

Next Stage Consulting is pleased to announce the first slate of 2016 speakers in the Illuminate series at Hygge. Illuminate is a twice-monthly series facilitated by Josh Jacobson of Next Stage Consulting and hosted at Hygge, a coworking community near uptown, where...

The Hyper-Local Local
I attended a terrific gathering of new and less-new friends last night, cooking together and learning about the two-degree nature of our lives. Charlotte is wonderful in that way – we are all just slightly apart by one or two degrees. I’ve found myself ruminating...

Illuminate Session #1: An Introduction
For those in the know, Charlotte’s nonprofit community is tight knit and easy to navigate. But for many, the sector as a whole is murky and unclear – what are nonprofits, what do they do and how do we engage with them? Illuminate is a twice-monthly series facilitated...

“We Already Have Full-Time Jobs” & Other Lame Things Board Members Say
Next Stage Consulting hits the road this week with two presentations on the same topic – Managing Up: Understanding Board Profiles. I’ll be in Columbia, South Carolina on Thursday 5/14 to present to the AFP Central Carolinas Chapter, and on Friday 5/15...

Sustaining Success: Meeting the Needs of Mecklenburg County’s Homeless Population
by Sam McClenney, Research & Special Projects A recent study commissioned by the City of Charlotte reports that the number of homeless families in Charlotte decreased by 27 percent from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2014. While this trend is promising, there...

Study: Diversification of Communication Channels a Key to Fundraising Success
by Sam McClenney, Research & Special Projects As we head into the New Year, nonprofit leaders likely have a number of things on their mind, but one topic is a common refrain: how do we not just match but increase fund development in 2015? Before the technology...

The Importance of Data Flow
Managing Director Josh Jacobson is pleased to be speaking at the fall event of the Carolinas chapter of the Association for Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA). The event is entitled “What Works: A Game Show of Successes in Our Field,” and will...

Bridging the Gap: The Future Is Now
On July 21, Josh Jacobson will lead a presentation at the North Carolina Theatre Conference’s Producing Gathering in Charlotte, NC. Entitled Bridging the Gap: The Future Is Now, this session will explore staff and volunteer retention, and the challenge of...

Crowdfunding Backlash: Reading Rainbow
So, did you hear LeVar Burton raised a whole bunch of money on Kickstarter last week to relaunch Reading Rainbow? The original goal was to raise $1 million in just over a month, with donations used to expand the Reading Rainbow app Burton has already developed (he...

Cultivation: Step Two to Stronger Grant Submissions
In the second entry in the firm’s five part series on creating stronger grant submissions, Next Stage Consulting explores the do’s and don’ts of grantmaker cultivation, investigating what works and what doesn’t, and how to walk the fine line...

The Downside of Social Media
I have empathy for people who make bad professional decisions and must suffer the consequences of their actions. I just do. Back in February, the online shame police went into overdrive when it became known that Kelly Blazek, a marketing executive who ran a LinkedIn...

Yikes! Falling Behind on Social Media…
Neglecting the organization’s social media when times get busy is one of the classic mistakes made by so many nonprofits – consistent messaging is the goal. And yet here I am, having given that advice before, now a full month behind on my own firm’s...