Donors invest because the work of our institutions makes both logical and emotional sense to them. Logically, donors have to recognize and agree that giving to our institution is a wise and productive investment. Their minds need to agree, “Yes, this makes sense!” Emotionally, donors need to feel that our institution’s work makes a qualitative…
Category: Leadership
On Being Peculiar
We use the word all the time: “That’s peculiar!” “He’s just peculiar.” And while our use of the word may not be snidely, on most occasions we use it to mean something less than positive. In fact, the first definition for the word given by dictionary.com is strange, queer, odd. Many of your major donors…
Performance Metrics – Webcast Opportunity
If you are interested in learning more about how to implement performance metrics well, I’ll be giving my take in an upcoming webcast sponsored by ALDE – the Association of Lutheran Development Executives. Here are the specifics: Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010 Time: 3:00 – 4:30pm Central Site Fee: $75 – you can’t beat this…
Sleeping with Eyes Wide Open
Recently, our son who is four, appealed to my wife and I that he deserved to go to bed later than his older sister because he took a nap during the afternoon. The problem was that he, in fact, did not nap. But he argued to the contrary. Finally, after proving beyond all reasonable doubt…
What We Wish Donors Really Knew
Development professionals work tirelessly to educate donors. In fact, I believe that donor education is really the core of our work. This education typically involves one or more of the following areas: Institutional education – we educate donors about our history, services provided, communities served, and institutional accolades; Vision education – we educate donors about…
Benedict Arnold And Your Donors
The value in understanding history lies not in the notion that times stay the same, but, rather, that human nature does. Take the case of Benedict Arnold. We all remember him as the traitor during the Revolutionary War. But for many of us, that is all we know of the story. When historians attempt to…
Your Collective Board. . . Isn’t
A Board is a collection of individuals. The important word here is “individuals.” Not “collection.” Each member of a Board brings her own passion, interests, abilities, capacities, and shortcomings to the group. Boards work and are generous, not because administrators engage the collective group, but rather because administrators first engage each peculiar, individual member in…
Asking Every Day
I’m teaching a class on “Annual and Major Gifts Fundraising,” this fall in the Master of Nonprofit Management program at Northpark University. For one of the textbooks, I’m using Asking, by Jerry Panas. As one would expect, it’s a great, spot-on, quick read. Jerry offers many, time-tested examples of how to go about the process…
Benchmarking and Uniqueness
One of the first understandings an institution claims I need to have about them involves their uniqueness. It goes something like this: “Jason, we know you work with institutions and organizations across the country. But we are different here. Our institutional culture is different. This community is different. Our views on philanthropy are different. We…
The Power of the Whisper
In college, I had a professor who, to get the attention of class and quiet the room, would whisper. After a few moments, every student would cease their talking and strain to listen to what the professor was softly saying. It was an effective way to gain the attention of the audience. It worked because…