There is a lot of new information that indicates that the economy may be nearing recovery. Although layoffs continue, home sales are increasing, construction is up ever so slightly and energy prices are rising, too. All three are indications that people have adjusted to the recent changes and there is some pent up demand. Add to … More What you can (and should) do now
Strategic thinking, volunteer resource management and managing your financial picture are all challenges of running a successful nonprofit organization. They’re also titles of courses offered through Virginia Commonwealth University’s Nonprofit Learning Point (NLP) educational program. In 2009 the program celebrates 13 years of empowering organizations to become more effective and efficient in achieving their goals. … More Achieve your nonprofit mission
The Spring 2009 Virginia Main Street Monitor is now available in its new form, an electronic technical brief. The new edition offers best practices for structuring effective promotional campaigns, culled from our Virginia Main Street network. The brief includes tips on partnering, constructing a press release, and debriefing the event. The Monitor‘s new electronic form reduces costs … More Spring 2009 Virginia Main Street Monitor now available
The Sunday, April 5 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch had several articles of note about Virginia Main Street communities. First was an article about Abingdon’s latest downtown promotion, then an article about Page County’s (including Luray) attempt to be designated as the “Cabin Capital of Virginia.” Then yet another article, this one talking about the … More Virginia’s Main Street in the news
You’ve spent years building your professional reputation and protecting your organization’s good name, but in today’s interconnected, information-rich world it’s easier than ever for the actions of others to damage the goodwill you’ve established. Networking is a basic responsibility of business owners and organizations serving them. We network to keep abreast of best practices, to … More Trading Faces: Building and caring for your online reputation
While the Virginia Main Street staff was unable to travel to Chicago for the 2009 National Main Streets Conference, Becoming Main Street 2.0, Jessie Chase from Harrisonburg was able to attend and reported back that it was fun, interesting and worthwhile. We returned from the Chicago National Main Street conference on Wednesday evening tired and … More Report from the Main Street 2.0 conference
Want to be sure your small business never becomes a big business? A surefire method to ensure a lack of success is to have shoddy accounting practices. Knowing where your money is, how much of it there is, and when you can expect more are key to proper business planning. Without a plan, your endeavor is … More Keep your books in order
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