I’ve been working with monthly donor programs for more than 25 years now. Wow, so much has changed. Monthly giving has become so incredibly easy to set up and organize. And yet, whenever I teach a webinar or give a presentation, fundraisers tend to glom onto the “hard parts” right away. And that’s where in many cases it stops...
Do you ever come home after a party and realize that no one at the party ever asked you anything about yourself? Do you find that this is a reoccurring situation? I don’t know about you, but I find that most people I come in contact with are just not very curious...
There are plenty of opportunities for older Americans to move into nonprofit careers. Do your homework and talk to many in the field. If you covet relationships, care for others, are mission-oriented and can close gifts, you will thrive in the nonprofit world. Get ready for your encore career adventure...
I believe that if we were to make this effort in an energetic, passionate and sincere manner, we would end up with a more content and productive staff, and donors whose commitment, affection and loyalty to our organizations would elevate our missions to greater heights...
If you work for a U.S. charity, you might have noticed a positive change in affairs. Yep, donations have gone up in recent years. According to Giving USA’s most current report on philanthropy, annual charitable donations reached a new high of $390 billion in 2016, with individual giving increasing 4 percent across the board. That’s good news for everyone...
The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are over. As always, the Olympics were full of drama and excitement as athletes sought the “thrill of victory” and to avoid “the agony of defeat.” The gold medal is the ultimate Olympic victory and is also sought and coveted in many other competitions. What does it mean to have a gold medal fundraising program?...
By most standards, 2017 wasn’t a typical year. It was a carryover of perhaps the most memorable and emotionally charged presidential election ever: 2017 wasn’t one isolated event, but rather 12 months of extreme and prolonged emotion; the kind of raw emotion that some believe could influence long-term individual behavior and priorities...
I was invited to speak at the 2018 IEDC Leadership Summit on mindfulness as a professional development topic. Instead of speaking to how to implement mindfulness personally, I took it in a different direction. How can mindfulness, as a leader, help a group accomplish their purpose?...
This was a tough week for me. I got home from a trip and then got hit by this terrible cold. Boy, I haven’t been this sick in years! I’m finally starting to get over it, and it’s been going around like crazy. What I realized as a sick “donor” was that, because my monthly gifts are coming out of my account automatically, I didn’t have to worry about my mail; but I was still supporting the organization I care about...
In honor of this blog post, I ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes for breakfast today. I saw Tony the Tiger on the cereal cover, and all I could think of was his catchphrase, “They’re grrrrreat!” In any area of expertise, no one should automatically settle to be less than they can be...
