Earlier this month, our world lost the gifted musician and soulful vocalist, D’Angelo. He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 51. If you are not familiar with D’Angelo, he created some of the most soul-stirring, deeply-emotive, grown folks popular music of last 40 years. In 2000, he won a Grammy award for his…
Category: Admissions
Distinctive Experiences
“What makes our institution different or distinctive?” This question dominates most every nonprofit marketing and branding conversation. And, in a world in which competition seemingly continues to escalate – for students, patients, donors, and volunteers – each institution wants to differentiate themselves from the others. We want others to view our brand based on unique…
Is It Worth To-Doing?
Take a look at your work-related to-do list for today. Rate each item with a 1, 2, or 3. A rating of”1″ means the item has a direct connection to your annual goals. When you complete these items, you are positively impacting the achievement of your annual goals. A rating of “2” means the item…
Capacity Buckets
Yesterday and all the yesterdays of the past are untouchable and unchangeable. We can not unscramble eggs. Tomorrow and all the tomorrows of the future are unknowable and unpromised. We can only guess how thrown dice will land. At least for now, all we have real access to is the present. This moment. This activity. …
Life Endowments
Endowed funds have three components: The Principal – or the original gift that is invested and not spent. Typically, the principal is invested and not spent “in perpetuity,” or forever (or as long as the organization exists). The Return – or the earnings and interest that the principal generates. Typically, the principal is invested in…
Small Notifications, Big Distractions
I’ve watched in meetings as people’s eyes jumped to the corner of their laptop screens after hearing a faint notification bell. I’ve witnessed a gift officer turn her phone upside down on the table as the screen lit up only to have the buzz of vibrating notifications continue to capture the attention of everyone present….
Who Needs To See?
As a child I remember our family traveling a couple of times each year over the mountains to visit my grandparents. From Maryland to West Virginia, these trips weren’t short and my two sisters and I would be somewhere flip-flopping and complaining in the backseat (of course, long before child safety seats or even regularly…
Brand Sentiment
The U.S. Stock Market can be intimidating. It can be hard to understand what it is and how it works, especially in times like these. The people who seem to know – financial talk show hosts and reporters, for example – tend to communicate in a different language. They regularly use words like, “puts,” and…
Touch and Connection
Quantum physics has taught us that we never really touch anything. What we think and feel related to touch is an illusion created in our minds to help us navigate the physical world. The seat you’re sitting on? Your rear is not really touching it. The keyboard in front of you? Your fingertips are not…
What Agentic AI Models Won’t Change About Work
Recent news on the Artificial Intelligence front has centered around agentic AI models. Essentially, agentic AI can better understand the context and operate multi-step processes in order to achieve more complex goals. Agentic AI can plan for the next iterative step to achieve a goal and can do more than simply translate data into knowledge. …