Seasoned grants professionals are often intimidated by state and federal grants. Fortunately, you can take some simple, concrete steps to assess whether government grants are right for your organization, and you can master the techniques needed to compete in the government arena.

Effective nonprofit leaders wear so many hats, sometimes they have to hire another head.  When they can’t commit time to learning a new specialty, it’s time to call in consultants and outside service providers.

Darian Rodriguez Heyman, former Craigslist Foundation E.D. and author of the newly-released Nonprofit Fundraising 101 joined Foundation Center West to share concrete tips and tools for individual giving, foundation grants, corporate sponsorship, earned income, and online and peer-to-peer campaigns.

With the benefits and popularity surrounding crowdfunding, it is easy to overlook the potential associated legal risks. For every nonprofit currently engaged in or considering engaging in crowdfunding, here are a few of the many factors to consider.

No matter how fantastic the cause, a fundraiser will not get results without nailing the basic skills of making donors feel comfortable, getting past gatekeepers, and getting prospects to return calls. Read on to learn how to get donor prospects to call you back.

Machinery clunks to a halt between floors. Two strangers are stuck. No phone. No answer but echoes to their cries for help. Scary, right? Except they’re on an escalator. Does this scene describe your nonprofit's struggle with board fundraising?

Foundation Center’s new tool, Foundation Funding for U.S. Democracy, indicates that foundations made grants of almost $299 million between 2011 and 2014 in the campaigns, elections, and voting category, which  includes support for implementation, research, reform, and/or mobilizations efforts related to campaign finance, election administration, redistricting, voting access, as well as voter registration, education, and turnout. More than half those grant dollars went for voter registration, education, and turnout initiatives, and, as one might expect, the annual total spiked in 2012, a presidential election year, as did funding for voting rights efforts.

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns yield significant benefits: more donations, more awareness, more relationships, and plenty of supporters to share the load. But if you haven’t done one before, getting started can feel overwhelming.