The Tierney Development Group

04/16/2026

04/03/2026

Do your board and staff know where governance ends and operations begin?

It's not a trick question and it's not about control.

Most boards are made up of people who care deeply about the mission — and most of them were never clearly told what their role actually includes, and what it doesn't. The same is true for staff.

Every nonprofit incorporated in the United States operates with two legally distinct arms: a governance arm and an operational arm. This isn't a gray area. BoardSource, the National Council of Nonprofits, and Bridgespan all define it the same way — the board sets direction, provides oversight, and hires one employee: the executive director. Everything else flows through the ED.

Research from the Stanford Graduate School of Business found that 51% of nonprofit executives reported feeling overwhelmed by demands from their boards Bloomerang

— not because boards are adversarial, but because the lines were never drawn clearly enough for everyone to work from the same map.

That's a solvable problem.

When onboarding is done well, the difference is immediate — the transition is smooth, roles are clear, meetings run efficiently, and the board and executive director build the kind of strong, supportive relationship that every nonprofit needs to do its best work. That outcome is available to every organization. It just requires the right starting point.

I put together a one-pager with the full Do/Don't breakdown — what the governance arm owns, what the operations arm owns, and exactly where the line is. It's a practical reference for board orientations, leadership transitions, and any moment when the two lanes need a reminder that they're separate.

Email me for a copy.

03/27/2026

Most nonprofits lose major donors before they ever ask for the gift.

Not because donors are no longer interested in the work.

Because cultivation is often treated like a sales pipeline instead of a relationship.
Major donors aren’t ATMs.

They are people who have indicated they want to be partners in the mission.

When donors feel like they’re being moved through a sales process instead of engaging in meaningful work, they disengage—or they give less, and most organizations never understand why.

Major donor cultivation is also much easier—and far more rewarding—because it’s about building relationships and connecting around a shared vision and goal.

03/25/2026

Why are donations to nonprofits tax-deductible?

Most people assume the charitable deduction was created to reward generosity.

It wasn’t.

It was created in 1917 during World War I, when Congress sharply increased federal income taxes to fund the war. Lawmakers worried that higher taxes would unintentionally reduce charitable giving — and weaken the hospitals, universities, religious institutions, and social service organizations communities relied on.

So they created a simple rule:
- Money you give away to support public benefit should not be taxed.
- The charitable deduction wasn’t primarily about encouraging generosity; it was about protecting civil society.

Congress recognized that nonprofits play a critical role in American life — addressing needs, building institutions, and serving communities in ways government alone cannot fully deliver.

So, the tax code made room for citizens to support that work directly.

In effect, the charitable deduction created a quiet partnership between citizens, nonprofits, and government.

Government forgoes some tax revenue.

Citizens help fund the institutions they believe strengthen society.

And nonprofits carry out work that benefits communities.

That framework — established during World War I in the War Revenue Act of 1917 — still shapes nonprofit funding more than 100 years later.

Understanding why the charitable deduction exists helps us better understand how the nonprofit sector was meant to be funded.

History: War Revenue Act of 1917.

03/17/2026

Your prospect list is an asset.

It is not a living, breathing thing on its own. It doesn't generate revenue by existing. It doesn't deepen relationships because you added names to it.

The strategy is what unlocks its value to you and to the people on it.

Activity is one of two things: busywork or milestone. Targeted and well-planned activities feed your revenue pipeline now and in the future.

Reach out to activate and expand your lists with easy strategies in 10 days or less.

LINK: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reason-your-prospect-list-isnt-working-kristen-tierney-bijce

03/04/2026

Nine out of ten times, a nonprofit's funding problem isn't the environment.

It's the funding activities you're focused on.

Wrong activities.
Wrong audience.
Hard work pointed in the wrong direction.

I've been watching two completely different realities play out in 2026. Some organizations say funding has never felt more open.

Others say it's the hardest year in memory.

Same landscape. Radically different experiences.

New on Substack today — why that gap exists, and what to do about it.

https://open.substack.com/pub/tierneydevelopmentgroup/p/why-are-we-making-nonprofit-funding?r=3zbznv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

03/02/2026

How are you handling grants this year? It is easier or harder?

