One of the biggest issues facing education and philanthropic organizations today is one of talent. Attracting and retaining talented individuals, especially on the development team, is becoming more and more difficult. It is estimated that development officers are staying in their positions an average of 1.5 – 2.5 years. Understanding that quality development work is [...]
Browsing the archives for the Leadership category
25 Jul 10
18 Jul 10
When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. – Marquis de la Grange I love this quote. It can be read as manipulative, but I choose not to. And yes, “accomplice,” does convey wrongdoing of some sort. But if not taken so literally, it can be read in a way that [...]
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Posted in Fundraising, Leadership
13 Jul 10
Who do you attract to your Board? “The heavy hitters,” I heard recently when I asked this question. ”These are people of influence and affluence.” Great! To our Boards we attract leaders from business, the clergy, political players, and other people of social and financial importance. And then, if we aren’t careful, we take [...]
11 Jul 10
We use the word everyday, but what does it mean? What, really, is a gift? Recently, Seth Godin blogging about Gifts, misunderstood, stated the following: A gift costs the giver something real. It might be cash (enough that we feel the pinch) but more likely it involves a sacrifice or a risk or an emotional [...]
9 Jul 10
In the past few months, I’ve had 2 late night flights cancelled causing me to spend extra nights in cities not of my choosing. In each case, the airline provided me with a hotel voucher. As I checked into each hotel, I asked the front desk attendants if they wanted my loyalty number. It just [...]
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Posted in Fundraising, Leadership
5 Jul 10
“Don’t work yourself out of a job!” This was a typical refrain from a world which no longer exists. Some people, though, continue to think and behave as if it does. When work was primarily about mass production – be it producing cars, steel, widgets, or even paving roads – workers routinely exercised “workplace governors” [...]
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Posted in Leadership
30 Jun 10
Some gift income reports I’ve read use the term, “giving units,” to describe donors. I’ve never much liked that terminology. Too cold and objectifying. Recently I read some fascinating research on community college presidents completed by Matt Thompson, a good friend and thoughtful higher education leader. Matt’s research re-introduced me to the concept of verstehen [...]
27 Jun 10
A regular annual fund donor sends in a gift – a check for $1,000. Your organization promptly produces a gift receipt and sends a letter (either hard copy or electronic) expressing gratitude signed by the appropriate staff person. Is that it? Is that all that happens? Despite all the talk about “engaging donors,” I’m afraid [...]
22 Jun 10
Homeostatis is the biological principal which suggests that living organisms will maintain a stable, constant condition. And we humans do this well. We see this principle at work in easily-recognized statements such as, “we’ve always done it this way.” Or, “I’m going to do what I’ve always done and let someone else worry about it.” [...]
8 Jun 10
The most common question I get regarding performance-based metrics is, “what should we be counting?” Is it visits? moves? phone calls? dollars raised? number of proposals submitted? etc. And while I can make a well-reasoned argument as to why a particular set of metrics will be more powerful in predicting success than another, I can [...]
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Posted in Fundraising, Leadership
