

Welcome back to the second iteration of Next Stage’s #NonprofitBookClub! This month, we’re reading Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas. I know – quite a bold title. But in the spirit of Josh’s column in the Biscuit,...

Deepening, Expanding and Evolving: The Nonprofit Growth Mandate
by Josh Jacobson On Tuesday, February 19, I had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop for the Arts & Science Council on a provocative topic – “Deepening, Expanding and Evolving: The Nonprofit Growth Mandate.” So what was it about? Organizations are apt to find...

#NonprofitBookClub: Social Startup Success
By Caylin Haldeman 2019 is off to the races, everyone. How are you doing on your resolutions? Me? Work in progress. I made the resolution to read more books on things I feel passionate about. I even created a reading list of books that will help me get smarter on...

Announcing the 2019 CULTIVATE Cohort
Next Stage today announced the selection of six (6) nonprofits for participation in the 2019 cohort of CULTIVATE, an incubator designed to provide expert strategic and relational supports to emerging social cause organizations based in Mecklenburg County. Now in its...

Goodbye Savannah! Reflections on the Next Stage Summer Internship
by Savannah Dukes It is crazy to think that my time with Next Stage is already coming to an end; this summer has flown by. Over the past two months, I have loved getting to learn from Josh and Caylin, meet so many wonderful people from the variety of organizations...

Introducing Next Stage’s Summer Intern: Savannah Dukes
by Savannah Dukes Hello, readers! My name is Savannah, and this summer, I have the opportunity to intern with Next Stage through the Davidson Nonprofit Leadership Fellows Program. I know, you might be asking the question: “Why is a Nonprofit Leadership Fellow...

CULTIVATE: Building a Pipeline of Individual Donors (Module #6)
For most emerging organizations, the dividing line between just making ends meet and true sustainability lies in developing a solid base of private funding from individuals. When leaders in philanthropy talk about diversifying revenue, they are usually talking about...

CULTIVATE: Seeking Partnerships That Make Sense (Module #5)
Since all nonprofit organizations are public institutions, they function as a web of social good services serving the best interests of those who empower them – the people of any municipality. In this way, they can be compared to departments of government with each...

CULTIVATE: Sourcing & Optimizing Volunteers and Staff (Module #4)
by Josh Jacobson What happens in a growing nonprofit when paid staff are added to a mostly- or all-volunteer workforce? If you assume that nothing changes, think again. While much of the early years of a nonprofit will be focused on generating revenue, human...

CULTIVATE: Strengthening the Board of Directors (Module #3)
by Josh Jacobson Throughout 2018, Next Stage will share the progress of organizations participating in the inaugural year of CULTIVATE, the firm’s incubator for emerging nonprofit organizations in the Charlotte area. The year is broken into 12 modules lasting...

CULTIVATE: Answering the “Why You?” Question (Module #2)
by Josh Jacobson As we outlined in our last blog introducing the first module of CULTIVATE, there is a very low barrier to entry for people who want to launch a 501c3 nonprofit. Like, really low. Fill out the paperwork and BAM! you have a nonprofit. It’s almost...

CULTIVATE: Day One – Aligning Values, Mission and Vision (Module #1)
by Josh Jacobson Today is the official launch of CULTIVATE and boy are we excited! I can’t properly put into words how great it feels to know that an idea we had as the Next Stage team, something we’ve pined for and into which we poured so much sweat equity, is...