As policy changes kick in, the need for services will only grow. Demand for everything from food assistance to housing support will rise as people face financial hardships. Nonprofits will be expected to do more with less, stepping into the breach where the social safety net has weakened. 

Turnkey For Good recruited and placed Jefferson Parker with ZERO Prostate Cancer as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer.

Self-determination theory describes satisfaction as a three-legged stool: autonomy, competence and relatedness. We at Turnkey call it the trifecta of satisfaction. Satisfied people are motivated people. They take action.

Joe Beckler, the Vice President of Development, Marketing, and Communications for the Christian Business Men's Connection  (CBMC), spends each and every day trying to give joy, satisfaction and purpose to others through their mission.

Turnkey For Good recruited and placed Alyssa McBride to World Pediatrics as the Executive Director of Development in Richmond, VA.

Turnkey For Good recruited and placed Sherí Barros to join ZERO Prostate Cancer as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.

Legacy walk programs are trying to figure out the new world order. Their team captains, the foundation for previous success, no longer act the same way. They don’t want to show up in person, and they have trouble building teams. When they have a team, we can’t tell if team captains communicate with them. They don’t respond to email. How, we wonder, can we get them back?

Societal change drives nonprofit departments to try to evolve rapidly to keep up. Sometimes, different departments operating independently end up unexpectedly in the same place. A prime example is the convergence of livestream gaming and traditional peer-to-peer events. This "horseshoe dynamic" requires a restructuring of the revenue department. Not doing so means losing constituents and income.

Philanthropy is facing a significant challenge: donor engagement is dwindling. The critical question we must ask ourselves is: “Why?” 

Could we be the issue? 

The nonprofit sector not only struggles to advance social good but even to maintain it. This reality is well documented: In 2023, charitable giving, when adjusted for inflation, fell by 2.1%. But our response has increasingly focused on major donors and institutional giving, a strategy comparable to burning more fossil fuels to combat global warming.

So why are we doing this?

Let’s say you’re a chief development officer. I ask you to describe your ideal donor. What would you say?

You’d probably use words like “big-hearted,” “empathetic,” “socially responsible,” and “generous,” among others.

But what does psychology tell us about seeking these people out? Personality alone is not enough to predict donors’ likelihood to give. Yet, setting outreach and appeal strategies without a better grasp of supporters’ potential to donate is inefficient and ineffective. So, how can we better understand supporters’ willingness and ability to donate, beyond just defining their personalities?

RIFs in gaming departments continue, with more and more organizations re-positioning streaming and gaming experts. This article sheds light on the evolving social good market shaping these shifts. Key focus—transitioning from streaming as a singular effort to content creation as a ubiquitous opportunity across revenue channels.

Events are what people do. Communities are who people are. In other words, community is part of their identity.

Community drives identity-building, trust, and satisfaction—three fundamental elements people crave. By focusing on these elements, nonprofits can create deeper, more meaningful connections with their supporters.

Let’s explore how identity-building, trust, and satisfaction contribute to a thriving nonprofit community and how focusing on these can make a significant impact.

Your livestreamer became a content creator.

In the last decade, livestream was king as a powerful tool for fundraisers, revolutionizing how organizations engage with some of their supporters. And of livestreamers, gamers were the king of kings.

After a nationwide search conducted by Turnkey For Good, ZERO Prostate Cancer has appointed Sean Kramer as its new Chief Development Officer. Kramer brings a wealth of experience and expertise in nonprofit development strategy, with past leadership roles at Carter Philanthropy, Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, Parkinson’s Foundation, American Cancer Society, and the American Red Cross.

How to fill the gap is a critical decision. Sometimes, organizations need the perfect fit to sit in an interim role until they are ready to hire. Sometimes, they can allow the seat to sit vacant for a small amount of time while they find the perfect fit to take the position full-time. These vacancies never occur at an ideal time and there are many things to consider when deciding on a placement or an interim.

I had to let go of all the assumptions and expectations I carried for my life. I lost everything that was familiar—working, driving, cooking a meal, reading a book—and everything I had imagined for myself as a new mother. With all this losing, though, I ultimately discovered new values, a new community, and new ways of seeing the world and my role in it. 

How do we at Turnkey For Good approach fundraising for these rare conditions? By emphasizing universal impulses like alleviating pain and suffering, and care for others. By focusing on the outcomes of these conditions rather than their rarity, we appeal to people's innate desire to help others in need and to care about them.

Strategy work is a big part of what we at Turnkey do within our social good community. That work typically results in a strategic plan for an organization or even for an initiative. With that strategic plan, paired like goat cheese and a great chardonnay, is the operational plan.

2023 was a year of transition for you, Turnkey, many of our clients, and the world. Transition brings change and uncertainty, but also new opportunities and the need to reflect on how to tackle challenges in a new way.

Your organization’s strategic plan is more than a roadmap to success that can be understood by everyone from the board chair to the part-time volunteer. It is your hedge against human nature, which can often send us down the wrong path when things get tough.

Are you encouraging board members to come prepared to debate, discuss, and vote on important issues facing your organization? Or are your committee and Executive Committee reports nothing more than actions for board members to approve?

The problem isn’t the board packet. It is the amount of information delivered in a way they can’t absorb in a time frame they can’t handle (during the board meeting).