

Next Stage today announced the selection of six (6) nonprofits for participation in the 2019 cohort of CULTIVATE, an incubator designed to provide expert strategic and relational supports to emerging social cause organizations based in Mecklenburg County. Now in its...

CULTIVATE: Building a Pipeline of Individual Donors (Module #6)
For most emerging organizations, the dividing line between just making ends meet and true sustainability lies in developing a solid base of private funding from individuals. When leaders in philanthropy talk about diversifying revenue, they are usually talking about...

CULTIVATE: Seeking Partnerships That Make Sense (Module #5)
Since all nonprofit organizations are public institutions, they function as a web of social good services serving the best interests of those who empower them – the people of any municipality. In this way, they can be compared to departments of government with each...

CULTIVATE: Sourcing & Optimizing Volunteers and Staff (Module #4)
by Josh Jacobson What happens in a growing nonprofit when paid staff are added to a mostly- or all-volunteer workforce? If you assume that nothing changes, think again. While much of the early years of a nonprofit will be focused on generating revenue, human...

CULTIVATE: Strengthening the Board of Directors (Module #3)
by Josh Jacobson Throughout 2018, Next Stage will share the progress of organizations participating in the inaugural year of CULTIVATE, the firm’s incubator for emerging nonprofit organizations in the Charlotte area. The year is broken into 12 modules lasting...

CULTIVATE: Answering the “Why You?” Question (Module #2)
by Josh Jacobson As we outlined in our last blog introducing the first module of CULTIVATE, there is a very low barrier to entry for people who want to launch a 501c3 nonprofit. Like, really low. Fill out the paperwork and BAM! you have a nonprofit. It’s almost...