02/25/2026

Treating DAFs like they are the answer to your funding prayers is exactly what is holding you back.

Donor Advised Funds have become the modern-day nonprofit Holy Grail:
"All we need is one deep-pocketed donor, and we won't have to scramble. We can finally take our foot off the gas."

If that's your philosophy, you're not in development.

Development is 365 days of engagement, cultivation, and relationship building. That's the only Holy Grail there is.

So, let's talk development (relationship building).

A Donor Advised Fund is a funding vehicle — like an endowment, planned giving, or major donor work. It's a financial planning tool that donors use. The funding is theirs to distribute, which means DAF holders are no different from any other funding segment I just listed.

You need to do all of the same things to get in front of a DAF funder that you do for any other funder.

That is development.

Who is your audience? Who do you serve? What transformative work are you doing, and what will funding allow you to accomplish? Are you a good steward of resources, and how can you demonstrate it — in a way that helps me understand that my hard-earned money can be a solution to someone else's challenge that I'm otherwise ill-equipped to address?
It starts with visibility.

Donors — with DAFs or otherwise — need to know you exist. That means:
A clear donor and funder outreach and engagement strategy — one that integrates your marketing and communications.

Clear avenues and methods for donors, funders, and DAF holders to fund you.

Your donation page must speak directly to the donor and make it easy for them to give in the way they prefer. That language must be replicated across all outreach materials.

Consistent messaging across all giving vehicles. If you've never mentioned planned giving or endowments in your email communications, suddenly calling out DAFs may feel inconsistent with your organization's voice. You do need language available for each on your website — but educating your audience on all the ways they can give is a stronger strategy than narrowly chasing DAF funding.

And one more thing: don't dehumanize the DAF holder. Reducing a person to a financial product is the opposite of relationship building.

Ask yourself:

1. How are you building relationships with your major donors?

2. What is your cultivation strategy?

3. Who are you cultivating, and why?

Read more about how to address DAFs and your funding strategy:

Treating DAFs like they are the answer to your funding prayers is exactly what is holding you back.

02/24/2026

Join us tomorrow to find out what's working for our clients now.

March 1st marks the start of spring before summer, and we are then planning for year-end.

Development is a 365 job, but it doesn't need to be hard.

Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3R4yRvJ

Or, head to our Linktree: https://bit.ly/4aQqayK

Newest email newsletter arrives today.

02/16/2026

02/11/2026

Funders see the tree. Your job is to show them what's underneath.

A retired Fortune 100 executive built a professional development nonprofit from the ground up. Proprietary software platform. 79 students enrolled across 46 colleges. 80 active mentors. 95.2% completion rate. National association partnerships. Fortune 100 founding corporate partner. All-volunteer, all-donor board.

He came to me after months of conversations wanting a very specific strategy session.

Two hours.

He provided a list of critical items he needed input on.

He walked out knowing he was sitting on $800,000 in documented value he wasn't telling anyone about.

He already understood the value of what he'd built — an infrastructure most large nonprofits don't have. What he hadn't done was turn that into a funding story.

In one session we:
→ Put a fine point on his immediate funding story: "we've invested $800K so our first hire can serve students — not build systems"
→ Restructured his Case for Support from a generic template into a strategic narrative where the word "ask" never appears
→ Identified three revenue paths he wasn't pursuing
→ Overhauled his giving page language and discussed his donation tiers
→ Built a budget framework that fast-tracks him past the industry-standard 2-year/$250K funder threshold
→ Mapped targets by sector and region
→ Briefed him on 2026 tax law changes affecting corporate sponsorship deductions

Everything. Nothing held back. He takes it and runs.

That's 1+Done(tm).

Not a taste. Not a teaser. Not step one of a sales process.

The whole thing.

If he ever wants ongoing support, that's 100% his decision. He knows where I am.

Most organizations are sitting on more value than they realize. They're leading with what they need instead of what they've built. They're chasing grants when faster money is right in front of them.

One call can change that.

Less is More in 2026.

→ 1+Done Call: https://linktr.ee/tierneydevelopmentgroup