other end of the line. After a few minutes...

Martin Luther King, Jr., once famously said, “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of...

Organizations everywhere have had to adapt to a new normal in 2020, making small to sweeping changes--impacting everything from operations to...

As 2020 (gratefully) comes to a close, it’s easy to look back on this hellish year and see only the fire...

Surveys! They’re often mocked by Internet memes and GIFs as desperate attempts to verify customer satisfaction. But, if you’ve ever worked...

Here’s a fun exercise to try at your next board meeting. Just for fun, use the words “merger,” “acquisition,” or even...

As nonprofit consultants, we’ve been paying close attention to the evolving national dialogue around police brutality, Black Lives Matter, and systemic...

It turns out that we do have 5 things we can thank Coronavirus for. We know it might feel impossible to see...

We’ve all been in romantic relationships that, no matter how hard we tried or how badly we wanted them to, just...

To be sure, 2019 was a year of expansion for Envision Consulting. We expanded the scope of our work, more than...

First, Julie Andrews famously sang about them in The Sound of Music. Then, Oprah commandeered the term and used it to...

Many people associate Thanksgiving with family, food comas and football. We like those things, too, but we also love the meaning...

It’s October, which means you can hardly walk down the street without seeing skeletons, ghosts and ghouls on front lawns and...

Most of us have seen at least one of the many “Do It Yourself” TV shows that, like Pinterest, are meant...

You’ve gone through the careful search process for a new employee. You’ve hired the best candidate. Now you can relax, right?...

“Hello? Anybody home? … Think, McFly! Think!” Most of us remember that classic scene in Back to the Future where quintessential...

Pop Culture Pop Quiz: What do Michael Scott, Karen Walker, Barney Fife, and Homer Simpson all have in common? They’re all...

We’ve all been there. You’re invited to an event—in this case, a fundraiser. The invitation arrives in the mail. You check...

It’s Sunday night. You’re in bed taking a BuzzFeed quiz that will “Guess Your Secret Talent Based on Your Ice Cream...

It’s tax season again; hooray! Much has been said recently about tax returns and what they may reveal about an organization...

“You must be exhausted. Because you’ve been running through my mind all day.” “Did it hurt? … When you fell from heaven?” We’ve...

2018 was a year of significant growth for Envision Consulting. We brought in a new staff member (bringing our team to...

Dear Santa, We don’t want a lot for Christmas; we are already really grateful for the work we do in our amazing...

We’ve all been there. One minute you're minding your own business, the next you're joining the Facebook group for your 10...

We all love a good scare. It’s a little unhealthy really. Whether you pay strangers to jump out at you at...

Nonprofits are weird. In no other industry will you find unpaid volunteers overseeing multi-million dollar budgets and staff. Not only do...

In our last blog we listed some signs you might be ready to move on from your current job – and...

There’s this thought that’s been eating at you. “Maybe I’m the problem.” Things just aren’t going quite right. You’ve tried everything....

One of the most frequently asked questions we revolve around is how to find passionate, engaged, committed nonprofit board members. We...

One of the most wonderful (and terrible) things about recruiting for the nonprofit sector is that EVERYONE wants to work in...

We spend a lot of time interviewing current and former Executive Directors and we’ve discovered a dirty little secret in the...

2017 was a year of big things for Envision Consulting. We kicked off the year in our new office in Pasadena...

Organizations spend a lot of time on job descriptions. TOO MUCH time. In any given five-page job description, there are countless...

Here’s the good news: nonprofit leadership opportunities are opening up. Cue the bad news: we swiped left on your LinkedIn profile...

Every day, we talk to nonprofit staff and board leaders who, most of the time, are certain about what their organizations...

Interviews are inherently no fun. While candidates can spend days worrying over the right outfit, the right answers, and the right...

We haven’t talked about it much here, but an election happened in 2016.  In the nonprofit industry, especially in California, we...

Bad job descriptions are ruining everything. MAYBE it's because we're partners, consultants, and interviewers, or maybe it's because we just have the...

Being a parent often involves learning mountains of information you never thought you'd need to know – from the names of...

FEBRUARY 14th: The day when cupid strikes via the cheesy Valentine’s cards and 99 cent-priced bags of chocolate kisses that you...

Sunday morning: you feel like you've hit rock bottom and hit the snooze button one more time, not because you’re tired from...

'Tis the season for not just giving, but giving back. We've compiled a list of the top 25 Los Angeles holiday drives...

