Football brings about a lot of passion (and agony), especially this time of year. A few years ago, I was guest lecturing in my Lighthouse Counsel colleague Tom Landrum’s class on higher education fundraising. Many of the students had just returned from the annual Georgia - Florida football game in Jacksonville (also referred to as…
The last few days have brought something unusual to the news: a battle of the data scientists. Yep, that’s right—data science people fighting about the validity of models for polling predictions. I find this very unusual. Data scientists compete all the time. But there is rarely an argument about what is empirically correct and valid...
The other day, I was thinking about what the perfect resource-development job is like. In this complex society and profession, there are many moving parts in play. In my mind, however, I thought, "Wouldn’t our jobs be easier if we created our own organizational vision of the perfect nonprofit organization?" Here's what my dream organization would look like...
A process is "a systematic series of actions directed to some end." The process in strategic planning, for example, can even be more important than the resulting plan. If you conduct planning as a process and not an event, have a proven outside facilitator and let the process work without a leader trying to control it (after all a plan is about the organization, not one person), the results are phenomenal...
We are working with a client who is undergoing a CEO transition. Over the past two years, this organization had invested in a master planning process and also an extensive strategic planning process. When asked if it should pause while searching for a new CEO, our response was an emphatic "No!"...
Do you have a plan in place to meet your year-end fundraising goals? Just imagine: The average nonprofit raises more than 40 percent of its annual revenue during the last quarter of the calendar year. Start getting ready for year-end fundraising with the following tips you can start implementing now...
Eighteen nonprofits from all sectors came together for two days to discuss mid-level giving. Here’s what they say is mandatory for measuring success...
Creating a donor profile is one of the most illuminating things you’ll ever do—and my first step in working with most new clients. It’s only when you truly can envision the individual you’re writing to that you’ll find your overall writing—from your appeals, to your emails, to your website copy—will take on a deeper, more personal approach...
Some things are not predictable and “Pokemon Go” falls into that category. Did your organization take advantage of any of the hype? Is your organization prepped to grab lightning in the future?...
Recently, a United Way agency asked our organization to participate in a several-hour-long audit session. While the event was very structured, it also was conversational in approach. It provided a wonderful forum for our organizational members to evaluate how an outside organization perceives us, and for us to test our systems, processes and performance standards...
