Receiving an endowment gift is a milestone. It signals that a donor believes in your mission enough to fund it, permanently. But that check arriving is the beginning of a serious set of responsibilities, not the end of the conversation. And many nonprofit leaders are not handed a roadmap when it happens.

A well-governed nonprofit investment program should have more than good returns and a solid IPS. It has independent checks built into the structure, so no single firm has unchecked control over both the management and the holding of your assets. Understanding how third-party custody works is one of the cleaner ways a board can strengthen its oversight without adding complexity.

Your nonprofit needs secure funding to power your programs, and it might be time to consider your financial future beyond the traditional annual giving cycle. An endowment is an excellent option for nonprofits of all sizes to establish long-term financial stability.

An endowment is a pool of assets established by charitable contributions and invested by nonprofits to provide long-term, sustainable financial support for its mission or specific programs, often as defined by the donor(s).

For example, a donor might establish a scholarship endowment at a university. Rather than spending the principal, the university would distribute a portion of the endowment’s accumulated investment earnings each year to pay for students’ education.

However, while endowments can offer perpetual funding, they also come with certain limitations and requirements, meaning nonprofits should carefully consider whether their organization is prepared to properly steward and operate one. This article will review the top four considerations your organization should assess before deciding whether to start an endowment.

A good investment policy statement(IPS) should make investment decisions easier, not harder. It should give your board clarity, protect your organization, and hold up under scrutiny.

Most nonprofits have an IPS. Not all of them have one that's actually doing its job. In our work with nonprofit organizations, we see the same problems come up again and again: documents that are outdated, too vague to be useful, or simply disconnected from how the organization actually operates.

None of these are catastrophic on their own, but they add up. And when a difficult market or a board transition arrives, a weak IPS is the wrong time to find out.

Here are the most common mistakes we see, and what to do about them.

When donors contribute to your nonprofit, you want to honor their contribution and your mission by stewarding it responsibly. However, nonprofit financial management can be challenging, especially if your team currently lacks the bandwidth or expertise to complete the many associated duties effectively.

Capital campaigns are an opportunity to scale your nonprofit, whether you’re raising funds to launch a new program, open a new location, construct a building, or complete another major project. However, growing too fast can threaten your stability. For fundraising professionals, this often manifests in fears that focus on a capital campaign will divert donations away from their annual fund.

Fortunately, nonprofits can maintain or even grow their annual funds while hosting a capital campaign. Doing so requires the right strategies, technology, and potentially even professional consulting services.

In this guide, we’ll explain how a capital campaign can impact your annual fund, and what your nonprofit can do to ensure that impact is positive.

For many nonprofits, one of the biggest fundraising challenges isn’t donor generosity, it’s donor confusion.

Donors want to help. They want to do the right thing. But when tax laws change, even well-intentioned supporters can feel unsure about how (or whether) their giving still “counts” when tax time rolls around.

That’s why the addition of the above-the-line charitable deduction for non-itemizers in 2026 is something every nonprofit leader and fundraiser should understand and communicate clearly to donors this year.

This change may not solve every fundraising challenge, but it could remove a common mental barrier for millions of donors who don’t itemize their taxes. And considering the IRS reports that 87% of tax filers take the standard deduction, chances are this change may affect a lot of your donor base.

Let’s break down what this change means, why it matters to your organization, and how to talk about it without sounding like a tax advisor.

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.