Ask a Nonprofit Expert
Real Questions. Practical Solutions.
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** Ask a Nonprofit Expert: Inaugural Issue
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July 31, 2025
Welcome to the first installment of Ask a Nonprofit Expert, where we highlight advice for the toughest nonprofit challenges, featuring personalized advice from seasoned field leaders who have built thriving, equitable organizations.
Ask a Nonprofit Expert offers Leading Edge members ([link removed]) a new benefit: The opportunity to submit tough challenges anonymously ([link removed]) and get real actionable advice. We’ll publish answers to common questions biweekly to strengthen our entire community’s capacity to lead with clarity and courage. You can learn more about how to submit your questions here ([link removed]) .
For our inaugural newsletter, we’re spotlighting our monthly fundraising column, Ask Rhea! In her latest, Rhea answers your fundraising questions, emphasizing action over perfection, authentic donor engagement, and focus over busy-ness.
Forget the Silent Auction: How to Focus Your Fundraising Energy
By Rhea Wong
Dear Rhea,
I’m part of a small team building our major gifts program, and it’s a bit of a mess right now. We’re juggling an annual fund, a new CEO, unclear program priorities, and pressure to grow individual giving—all at once. We have a list of potential donors, but we don’t really know them. Some of us think we should wait until programs are better defined before making calls. Others think we should just start outreach and let conversations shape the strategy.
On top of that, there’s a little internal friction. I want to give honest feedback on things like the pitch or donor materials, but it’s tricky because my CEO is also in the room. It feels politically sensitive, and I’m not sure how to navigate that without blowing things up.
So here’s my double-barreled question: How do we prioritize action when everything feels half-baked—and how do I give honest feedback when my boss is in the room?
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** Latest Articles
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Sixty Years After Medicaid Enactment, Progress Is Rolling Back
by Rebekah Barber
Sixty years after the enactment of Medicaid, provisions of the 2025 GOP tax bill seek to roll back progress, potentially leading to millions losing Medicaid, thousands of lives lost, and hundreds of hospitals closed.
Read Article ([link removed])
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Why Economic Development Subsidies Are Racist—and What to Do About Them
by Greg LeRoy
In the name of job creation, state and local economic development subsidies reinforce structural racism. But increasingly, community activists are resisting these practices.
Read Article ([link removed])
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How Philanthropy Can Lead in Building Ethical AI for the Public Good
by Jean Westrick
Philanthropy must act decisively to ensure AI development and deployment advance equity, ethics, and the nonprofit sector’s ability to serve the public good.
Read Article ([link removed])
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From Service to Power—Retooling the Nonprofit Sector
by Tom Tresser and Dr. Quanice Floyd
The nonprofit sector is large, employing nearly one in 10 US workers. This means nonprofits have potential power. Converting that potential into real power, however, requires a change in mindset.
Read Article ([link removed])
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