If I asked, “Do you have a day and a half you can use simply for yourself? To disconnect. To focus on yourself with no other responsibilities for family or work, etc. For self-care, for feeling better, for getting healthier.” Most likely, the typical response would be something between laughter and suspicion regarding my sanity. …
Category: Nonprofit
On Seeking Advice
Not long ago a family friend just starting his career came to me with a question. He was looking at two potential job opportunities. One was a part-time position for a company with which he had already interned. The part-time position had no benefits but he knew who his supervisor would be (and liked her)…
Spreading Ideas
The essence of fundraising (i.e., development) is often analogized with “asking for the gift,” or “engaging the giver,” or “cultivating the prospect,” or even “stewarding the donor.” But almost never is fundraising viewed as “spreading ideas.” Spreading ideas, though, is exactly what the best development and advancement leaders and teams do exceptionally well. They effectively…
The Dribble or Taking The Shot
Too often we think of the donor’s next gift as if it is their final gift. “Don’t leave money on the table.” “I asked for too little.” “We could have gotten more.” These are familiar statements we use nonchalantly but they deeply shape how we think about a donor’s current gift. It’s as if we…
How Others Feel
Perhaps one of Maya Angelou’s most well-known quotes is her wise sentence on interpersonal influence: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” During our firm’s Annual Conference this past weekend, our Gonser Gerber family recognized and thanked…
Open or Closed
“Open” people are the ones you should be spending the bulk of your time engaging as an advancement professional. People who are open are learners. They are interested in ways to make tomorrow better than today. They are willing to charitably invest in others who are working to make tomorrow better than today. “Closed” people…
Chasing Income
The business minded folks in our institutions view gifts as income. Sometimes they don’t like to make concrete decisions with budgets based on potential gifts (i.e., the annual fund) because they view gifts as “soft income.” “Perhaps,” the thinking goes, “that income won’t materialize so it’s safer not to make plans with it in mind.”…
“The hardest money to raise.”
The story is that “unrestricted” or “where needed most” or “comprehensive giving” is the most difficult money to raise. It’s the story we tell ourselves in meetings. It’s the story we tell our colleagues and bosses and Board members. It’s the story we hear at professional development conferences. But, why is this the story? The…
Which Goal Leads To The Best Outcome?
A donor has been making generous annual gifts consistently for years. Then, 3 years ago, the giving abruptly stops. No one on the team has a clear understanding why this donor stopped giving. You decide to reach out to this donor and see if you can set up a visit. The donor agrees. What would…
How To Decide
The most important part of leadership is deciding. Deciding which direction to go. Deciding which choice to make. Deciding what project not to put resources behind. Deciding what idea not to pursue. But making decisions isn’t the most difficult part of deciding. Each of us make decisions every day. We have preferences. We have interests. …