Make-A-Will Month is an annual initiative that happens every August. It is designed to raise awareness about the importance of creating a will and planning for the future. It’s a time when individuals are encouraged to take stock of their assets, reflect on their legacy, and ensure that their final wishes are legally documented.

For nonprofits, Make-A-Will Month presents a unique opportunity to engage with supporters in meaningful ways, secure long-term funding, and build stronger, more lasting relationships. By actively participating in a Make-A-Will Month campaign, your organization can take a significant step toward ensuring its sustainability and continued success.

Want help getting ready for Make-A-Will Month? Canopy has a free Make-A-Will Month Toolkit you can download to get started and maximize the impact of your campaign.

For nonprofit leaders, CFOs, and finance committees, balancing liquidity with donor intent can be a constant challenge. Restricted funds and endowments often represent some of an organization’s most important and most sensitive assets.

Responsibly managing restricted funds and endowments secures donor trust and helps you avoid regulatory scrutiny. Errors in tracking, commingling, or investing these dollars inappropriately, on the other hand, can trigger compliance issues under ASC 958 or the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA), as well as reputational damage that can take years to repair.

Proper stewardship requires clear policies, rigorous tracking, and financial infrastructure designed for restricted fund management. Below, you’ll find some of the essential dos and don’ts of managing restricted funds and endowments effectively.

Endowment spending decisions are rarely about the number alone. Board members and nonprofit leaders are responsible for supporting today’s programs while safeguarding resources for the future, which means multiple factors must be considered when setting a withdrawal rate. 

For many nonprofits, the question isn’t if professional investment guidance will be helpful; it’s when. 

Early on, managing reserves and small investment accounts internally may feel manageable. But as assets grow, donor generosity increases, and boards ask more thoughtful questions, the responsibility around stewardship naturally becomes more complex. 

So how do you know when it’s time to partner with an investment advisor? 

This post walks through the common signs nonprofits experience as they grow, along with what an advisor can help with and how to choose the right one.  

Major donors often provide the bulk of funding for capital campaigns. This means that ahead of your next capital campaign, identifying prospective major donors is essential. 

In fact, for many nonprofits, capital campaign preparations focus almost entirely on ensuring the organization has enough major giving candidates and the organizational capacity to pursue them. To help your nonprofit get ready for its next capital campaign, this guide will explore core strategies for identifying promising potential major donors.  

As a nonprofit leader, you have probably heard of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA). But are you familiar with what it includes and who needs to follow it? Don’t let your organization pay the penalty of being noncompliant with this important act. This post covers the key components of the law and its goals, who it applies to, an overview of steps organizations should take to ensure compliance with the act, and potential penalties for noncompliance.

53.37% of nonprofits agree that it’s vital to acquire multiple major gifts. Yet, 58.87% of organizations lack a major gift strategy, and 75.32% attribute this to a lack of investment on their part. 

This staggering contradiction underscores the need to emphasize major gift fundraising. While technology-driven engagement tactics and personalized outreach can grab prospects’ attention, achieving success with major donors is about more than simply asking for funds. It’s about strategically positioning your organization as a trustworthy and effective partner by clearly demonstrating the measurable return on investment (ROI) their gifts generate. 

Impact data turns your major gift fundraising appeals from transactional requests into proposals for strategic, long-term partnerships. With an effective impact reporting process in place, your nonprofit can establish deeper trust with donors and cultivate stronger relationships that lead to major gifts. 

Let’s unpack the role of impact reporting in cultivating major gifts. 

It’s no secret that planned gifts are essential for your nonprofit’s long-term financial health. However, the challenge comes when it’s time to create a clear communication strategy that encourages donors to make a long-term commitment. So, where do you begin? 

A successful planned giving program is built on trust, education, and open communication. From creating a central resource for donors to celebrating their gifts in a meaningful way, this guide will provide everything you need to inspire planned (also called legacy) gifts. 

Year-end always feels like a sprint. Donors are busy wrapping up the year, inboxes are overflowing, and your team is doing everything possible to make the most of the giving season. 

But amid the rush, there’s still time to help your supporters make a real impact, and even save a little on their taxes while they do it!

The truth is, many gifts in December are made in the final stretch. In fact, roughly 10% of all charitable giving for the entire year happens in the last three days. And although those donors definitely want to help your cause, they are likely making those gifts to lock in tax benefits for the year.  

That means every message you send, every story you share, and every opportunity you highlight between now and December 31 can make a difference. 

So while there’s not much time left on the clock, there is time to be strategic. Here are three smart giving moves your donors can still make before the end of the year, and how your nonprofit can help them do it. 

During chaotic times, it makes sense that many nonprofits are only able to focus on their immediate future. A recent survey of nonprofits found that 52% of respondents have the cash on hand to support their organization for only the next three months or less, with 18% having just one month or less.  

If your nonprofit is struggling, creating long-term financial plans may seem like a luxury. However, whether your nonprofit is doing well or starting in a poor position, the first steps to sustainability are the same: assessing your strategy, researching solutions, and restructuring as necessary.  

In this guide, we will provide tips for ensuring long-term sustainability across leadership teams, donor cultivation processes, and other internal operations.