Sometime in your career youâll likely be approached by a donor who wants to give you a gift you probably shouldnât accept. It may be due to the fact it comes with strings. Or liabilities. Or expenses. Or youâre just not staffed up to do the work required to comply [...]
In Parts 1 and 2 of this four-part series I introduced a â4-Step Strategy to Cure Your Current Fundraising Headache.â Because the times weâre in are trying. Donors, however, are still giving. You can succumb to the crisis, take two aspirin every four hours for the rest of the pandemic, [...]
In Part 1 of this four-part series I introduced a â4-Step Strategy to Cure Your Current Fundraising Headache.â FORWARD FACE Equilibrium: Balance your fundraising strategies FUEL the Machine: Charge your annual contributions income engine FUMES Provide Accelerant: Prepare for âretirementâ FUTURE Proof the Mission: Leave a legacy for generations to [...]
Itâs hard to imagine a time before GPS and Google Maps, even back before the days of those AAA maps for long car rides. But before automobiles and trains or Trans-Atlantic flight, cartography was as much a mystery as it was science. In 150, Ptolemyâs Geographia warned of mythical characters [...]
Time to get your bearings so you donât lose your way amidst the chaos with your current fundraising strategies. Things are getting tougher. Partly because this doesnât feel new anymore. The early urge to jump in with both feet to do something â a virtual event, a crisis appeal, a [...]
Fundraising hasnât been this hard since the Great Recession. It seems like just about everyone, everywhere is exhausted by the two pandemics facing our country, coronavirus and racism. There is an underlying sense that we are in the midst of a great shift in mindset and values. All while the [...]
"It's not what happens to you, it's how you respond to it."Â -- Epictetus, Greek philosopher How you define the problems facing you matters, because it affects how you respond to it. There are two basic ways to define the largest problem most nonprofits face during an economic recession: Expenses [...]
Amidst the countryâs ongoing shelter-at-home restrictions, the economy remains in flux, and everything seems very unsure and unstable. Itâs hard to watch the evening news without feeling your stomach tighten. You may be feeling like life has gone from a sprint, to a marathon, to a double marathon. And youâre [...]
Everybody knows them: People who know everything. At least, thatâs what they believe. Itâs tempting to ignore these people. Because it seems so hard to change them. But if know-it-alls are leading your nonprofit, youâve got a serious problem. Because know-it-alls are insecure. Thatâs why theyâre so insistent on taking every opportunity [...]
The late Jerold Panas, fundraising guru and author of Born to Raise: What Makes a Great Fundraiser Great, wrote about traits (he calls them âveritiesâ or truths) that distinguish consummate fundraisers from those who, I presume, just dial it in. Today Iâd like to talk about one of these important [...]
What is the toughest job in the world? âŠNegotiating with a toddler? âŠManaging a board of directors? âŠRunning a nonprofit? âŠAsking people for money? âŠBeing a teacher, paramedic or police officer? Look, theyâre all hard. I can personally vouch for the first four. Starting a nonprofit, running a nonprofit or [...]
During tax season, when you use the word âauditâ you may think of a CPA spending several days combing through your financial paperwork and records. What I want to talk about is nothing like that but yet it is quite similar in many ways. A development audit is an assessment [...]