

Written by: Caylin Haldeman If you are anything like us, your last few weeks have been a little bit hectic. The beginning of the new year brings with it new opportunities, fresh ideas, and the start of some truly exciting projects. But seeing the dates on the calendar...

3 Steps to a Stronger Executive Compensation Plan
Written by: Tanya Varanelli Even in times of uncertainty, it’s important to ensure nonprofit leaders and staff are compensated fairly. Our current circumstances require so much from our nonprofit leaders to achieve growth and impact in their mission. Clearly aligning...

Planning Your Content Marketing Strategy: 4 Things to Keep in Mind
by Candice Latham According to HubSpot’s Not Another State of Marketing Report, almost 70% of businesses actively invested in content marketing in 2020. With more people working remotely due to the pandemic and internet usage increasing, organizations have a...

The Dangerous Allure of Win-Win Strategies – A Response
by Josh Jacobson My staff team at Next Stage are saints. No, truly. They put up with a lot, because when I get excited about something, I sort of can’t shut up about it. Such is my fascination with win-win strategies. I’ve spent most of my working life trying to build...

Customer Story: Helping Ada Jenkins Center with their executive search
The Ada Jenkins Center is a well-respected organization with a deep commitment to serving the unmet needs of the Lake Norman community. Early in 2020, when the Center’s longtime Executive Director decided to retire after more than a decade with the organization, the...

8 Social Good Trends to Watch in 2021
by Josh Jacobson, Caylin Haldeman & Janet Ervin We have arrived at the end of 2020 – congratulations! If you’re anything like us, you are glad to close the books on the most disruptive year in our lifetimes. As we look to the 12 months ahead, a number of themes...

Profit & Purpose: Torrent Consulting Integrates Impact: 3 Things We Learned
by Janet Ervin Torrent Consulting is a technology startup that offers Salesforce consulting and implementation services to mid-sized businesses and nonprofits across the country. Headquartered in Charlotte, the 120-person company also has offices in Ann Arbor, Kansas...

How Social Good Inspires Brand Loyalty
by Janet Ervin Next Stage recently launched a brand-new initiative, exploring the ways that nonprofits and businesses intersect. We think that it’s time to reconsider the ways that private sector and nonprofits work together – to ‘rewire’ social good and form creative...

Rewiring Social Good? What Are You Talking About?
By Josh Jacobson This month, Next Stage embarked on a new initiative – to “rewire social good, building a new bridge between the private sector and nonprofits that creates a win-win-win value proposition.” Sorry, what? It is a pretty bold declaration for us but one...

4 Ways Nonprofits Can Build a Better Story – and Decolonize the Narrative
by Janet Ervin On Friday, September 25, our virtual roundtable for nonprofits, What’s Next, again took on nonprofit storytelling with guests Valaida Fullwood and Alicia Bell. Back in July, we talked about the need to ask better questions and the idea that the best...

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Nonprofit Executive Compensation Study
Next Stage is proud to unveil the 2020 edition of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Nonprofit Executive Compensation Study. Click here to download your copy. As covered in the Charlotte Ledger, Next Stage launched this project as a response to challenges repeatedly brought...

How Nonprofits Can Better Support Black Philanthropy Month (and Beyond!)
In the August 14 episode of What’s Next, Valaida Fullwood and Charles Thomas joined us to talk about Black Philanthropy Month, The Bold Project and how non-Black-led organizations can be better allies. They dropped such great knowledge and so many resources that I...