Resources

Below is a list of some of the excellent resources that provide information and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations. We will continue to add new links as we discover them. Please feel free to contact Danielle Baer, Grants and Communications Manager at gm@cedarmerefoundation.org to suggest additional resources to add to this list.

Links to Helpful Information:

501 Commons
www.501commons.org
This website has several resources for nonprofit organizations including a "Statewide Nonprofit Resource Directory" that lists consultants and other service providers who specialize in nonprofits. 501 Commons also offers a Free Organizational Check-up, a self-assessment tool to assess an organization's health, and additional consulting services and technical support, like bookkeeping services, retreat facilitation, etc. to nonprofits.

AFP Advancement Northwest
www.afpadvancementnw.org/
AFP's website has many resources related to fundraising including a quarterly newsletter that is available online.

BoardSource
www.boardsource.org
(Formerly The National Center for Nonprofit Boards) BoardSource provides outstanding resources on a broad range of topics of interest and concern to nonprofit organizations. In addition to an extensive list of written resources, they provide training and consulting services to all types of nonprofit organizations. Board Source's annual Leadership Forum provides an excellent opportunity to participate in workshops by leading authorities and researchers in the field of nonprofit governance and leadership, as well as to network with other nonprofit leaders from across the country and abroad.

Bridgespan Group
www.bridgespan.org
The Bridgespan Group is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization applying leading-edge management strategies, tools and talent to help other nonprofits and foundations achieve greater social impact. TBSG's website provides much useful information for nonprofit leaders including two online newsletters that are available at no charge and the opportunity for nonprofits to post job openings for positions they need to fill.

Building Movement Project
www.buildingmovement.org
The Building Movement Project develops research tools, training materials and opportunities for partnership to bolster nonprofit organizations' ability to support the voice and power of the people they serve.  it also has an online newsletter. Kim Klein is one of its leading contributors.  Its focus areas address some of the nonprofit sector's most pressing challenges.

Candid
www.candid.org
For a combined 88 years, Foundation Center and GuideStar each helped change the world by giving people the information they needed to do good. A new organization Candid was formed to combine talent, technology, data, and leadership of the two organizations. Now, it’s easier than ever to get the information you need to create change.

Charity Channel
www.nonprofit.courses/charity-channel/
This website not only has resources for nonprofit organizations but also provides a variety of listservs on different topics relevant to nonprofit organizations that you can join. Board Digest, which provides a forum for discussing all board-related topics, is one example. From the home page, click on "Forums", then "All Public Forums."

Communities Rise
www.communities-rise.org
Communities Rise works with organizations, small businesses and communities located in Washington state that have been impacted by systemic oppression to increase capacity and build power. We recognize the strength and resilience in our communities and offer support through peer learning, coaching, legal services and training. We also work with community leaders in the broader nonprofit, public, and philanthropic sectors to create systemic change.

Compass Point
www.compasspoint.org
Compass Point provides a variety of technical assistance services including consulting, coaching, training, executive transition management, peer learning, and conferences designed around specific nonprofit issues/challenges. Compass Point also provides a variety of useful publications and information of interest to nonprofits.

Free Management Library (for Nonprofits)
www.managementhelp.org
This website contains a wealth of information on a wide range of topics relevant to nonprofit organizations. It has a detailed index, which makes it easy to find information on whatever topic interests you.

GuideStar
www.guidestar.org
This website provides a national database of nonprofit organizations that is searchable and includes all 850,000 charities that are registered with the IRS.

Independent Sector
www.independentsector.org
This coalition of nonprofits, foundations and corporations is involved with research, advocacy and education for the nonprofit sector.

Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, University of Washington
www.washington.edu
The Center supports and disseminates cutting-edge research of Evans School faculty and creates innovative learning opportunities for current and future social sector leaders at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Through applied research and life-long learning, the Center serves individual leaders and elevates the social sector as a whole.

Nonprofit Finance Fund
www.nonprofitfinancefund.org
NFF helps mission-driven organizations achieve communities’ aspirations through tailored capital, strategic advice, and accessible insights.

Philanthropy Northwest Membership Directory
www.philanthropynw.org
Philanthropy Northwest provides a variety of resources to both grantmakers and grant seekers. You can access all of them from their home page. PNW's membership directory is a comprehensive resource for grant seekers to use in identifying funding options. The Online Member Directory facilitates more appropriate grant requests, which saves time for grant writers as well as grantmakers. Annual subscriptions are available on PNW's website.

