We watched in horror as Charlottesville, Va., erupted into violence this past week. Otis graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1979. There, he met the Dalai Lama, he met students of diverse backgrounds, he played basketball on a diverse team and he became a Buddhist…
Do the wealthiest people in your community seem beyond your reach? Perhaps there’s a business person in your city who seems to have her fingers in most everything. She is the developer of the town’s most prestigious residential community...
Any major gift officer who has been working for a few years has heard this phrase uttered by one of their donors, “Well, who else is going to fund this project? I don’t want to be the only one to invest in it...
At the recent Bridge Conference, I enjoyed several wonderful sustainer sessions. During one of those, someone asked about the automatic sustainer upgrade process some nonprofits are apparently using. My hair immediately started standing up straight! What happened to being donor-centric?...
Your organization has no cute kids, puppies or people that you regularly serve. But you keep hearing that you’re supposed to share those “mission moments” about real people to engage your community. How does sharing powerful stories work for you?...
Because I am talking about my work-related bucket list, my goal would be to achieve items on this list before I retire from this field. Because I am a senior professional, the window to obtain each item on my list is growing smaller with the passing of time. Let’s look at my list and see if I have achieved any of these special things and which ones are left to mark off the bucket list...
Want your fundraising program to rocket to the heights? It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. Social media has redefined the communications paradigm—more power, more immediacy, more often than ever before. Tools are value-free, however...
There was a disconnect. The client was well connected to area foundations, communicated with them regularly and made annual visits. Moving beyond foundations to major individual donors—and even the organization’s own board members—were not as connected or committed...
Your volunteer has two relationships you need to worry about: one with the organization you represent, and one with the mission of that organization. We’ve all seen a volunteer became disenchanted with an organization, but not with the mission...
Every single sentence in your email appeals is critical to your email fundraising success. We learned this through an experiment we conducted with the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Before their grand opening, the George W. Bush Presidential Center was running an acquisition campaign to recruit founding members...
