While my kiddo is on a study abroad trip in Dublin, I take their car out for a drive every few weeks. Nothing major, just to make sure everything is working as it should (or at least as well as a 15 year old Mazda should work).   Last week, I started the car to be greeted by the ominous clicking noise that suggests a problem has arisen. As with my experience with cars suggests, this could be a problem that ranges from the inconvenient to the expensive.   I took a look at the

s we teeter on the precipice of Thanksgiving, holidays, and a new year, I wanted to share some thoughts about last week's National Philanthropy Day celebration. Thanks to all of you for reading - and for all the good work you for your organizations and missions.   Last week, I attended the National Philanthropy Day celebration hosted by my local AFP Chapter (the Association of Fundraising Professionals - South Sound Chapter).   While this was only my second NPD event in Washi

I once had an editor who hated the word "Success."   If I turned in any stories with that word, it would come back with an emphatic red line through the word. He hated the word because it was unclear and vague.   After all, he would remind me, what does success really mean? Are we talking about income? Efficiency? Awards? Retention?   It didn't take me long to get the message - and since then I've had a bit of a resistance to words like success.   Because vague words lead to

I've been a leadership coach for more than three years now. I've also been a coaching client for about half that time.   The benefits of coaching are clear to me -- but maybe you're on the fence. Nonprofits aren't generally known for their willingness to invest in professional development / skill building, so coaching isn't as common as it should be.   So, because I love a three-part list, here's three benefits to working with a leadership coach:   Accountability Successful f

For me, year-end giving season was always an anxious time. There's that creeping feeling that your year-end giving strategies aren't enough - or that you should be doing something more. There's so much out there about year-end giving (advice, webinars, workshops, tips, tricks, etc.) that it's easy to feel overwhelmed.   But like all fundraising, starting is the hardest part. If you're not sure how to get a year-end giving strategy up and running, here are four things you can

Fundraisers, as a rule, love to complicate things.   We put barriers between the donor and their giving. (Why ask directly when we can have 15 live auction items and 25 silent auction items?).   We use jargon and industry terms to define and limit acts of generosity. (Your donors don’t consider themselves to be LYBUNT or SYBUNT or annual or major.)   We ask easy questions instead of helpful ones. ("Did it work?" is a different question than "Does this serve our mission and go

It’s a chicken and the egg thing.   Do donors give at year end because of tax reasons / holiday reasons?   Or do they give because we ask...

I wanted to start this message off with some inspirational quotes about the importance of a plan - but most of the quotes I found were...

You've done the board training, now what?   After all, it's easy to get excited about fundraising during a board training session. You're...

Speed is often the enemy of effective fundraising.   It's frustrating, right? Because we need the money today (if not yesterday). And...

It’s easy to get confused about donor cultivation. When it works, it seems simple, even magical. You meet with a prospective donor, start...

It’s been true since the 80’s. The A-Team has the best theme song ever. Also true since the 80’s? Individual giving is the heart of...

All my favorite TV shows are about communities. They can be about found families (Mad Men), about communities tied by place (Deadwood),...

I started this post by asking Microsoft Co-Pilot to create draft of a LinkedIn post on monthly giving. And it was … ok. My first...

Not too long ago, I worked with the Gig Harbor Harbor Waterfront Alliance here in Washington. I helped them build their first fundraising...

I overshot the mark once in a donor thank you letter. This was in my first full time fundraising job, and I was writing a thank you...

I used to hoard impact stories. Some stories were so good, I knew that I had to save them for a special occasion, like events or board...

The best fundraising plan can still fail. Not because of a lack of talent or willpower, but because none of us know what’s coming down...

I used to talk a lot about building a culture of philanthropy. It was a popular topic in the fundraising space and had the advantage of...

What do all major gifts have in common? They are meaningful to both the donor and the organization. They should be celebrated. They stem...