SWAN (Strategic Workforce & Arts Network) Blog

Last week, I had a conversation in which I was asked to talk about my professional background. People sometimes describe me as someone who wears a lot of hats. Frankly, I do not love that description. If you know me at all, you know that I am not particularly fond of hats. I rarely wear them. I do wear a lot of shoes, and I like that metaphor much better. Shoes are active. They take us places. They allow us to move between different environments and assume different responsibilities. Hats can be attractive, but for the most part, they sit there looking pretty. I prefer to think of myself as someone with an active mind and imagination, even when my body is not always interested in cooperating. When I say that I have worn a lot of shoes, I mean that I have done a little bit of everything during my professional career. One part of that history may surprise people who know me primarily through my nonprofit, fundraising, teaching, or writing work. I designed websites. I worked my way throug...

Two of the nonprofits I serve participated in WCCF Gives this week, and I was gratified to see both organizations raise meaningful support for their work. The results mattered, but what struck me most was that both organizations are governed by all-volunteer boards, and every board member at both organizations contributed financially. That is significant. These individuals already contribute their time, knowledge, energy, and personal resources. During WCCF Gives, they also demonstrated their commitment financially. Their participation sent a clear message to others: We believe enough in these organizations to support them ourselves. All-volunteer nonprofits tend to operate with smaller budgets and fewer resources. However, people who understand the nonprofit sector know that a smaller budget does not necessarily equate to less impact on the community. Some of the most important work happens through small organizations that know their communities, recognize unmet needs, and stretch eve...

A Labor Day weekend edition from SWAN This week, our usual Monday Matters post is taking a holiday. In its place, we are offering something a little longer for the long Labor Day weekend, something that can be read now, returned to later, and considered after the last picnic plate has been cleared away. Schools are back in session, fall is approaching, and what many people consider the last real holiday weekend of summer is taking place as we speak. That combination led us to consider some very different schools: the schools of fundraising. These are not formal academic theories, although anyone who has spent time around nonprofit fundraising will probably recognize them. They are collections of assumptions about why people give, what donors want, and what an organization must do to attract support. Most nonprofits attend more than one of these schools, and some seem to change schools every semester. Each school understands something important about fundraising. Each also creates probl...

Earlier this week, I shared a little about my favorite album by my favorite band, The Alan Parsons Project, and how Vulture Culture has influenced how I have approached building  SWAN  and deciding what it to become. Apparently, this is the week when more of my favorite cultural references are finding their way into conversations about professional development than usual. Today, it's The West Wing . There is a moment in the series when Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn says, “Education is the silver bullet.” That idea has stayed with me for a long time, probably because education was my profession for many years before SWAN , the CFRE, and much of my current nonprofit work entered the picture. I spent years in classrooms teaching writing, communication, public speaking, and other subjects. My professional path has changed considerably since then, but I still consider myself an educator, and I suspect I always will. I also still believe in the basic philosophy behin...

SWAN founder Carla E. Anderton serves as the volunteer vice president of the Mon Valley Academy for the Arts, a nonprofit organization providing affordable, high-quality music education and performance opportunities throughout the Mon Valley. In recent weeks, much of our work has focused on preparing for WCCF Gives 2026 , the Washington County Community Foundation’s annual day of giving. SWAN helped develop and implement MVAA’s campaign, including its messaging, outreach, and donor communications. We also helped MVAA create a short video to raise awareness of its work and encourage community support. A fundraising campaign needs more than repeated donation requests. It needs a clear story that helps people understand the organization, the people it serves, and what their contributions can make possible. Watch MVAA’s WCCF Gives video on YouTube WCCF Gives will take place online on Thursday, September 10, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Every contribution through the campaign supports MVAA’s work ...

Today, 9/1, I have a little less than six months until I turn 50, and apparently having a milestone like that looming on the horizon tends to put you in a reflective state about where you've been and, perhaps more importantly, where you're going. I've been thinking about that in relation to SWAN . From the beginning, I haven't wanted  SWAN  to be about me. I want it to be about what I can do with the experience, education, skills, relationships, and lessons I've accumulated over the years and, more importantly, whether any of that can help organizations doing important work. As I survey the situation facing nonprofits right now, three things keep striking me. First, we are operating in a time of tremendous uncertainty. Funding is changing. Costs are rising. Organizations are being asked to do more, often with fewer resources, while the communities they serve are facing greater needs. Second, uncertainty creates a market for answers. Some very knowledgeable people ar...

This week’s Monday Matters arrived later than planned because of technical difficulties. That explanation is familiar to almost anyone who has worked for or volunteered with a small nonprofit. A website stops cooperating, a document will not open, an account becomes inaccessible, or a system that worked perfectly yesterday suddenly decides it has other plans. The work still needs to be completed because someone else will need it tomorrow morning. In a well-resourced organization, an information technology department, an administrative team, or a paid vendor may be available to solve the problem. In many small nonprofits, the solution is a volunteer sitting at a computer late at night, searching for instructions, testing possible fixes, resetting passwords, reconstructing lost work, and trying to make certain everything is ready for the next day. This is part of nonprofit work that rarely appears in an annual report. We celebrate the programs, performances, services, grants, and communi...