Hi Reader,
As I dig out from the first significant snowfall of the season in Wisconsin and finish digesting Thanksgiving leftovers, this week I give you your last free issue and ask you to purchase a subscription. I hope you will find it worth your time and money.
Below, you will find five items to improve your nonprofit today:
- Improve donations by minding your website's load speed
- Increase donations by having donors say why they gave
- Build better AI prompts
- Create a virtual "mastermind" to advise you about important decisions, and
- Fact-check assertions fast.
Please Join and Forward!
The first few issues of this new newsletter have been free. Readers who acted on those recommendations received at least a 100X return. In fact, the AI prompt about major potential corporate sponsorship partners in Issue #1 was a sure-fire 100X or better return.
Now, I ask you to join this newsletter. If you do, you will receive a new issue every Monday, chock full of actionable insights—for just $10/month, or $2.50 per issue, less than the cost of a Frappuccino at Starbucks. Here's the link, which will actually entitle you to another 4 free issues on top of the ones you have already received!
Also, one other ask: please send this email to five other nonprofit leaders who would benefit from good news and good tools. If you do (and let me know), I will send you a special gift.
If you have received this email from someone, thank them! Then use this link to sign up for free.
For those who have previously received my free emails, those will be much less frequent as I concentrate on the readers who value my advice the most.
Oklahoma Innovates to Drive Better Social Innovation
An innovative funding model in Oklahoma is delivering social impact without major new spending, earning national attention. The Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative—a nonprofit-led public-private partnership—has launched more Pay for Success projects than any other state. Through this model, private/philanthropic investors fund programs up front in areas like workforce development, housing stability and health, and the state repays them only if strict outcome targets are met. President Ed Long, who co-founded the collaborative in 2020, notes it has channeled $11.6 million into 23 outcomes-based loans so far, helping nonprofits expand services beyond the limits of their budgets.
To ensure replicability, the state created a dedicated Pay for Success fund ($1.92 M/year) to reimburse successful projects. This future-facing model could be a game-changer for nonprofits in other states by unlocking impact investments and tying funding to proven results—a durable cross-sector approach that amplifies impact without new taxpayer outlays.
Oklahoma’s success—recently honored by a statewide nonprofit award—underscores the potential for scaling outcomes through innovation rather than new money. I would love to see other states take the same approach. Does yours?
Make Your Donation Page Load Fast
Pull up your donation page on PageSpeed Insights (google it!) and note the top issues. Compress oversized hero images, lazy‑load below‑the‑fold media, defer nonessential scripts, and remove third‑party widgets that don’t help conversion. Re‑test until your mobile score clearly improves, then repeat on your Donate and campaign landing pages. Faster pages reduce friction and abandonment—especially on mobile.
Upgrade Your Thank-You Page
Right after the gift, show a bold “Share why you gave” CTA with a pre‑written social post, a “See your impact next” link to a story, and your matching‑gift prompt. Add a gentle “Make it monthly” upsell for one‑time donors. Then send the donor to a concise receipt email (arrives within minutes).
Here are three simple prompts you can use to get better results from ChatGPT—a prompt builder, a virtual mastermind, and a fact-checker.
Build Better Prompts
Don't rely solely on your own grammar and reasoning ability. Help ChatGPT help you:
Act in the role of a world-class prompt engineer. Your job is to help me generate powerful, high-impact prompts tailored to my needs. First, ask me what I’m trying to achieve. Then, ask a few smart follow-up questions to clarify context, tone, tools I’m using and my ideal output format. Once you understand my goal, give me 3 prompt variations: one basic, one creative, and one expert-level—all designed to get the best possible response from ChatGPT or other AI tools. Make sure the prompts are clear, flexible, and easy to reuse. At the end, offer one suggestion to make the prompt even better next time.
(Modified from Zain Kahn’s Superhuman Newsletter (April 23, 2025))
The Best Mastermind
Many people are familiar with the concept of Mastermind groups—collectives of peers who meet and share insights and growth strategies. At times I have created "virtual" Mastermind groups to help me make decisions, populating the group with people I would like to get advice from. Now you can do this using the magic of AI:
Act as a panel of history’s greatest minds—including Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Socrates, Einstein, Sun Tzu, and Maya Angelou. I’ll share a modern-day idea, challenge, or decision. For each thinker, give unique feedback based on their worldview and expertise—for example, Einstein might focus on systems and imagination, while Sun Tzu would assess the strategic angle. Do not be trite and have the historical personage be a caricature; instead, let them have authentic depth. Let them offer contrasting opinions if it deepens the insight. Then, summarize the most valuable takeaways and end with one thought-provoking question I should reflect on. Here’s my challenge: [Insert your idea, goal, or dilemma]
(Modified from Zain Kahn’s Superhuman Newsletter (April 24, 2025))
Fact Check
Ever wonder whether you're reading something that's true? Run this in ChatGPT using Deep Research:
Act as an expert in critical analysis. I want you to fact check this article in full. Leave no stone unturned. To do so, first, look at the text of the article and parse out each individual fact—after this, you should have a list of facts. Then, for each fact, do comprehensive research to determine whether it is true, false, or unclear. Aim for at least three independent, high quality and trustworthy sources for each fact.
Then, once you've done this for *every* fact, return a table with each fact and its corresponding results (including sources for each check).
(Modified from Zain Kahn’s Superhuman Newsletter (April 29, 2025))
Yes, the focus of NGN is always going to be nonprofit resilience opportunities. But every once in a while, I see something that makes me chuckle or appreciate the world we're living in. Here are some of those:
Old Timey practical risk management.
Who would win a fight between a knight and a samurai? That question, itself a great reflection of the power of the internet for wasting time in interesting ways, made me recall one of my favorite Reddit threads, which deals with which animal is the best for hand-to-hand combat.
In 1854 the Light Brigade, a British cavalry unit, committed to a brave but foolish frontal attack against Russian artillery during the Crimean War. The charge was immortalized in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. Because the internet is so cool, we can listen to the man who played the bugle that began that charge.
Please drop me a line to tell me what you liked and what you're working on! Remember, I focus future issues based on what I read in your emails.
Ted
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Founder and CEO Risk Alternatives, LLC 202.758.7572 (cell) 608.709.0793 (office) Website
Author of Managing Your Nonprofit for Resilience
We help nonprofits thrive by providing practical tools and support to address uncertainty and improve risk management.
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