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Since day one, I’ve held that those of us who are responsible for putting out FundRaising Success learn more from our readers than our readers learn from us. And this year’s Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards have served to punctuate that belief. Each year, we send out nominating forms that are nice and neat, with perfectly balanced categories that cover what we think are all the bases. And each year, we name winners in those respective categories. But this year, the nominations weren’t so cut and dry, and we were reminded that there are thousands of fundraising pros out there who toil in

Editor’s Note: Part 1 of this virtual roundtable on changes in the fundraising landscape over the past year and what’s ahead for fundraisers in 2008 appeared in the December 2007 issue of FundRaising Success. Or you can find it by logging on to www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/r?s=82939. Margaret: Let’s turn this conversation around just a bit. Look back at this time last year. What has happened in that time that surprised you, caught you off guard? Roger: What has been a pleasant surprise for me is that in this past year technology really began to show its power and potential. Especially Web 2.0 and the user-generated

WITNESS is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based organization originally founded in 1992 as a project of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). It spun off in 2001 to become an independent 501(c)3 organization. WITNESS provides support — in the form of video equipment and strategic training — to local groups across the globe to use video in their human-rights advocacy, and it facilitates exposure of global issues by brokering relationships with international media outlets, government officials, policymakers, activists and the general public to use video as a tool to advocate for change.

One of the greatest challenges in fundraising ethics is that most individuals/organizations think that they already are ethical and, therefore, can move forward simply by relying on their instincts. This, according to Michael Rosen, executive vice president of client development at Legacy Leaders Inc, who says problems with this method of operating arise when someone is confronted by an issue with which they have no experience. “Our ability to make instinctive decisions or decisions based on conscience primarily are based on not only our own values system, but are based on experience. And when we don’t have experience in a particular issue,

Ethical issues seldom announce themselves in advance. If they did, they would be easy to avoid. Often, unethical seeds arrive quietly and lie dormant until they erupt into an organizational or career-damaging quagmire. As Association of Fundraising Professionals President and CEO Paulette Maehara has said, “Most ethical violations come about from omission rather than commission. People get into ethical trouble because they fail to pay enough attention to the ethical implications of familiar activities.” Whether you are a fundraising newcomer or an old hand, here are 10 simple reminders to help keep your fundraising career out of ethical hot water. 1. Put your

Laura Fredricks, vice president for philanthropy at Pace University in New York, presented a session a the AFP Annual Conference in Dallas earlier this year on turning annual donors into major-gift prospects. Vital to this strategy is identifying best prospects through prospect research. For starters, one of the most efficient ways to do initial research these days is through basic Internet search tools like Google, or the Foundation Center’s Web site, which enables Form 990 searches. Fredricks also recommends LexisNexis, which can unearth information on a person’s wealth, their assets, what assets they have that are publicly held, boards that they’re on, other organizations

A few years ago, one of my clients requested rush research on a prospective donor. The client, a development officer at an independent school, explained that the headmaster was planning to meet with a parent to ask for a gift. He believed that the prospective donor had the capacity to make a $300,000 gift, but the development officer thought the number might be higher.

This month, I head to the DMA Nonprofit Federation Leadership Summit in Coral Gables, Fla. I’ve attended the past two years, and each time I’ve been reminded of what invaluable opportunities these conferences can offer — to learn, network and just plain chill with the people whose contact info populates your address books.

As I’ve said before, the Leadership Summit takes chances. It doesn’t look or feel the same as other conferences. It moves. And it makes you think. All hallmarks of what I hope is a new generation of events where the status quo gets a swift kick in the pants.

Even though most development professionals understand the pyramid of giving and know that planned gifts sit at the top, many organizations never get a planned-giving program established because something else always seems a higher priority. But a few simple steps can help even the smallest organization get started. 1) First, recalculate your existing personnel budget, allocating a portion or percentage of the chief development officer’s time (and salary) to planned giving. Consider starting with 5 percent or 10 percent. Naturally, that means delegating or eliminating activities now taking that portion of the job. Build it into the job description. Add a similar amount of

In her session on capital campaigns at the AFP International Conference on Fundraising in Atlanta in April, Lona Farr talked about the how, what, when and why of feasibility studies. Farr, owner of fundraising consulting firm Farr Healey Consulting, listed the following reasons why organizations should do a feasibility study before embarking on a capital campaign: * To set rational financial goals. The feasibility study determines an organization’s fundraising potential, helps it make a rational financial goal, and determines the number and size of the gifts needed to reach that goal. * To identify potential volunteer leaders with powerful peer relationships. * The