It’s not personal, it’s business. It’s not about you, it’s about our goals. It’s not about getting along, it’s about getting the job done. These are all interesting phrases I’ve heard thrown around in the living rooms of leaders...aka...the conference room. These are the phrases leaders like to use to [...]
Let me start by saying I did not do track and field (but maybe I should have) Track stars understand the concept of the finish line. When you cross it, you’re done. You actually get to fully rest. Every day are you racing towards an imaginary finish line? When you [...]
A mentee of mine reached out to me the other day for advice about a role she was applying for in the near future. She shared the job description with me, and friends...friends…that job description was 2.5 pages long, and it had everything in it except solving world peace. I [...]
Each quarter the Fundraising Effectiveness Project releases its report based upon the data collected that year. It is one of the only such reports based upon actual data from over 176 million transactions across more than 20,000 nonprofit organizations. Here is the latest report from the 2nd quarter of 2019. [...]
I had the urge to bite my nails during a meeting. Don’t look like that. It’s a habit I haven’t quite been able to conquer. We all have bad habits. For some of us, it might be biting our nails. For others, it might be chewing with our mouths open. [...]
More and more, the nonprofit sector is having conversations about equity and inclusion. Conference keynotes, webinars and trade publication articles are prompting fundraisers to broach the subject within their own organizations. In a recent Bloomerang webinar, I touched briefly on the topic, and in the chat one person wrote: “I've [...]
Do you have a culture of philanthropy at your nonprofit? You either do or you don’t. There’s no in-between. All it takes To destroy your nonprofit's reputation as a force of goodness in the world is: One rude receptionist. One program staffer who doesn’t return phone calls promptly. One harried [...]
We've been following the excellent research of Derrick Feldmann and Achieve into how millennials connect, give and involve themselves with social and political causes Achieve, with the help of their sponsor the Case Foundation, has released its final Millennial Impact Report: 10 Years Looking Back which shares insights into over [...]
Co-dependency is such an ugly term. Yet, a pleaser is often one-half of a co-dependent team. The one who accommodates, and the one who does their best to smooth things over, placate, please, and keep the peace. If you are a pleaser fundraiser at work, you may have internalized some [...]
Have you ever met a pleaser, or worked for one? What is a pleaser? A pleaser is someone who: Has a hard time saying no, so you can’t trust their yes. Will give and give instead of setting good boundaries. Will say “oh, sure, do what you want” and that’s [...]
It can be tough working with a nonprofit team of volunteers, donors, and paid staff. Everyone has their own ideas, their own ways of working, and their own perception of what’s best for the organization. It’s a common challenge. It seems to pop up whenever three or more people get [...]
It's late June, which in the philanthropy world always means the release of the latest Giving USA report. The report estimates total giving in the United States based upon a multitude of sources. It is the oldest and most referenced barometer on the state of the charitable sector's health. The [...]