Paul Barbagallo

Come back with me, if you will, to a time very early in my career with FundRaising Success. I had been editor for about five minutes. Then-Associate Editor Paul Barbagallo and I were meandering around one of our first fundraising conferences, sitting stiffly among our new colleagues, all of us dressed for business with our game faces on.

In the back, at a table far from the rest of the crowd, was a tall, laid-back-looking drink of water in a suit jacket and blue jeans. And I knew from the moment I saw him that I would know him better.

EDITOR'S NOTE: New Massachusetts Rules Target Financial Abuses Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas L. Reilly took steps toward implementing strict new rules for governing charities, including a requirement that board members sign off on financial audits; curbs on executive compensation; and $5,000 fines for violations -- all in an effort to "stamp out" financial abuses. According to a report in The Boston Globe, if implemented, the proposed legislation would be among the most comprehensive nationally to address financial governance of charities. Reilly's "An Act to Promote the Financial Integrity of Public Charities" legislation, sponsored by Rep. Daniel E. Bosley (D-North Adams) and

Rewarding Greatness In the formative years of online fundraising, many nonprofit organizations assumed that if they built a Web site with a device to accept donations, donors would come. But to the chargrin of many fundraising pros who thought that was the only thing needed for effective online fundraising, donors came in fits and starts. What fundraisers learned -- albeit slowly -- was that donors want information, information and more information. They want ways to voice their opinions to elected officials, tips on how to cope with dibilitating disases and a resource bank chock full of places to go, both online and off, to

Seventy-nine percent of donors and prospects who open direct mail appeals will read the postscript first, maintains direct mail copywriting and creative consultant Ray Jutkins. Only the running headline and Johnson Box at the top of the letter fetch more attention, he says, and a good P.S. can help you reach your direct mail objective by restating the benefits or offer, or urging action. “The primary thing not to do with your P.S. is state a new fact, introduce a new idea or start fresh with a different thought,” Jutkins cautions. “The P.S. is a place to repeat the call to action, remind the

It’s safe to say Benjamin Hart is a fan of direct mail. In his book, “Fund Your Cause With Direct Mail: Secrets of Successful Direct Mail Fundraising,” Hart takes a comprehensive look at the benefits of direct mail and how they can be harnessed to capture more funding for nonprofit organizations, tracing everything from the role direct mail had in the American Revolution and in strengthening democracy, to the importance it plays in conjunction with the Internet.

Building organization capacity is about systematically investing in developing an organization’s internal systems (for example, its people, processes and infrastructure) and its external relationships (for example, with funders, partners and volunteers) so that it can better realize its mission and achieve greater impact, writes Mike Hudson, director of Compass Partnership, a U.K.-based management consultancy specializing in the nonprofit sector, in his new book, Managing at the Leading Edge: New Challenges in Managing Nonprofit Organizations.