Let’s play a little game of truth or dare. We’ll start-TRUTH: we hate it when you hire other nonprofit consultants instead...

We’ve all been on THAT date before: The anticipation builds as you get ready to see that special someone, you put...

When it comes to nonprofit culture, no one is more loved or reviled than founders. Founders, for those of you unfamiliar...

Let’s play Board meeting bingo. Are you ready?  We’re guessing it will take you about 7 minutes into your next meeting...

It sucks. You’ve sent out resume after resume and you can’t seem to get a call-in for an interview.  Who do...

Unless you've hidden in an underground bomb shelter for the last few years,you've seen the memes about the "what my mom...

We know it's alluring. You've been rescuing dogs for five years, working silent auctions on the weekends, and serving on a...

We’ll be honest and take the cat out of the bag (or rather, bunny out of the magic hat). We held...

Beware Of These 6 Types of Dysfunctional & Destructive Board Members! We know that safaris are a little passé, but when was...

We’re really enjoying nonprofit executive recruiting. We meet a lot of amazing, talented people and it’s been our pleasure placing them...

Imagine you’re a nonprofit consulting/recruiting firm and you get a call from Anna at ABC Nonprofit. Anna would like some help...

We love you nonprofits. We do. We're here for you, we're committed to you, we want to see you grow and...

'Tis the season for not just giving, but giving back. We've compiled a list of the top 25 Los Angeles holiday drives...

It feels like the 7th grade social all over again. You get all dressed up, they bring in special snacks to...

Two weeks ago, we highlighted George, the non-entrepreneurial leader who led his organization to financial peril. These tall, but true tales...

PREPARE TO BE SPOOKED WITH OUR REAL LIFE HORROR STORIES We won’t bore you with talk of ghoulish haunted homes or...

*when you should be hiring an employee OK, so we know it might sound a little counter-productive for a consulting company to...

You took advice from the marketing gods and you created a Facebook page for your organization. You’ve started posting regularly and...

But That's Not An Excuse for Bad Employee Retention By now your Facebook has been inundated with about a thousand different permutations...

Poor Board Members. Here they are: generously donating their time, taking on personal responsibility and haranguing their contacts for money; and...

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Better leveraging technology for fundraising Technology is a gift. And a curse. The same beautiful technology that allows us to launch campaigns...

No matter what your mission, your location, or the age of your organization, there is one thing that binds all nonprofit...

  Love our blog and need help with your marketing efforts? We can help. Need more Boardmembers who read our blog? We're matchmakers. Looking for...

1987 was a great year. We’re talking 61% overall job satisfaction and “Walk Like An Egyptian” topped the Billboard charts. Plus,...

(Don't ditch out on branding.) Nobody wants to be the "bad" brand. Bad brands end up at the bottom of life's laundry...

You’ve been listening and working. You’ve been blogging, connecting on social media and networking and now, your efforts have finally started...

There's a lot of talk going on about bullying today, and while we tend to think of the schoolyard bully demanding...

So your best friend, business partner or mother-in-law just asked you to join a Board of Directors for a non-profit organization....

As nonprofit professionals, we're pulled in a million directions. Not only do we have an organization to maintain with all the...

(clearing up stubborn fundraising myths) So there is a lot of buzz about the ever-changing landscape of donor cultivation, retention and engagement....

Can you imagine losing a $25,000 donation meant for your non-profit? The thought is cringe-worthy. In fact, it’s so uncomfortable you...

Writing a proposal for funding can be a tricky endeavor. Much like a publisher sorting through thousands of book proposals, program...

At some point, we all joined the nonprofit sector as a starry-eyed idealist. Take a second now and channel that spirit:...

As reliable as Black Friday brawls and overindulged relatives, it's not the holiday season until charitable holiday appeals start hitting your...

It's so easy to fall in love with any number of worthy causes these days. With the explosion of social media...

FULFILLMENT. That's a pretty powerful word these days. Not only are we supposed to be successful, responsible, stable and creative -...

What You Can Learn From Lilly(or, how Individuals are better than Nonprofits at Fundraising) A few years back we were interviewing candidates...

Our inboxes are consistently overflowing with information. We know yours are too. Everyone is trumpeting from the rooftops about the good...

So, it finally happened. Just a few short months after this book , and light-years behind this organization, the head honchos...

With the nonprofit sector growing and expanding, odds are pretty good that you've been approached about joining a Board of Directors....

Picture this, you're just about to wrap up a productive Board meeting when someone pipes in and asks "So whats going...