It's 7:47 AM. You're the development director, event planner, grant writer, social media manager, and apparently IT. A board member just asked you to "pop together" some talking points. Your coffee is cold. Sound familiar? This is a MAYDAY Distress Signal — and it's survivable. Three things you can do THIS WEEK to stop drowning in 10,000 hats and start protecting the work only YOU can do.

Your board shows up to the gala. They eat the chicken. They bid on the wine basket they donated. They clap during the paddle raise. They leave. And when you bring up donor follow-up the next day? Crickets. Sound familiar? This is a MAYDAY Distress Signal — and it's fixable. Three things you can do THIS WEEK to shift your board from gala-only fundraisers to actual mission partners.

Can nonprofits use viral trends and humor in their marketing? Yes — and Yellowstone's thirst trap TikTok phenomenon proves why. Patrick Kirby, founder of Do Good Better Consulting and two-time Amazon bestselling author, breaks down what the nonprofit sector can learn from #ParkTok, why "appropriate" isn't a marketing strategy, and how to break through the noise in 2026's attention economy.

If your nonprofit board won't fundraise, your donors are ghosting you, and you're running a one-person shop on fumes—you're not failing. You might just be in MAYDAY mode. Here's what to do about it.

The One Big Beautiful Bill (yes, that's the actual name and the more I say it, the more fun it is) includes a new charitable deduction that lets people deduct up to $1,000 for individuals or $2,000 for married couples, even if they take the standard deduction. Why does that matter? Because roughly 87% of Americans take the standard deduction. And up until now, those folks got zero tax benefit from donating to charity.

People are unplugging. On actual purpose. And they're way happier because of it. You want to know what the most interesting part of that fact is? A crazy thing that should make every nonprofit development director sit up and pay a helluva lot of attention to? Gen Z is leading the charge.

Stop with the word salad to explain what your nonprofit does.

These giving days haven’t built a coliseum for you to fight to the death for money…yet!

Why North Dakota (and ALL State’s) Nonprofits Need a Fundraising Plan Now

Over the holiday break, I played an obnoxious amount of Skyrim . Like…a concerning amount. Like, at “Should I be getting more fresh air or at least move to the other side of the couch?” levels. Like, my wife & kids walking past the TV and asking, “Are you fighting the same dragon again?” and me confidently responding, “Um no, this one’s clearly different.” If you’ve ever played the best nerdy game of all time, you know the about the most iconic line in the game. If you haven