Coins

Fiduciary Duty, Governance, IP, Nonprofits

March 10, 2022

What is an Asset?

I had a lot of new questions after analyzing the survey data. I wouldn’t be able to answer them quickly, so I spent some time thinking about how my experience as a manager in the nonprofit sector could help me chip away at big questions. I had staffed committees of the board for every organization […]

Tools - wrenches, nuts, and bolts

Fiduciary Duty, Governance, IP, Nonprofits, Philanthropy

March 2, 2022

Foundations, Grantees, and Intellectual Property Rights

I was a fundraiser for 15 years. The implications of my survey’s findings on who funds, owns, and benefits from intellectual property created by nonprofits was always lingering in the back of my mind. Fundraising is not a new activity or new profession. I remember one of my grad school professors showing us a direct […]

Computer screen with "Do More" written on screen

IP, Nonprofits, Organizational Strategy

February 3, 2022

Q26 & 27: Nonprofit Scaling and Growth

My pre-survey reading opened my mind to the number of ways that intellectual property assets are used to expand market opportunities. Intellectual property is one asset that can be leveraged to grow or scale a nonprofit organization. It is something I have seen done by previous employers and clients. I wondered how prevalent it would […]

Neon sign of two hands shaking

Collaboration, IP, Nonprofits

February 1, 2022

Q24 & Q25: Developing Partnerships with Intellectual Property

My pre-survey reading enlightened me to the myriad ways that intellectual property assets are used to expand market opportunities. Partnering with other brands or companies is one strategy for market expansion. I had worked at nonprofits that sought a variety of partnerships and I wondered how prevalent it would be within this sample. The 19 […]

Piggy bank

IP, Nonprofits, Organizational Strategy

January 28, 2022

Q22 & Q23: Nonprofit Earned Revenue

I was also curious to know if nonprofit organizations were using their intellectual property assets to generate revenues through their own work as fee-for-service or other fees. At the time it seemed silly because fee-for-services represents about 80 cents of every dollar received by nonprofits. But, as that same article points out, that statistic is […]

Chess pieces

Governance, IP, Organizational Strategy

January 11, 2022

Q13 & Q14: Who Makes Strategic IP Decisions

All of the nonprofits were asked who is authorized to make decisions regarding the use of organization’s Intellectual Property on behalf of the organization. This question is distinct from the one asked earlier about the day-to-day management because it gets at the strategic, rather than tactical, usage of IP. The nonprofits shared that: Comparing this […]

Gavel

IP, Nonprofits

September 10, 2021

Q8: Enforcing IP Rights Through Legal Action

As I’ve written about previously, one facet to IP rights is the right to exclude others from using intellectual property that your organization owns. When I wrote this survey I didn’t know how applicable this question might be for the small sample group. I was actually pleasantly surprised that more than half opted to answer […]

Chess pawns

IP, Nonprofits

September 7, 2021

Q6 & Q7: Day-to-Day IP Management

The next two questions in the original survey focused on the day-to-day management responsibilities for intellectual property assets. An earlier question showed that most of the written policies were on management tasks: proper use and display, registration of assets, and the use of non-disclosure agreements. If there are policies for management tasks I wanted to […]

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