Talisman Philanthropy

Nonprofit Research

December 22, 2010 at 10:33 am Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment

In the past decade, the nonprofit sector has looked inward and outward to determine best practices, survey our donors, volunteers, staff, Board and community members. The result is a plethora (love that word) of research we can use to help us set priorities, focus our work and inform, engage and educate our friends, followers and leaders. I have been writing some posts on research, which you can find in the Nonprofit Research section of this blog.  I have also collected some research papers and posted them to my website.

Our work in the independent sector is an art and a science. Today we have certificate, undergraduate and graduate programs in nonprofit management and fundraising. Continuing education opportunities are available in-person to on-line. Books have always been written and now a large number of research projects sponsored by universities and foundations include multi-generational surveys, they slice and dice our fundraising, succession planning, on- and off- line tools and methods as well as compensation information.  As our profession and sector grow, this research is important, not only to tell us where we have been and are, but what may lay ahead. This can help or at least inform our planning and work. We can’t and should not ignore these resources.

I have and will continue to post research reports I come across and find useful.  The current list is posted in the Resources section of my website. You can download the reports or find them through posted links.

If you have research resources you use, please share so we can all learn from one another.

Entry filed under: Nonprofit Research, Resources You Can Use!. Tags: fundraising research, Nonprofit research, research in the nonprofit sector.