Propel Leadership Institute
https://evans.uw.edu/academic-programs/continuing-education-programs/propel-leadership-institute/
Through the Evans School’s Propel Leadership Institute, nonprofit professionals new to leadership engage in a five-day residential program that provides the tools, training, and connections needed to lead effectively. Centered on the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the institute focuses on how personal and positional power manifests itself in leadership style and how, and why, to keep DEI at the forefront of decision-making throughout one's career.

Propel Nonprofits
www.propelnonprofits.org
This website provides consulting and coaching is designed to equip your organization with financial tools and resources that provide insight and ultimately empower nonprofit boards and staff to make decisions with confidence.

StrongNonprofits Toolkit
www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Resources-for-Financial-Management/Pages/default.aspx
Developed by Fiscal Management Associates (FMA) and The Wallace Foundation, this website features free tools, how-tos and guides aimed at helping nonprofits build their financial muscle. These resources address nonprofit financial planning, monitoring, operations and oversight. They include a nonprofit accounting guide, a "Go or No Go Decision Tool", a podcast on how to understand the true costs of programming, and many more.

Success Measures
www.successmeasures.org
Success Measures is an innovative approach for community-based organizations and their partners to document outcomes, measure impact, and inform change. Success Measures provides a practical and user-friendly participatory evaluation method that engages an organization's stakeholders in developing, implementing, and analyzing results. Success Measures combines the power of technology into its approach through a secure, web-based evaluation and data management tool, the Success Measures Data System (SMDS). SMDS provides everything an organization needs to conduct credible, useful evaluations that demonstrate what differences community development activities make for individuals, organizations and communities.

Tech Soup
www.techsoup.org
Tech Soup is set up to be the portal to the nonprofit technology world. It contains articles and a variety of resources related to the technology issues and challenges facing many nonprofits. By partnering with companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec, Quickbooks and many others, Tech Soup can offer significant discounts on software and hardware.  It also offers free online educational tools, resources and support to help nonprofits use technology effectively.

TCC Group
www.tccgrp.com
The TCC Group helps its clients honestly assess their strengths and weaknesses, take a step back from their daily work and to think in new ways, and mobilize their resources to address critical issues and become more effective. This consulting group does extensive research to support their work with clients. They assist nonprofits in thinking strategically and planning for the future of their organizations to accomplish their mission and vision by providing the following services: strategic & business planning, program evaluation, governance assessment & restructuring, and capacity building. TCC also provides many free briefing papers and other resources on its website. In addition, they frequently offer excellent webinars and podcasts on their website that are also available to you at no cost.

The Management Center
http://www.managementcenter.org/trainings/
Provides a wide variety of management and leadership training opportunities.  TMC offers both intensive hands-on coaching services for executive directors and their senior leadership teams, as well as a series of management training courses that supply practical advice and tools that managers can put to work immediately.

United Way of King County Project Lead Program
https://www.uwkc.org/for-nonprofits/
Project LEAD—Leadership Effectiveness and Diversity—is a nonprofit board training program open to skilled, passionate and equity-centered BIPOC individuals. During this month-long intensive training, participants show up ready to listen, learn and participate. The program concludes with a graduation ceremony and agency fair, where graduates can meet representatives of nonprofit organizations that are seeking new members for their boards.

Washington Nonprofits
www.washingtonnonprofits.org
Begun in 2011, WN is Washington's first statewide association of nonprofit organizations. It provides training and resources to nonprofits across the state. You will find these posted on their website along with membership information. Washington Nonprofits has a policy and advocacy program that focuses on issues that affect the nonprofit sector. It also has a webpage devoted to Legislative Alert links.

Washington Nonprofit Institute
www.wanonprofitinstitute.org
The Washington Nonprofit Institute is a website that provides anytime, anywhere nonprofit learning to organizations of all sizes. We reach nonprofits in every community in Washington State, empowering them with a broad set of resources and helping them build the connections they need to succeed. Some of the resources available include Boards in Gear focused on effective Board governance strategies, Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits, and Strategic Planning for Nonprofits.

 

Photograph above courtesy of Hamlin Robinson School