A Year of Helping Organizations Thrive
May – October 2025 · Jonathan Poisner Strategic Consulting
It’s been a productive year of writing, and looking back at the posts from the past several months, a few clear themes emerge: fundraising with intention, strategic thinking at every level, and leadership lessons drawn from the most unexpected places. Here’s a roundup of everything published this year, organized by theme.
“The best nonprofit leaders are always learning — from spreadsheets, from board rooms, and sometimes from board games.”
— Jonathan Poisner
Fundraising
The year’s writing was heavily anchored in fundraising — both the strategy and the human side of the ask. Five posts tackled the subject from different angles:
- A Donor Prospect Identification Exercise (May 2025) — Don’t just take your board’s word for it when they say they don’t know potential major donors. Put them through an exercise.
- Selling without Overselling (June 2025) — The delicate balance every nonprofit communicator faces when promoting their organization to funders and allies.
- 16 Tips for Getting Fundraising Meetings – UPDATED (July 2025) — Getting in the room is half the battle. An expanded guide with 16 concrete ways to make it happen.
- After the Ask (September 2025) — A practical guide to what happens after you make the ask in a donor meeting.
- Needs versus Budget Fundraising (September 2025) — The needs you present to donors don’t have to match the budget you use for internal fiscal management.
Strategy & Leadership
Two posts this year drew on unexpected sources for strategic wisdom — one from a classic management framework, one from a beloved board game.
Three Quadrant Tools
Three Quadrant Tools for Being Strategic (July 2025) revisited the matrix approach to organizational decision-making — building on Stephen Covey’s classic time-management framework and extending it to nonprofit strategy.
Wingspan Lessons
Wingspan Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders (August 2025) continued a beloved tradition of finding nonprofit management wisdom in board games. Four years after writing about Ticket to Ride, this post drew leadership lessons from the bird-themed strategy game Wingspan.
Why Quadrant Thinking Works
Quadrant tools force you to think along two axes simultaneously — a discipline that cuts through complexity. Whether you’re prioritizing tasks, evaluating strategies, or assessing board members’ networks, the matrix approach delivers clarity under pressure.
A Little Halloween Fun
Scary Nonprofit Quotes 2025 (October 31, 2025) kept up the annual tradition of compiling the most cringe-worthy things heard in the nonprofit sector over the past year. If you haven’t read it, consider yourself warned.
Posts at a Glance
Here’s a quick summary of every post published this year:
| Title | Month | Category |
|---|---|---|
| A Donor Prospect Identification Exercise | May 2025 | Fundraising |
| Selling without Overselling | June 2025 | Fundraising / Communications |
| 16 Tips for Getting Fundraising Meetings | July 2025 | Fundraising |
| Three Quadrant Tools for Being Strategic | July 2025 | Strategy / Leadership |
| Wingspan Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders | August 2025 | Strategy / Leadership |
| After the Ask | September 2025 | Fundraising |
| Needs versus Budget Fundraising | September 2025 | Fundraising |
| Scary Nonprofit Quotes 2025 | October 2025 | Leadership / Strategy |
Gallery
The Nonprofit Effectiveness Formula
For the analytically-minded, here’s a tongue-in-cheek formula for nonprofit effectiveness that emerged from this year’s themes:
$$E = \frac{(Donors \times Relationships) + Strategy}{Fear\ of\ Asking}$$
Watch: Nonprofit Fundraising Fundamentals
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About Jonathan Poisner
Jonathan Poisner has spent decades helping nonprofits thrive. From his 12 years leading the Oregon League of Conservation Voters to his current consulting practice, he brings real-world experience to every engagement. He works with organizations on strategic planning, fundraising, board development, communications, and leadership coaching. Learn more →
📅 Posts published: 8 📂 Categories covered: 4 📈 Themes: Fundraising · Strategy · Leadership · Fun ✍️ Author: Jonathan Poisner
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Eight posts written, Donors asked, strategies mapped — Organizations thrive.
Looking Ahead
The themes that ran through this year’s writing — intentional fundraising, strategic clarity, and leadership that draws inspiration from everywhere — will continue to shape the work ahead. If any of these posts resonated with you, feel free to share them with a colleague or reach out to discuss how these ideas might apply to your organization.
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