Giving is Good
Effectively engaging volunteers – be they Board members, campaign leaders, special event volunteers, advisory council members, or others – can be a tricky proposition. On the one hand, influential volunteers have an ability to open doors, leverage personal relationships, and tell the story of your institution with an authenticity that can be unmatched by those…
Workplace meetings are important. Studies show that collaboration in the workplace (meaning, when two or more people communicate to share ideas and achieve common goals) leads to all types of beneficial and excellent outcomes. From increased staff member retention to coming-up with more effective decisions, plans, and solutions, collaboration works. And while collaboration can happen…
About half of Americans state a specific New Year’s resolution. Most of these resolutions are focused, as one might imagine, or enhancing health or well being, gaining more education, or increasing one’s financial situation. And while all those resolutions are fine and good, I do wonder if focusing on resolutions that endeavor to make ourselves better…
Tactically, and even strategically-speaking, the Annual Fund for most non-profit organizations is credited with serving 2 purposes. The Annual Fund: Provides important (often-times budget relieving) annual gift income to fund current organizational priorities, and; Serves as a (hopefully expanding) pool of future major donor prospects for the organization. While these purposes are important, they are…
Over the next 3 weeks, donors will be making far more charitable gifts than at any other time during the year. It is the season of giving – and donors respond. As you implement plans to encourage and remind donors to support your mission during this period of generosity, there is a group of donors…
Prospect Management Team (PMT) meetings are often under-utilized as a major gifts program management tool and, sometimes, completely misunderstood. The purpose of PMT meetings is rather straightforward: to ensure that all major gift prospect managers within a unit, division, or institution are aware of the prospects with whom other prospect managers will soon be engaging….
The 2016 U.S. Presidential election is now behind us (although my Facebook feed would suggest otherwise). If we can remove the divisiveness from the election for just a moment and look at what the candidates proposed about charitable giving policy, we will see that neither of the major party candidates were focused on enacting tax…
A wonderful benefit of my work as a consultant is the opportunity I have to interview some of the wealthiest and most generous individuals in North America. I ask questions about their philanthropy – where they give, why they give, and how much they give. I listen to their life’s stories. And I attempt to…
You’ve heard it before. You may have said it yourself – to yourself or to others. You probably even believed it when you heard it or said it. And you may have thought it would motivate people toward better results. “We’ve just got to work harder.” In today’s world with tighter budgets and higher expectations,…
“Thanks for the lunch invitation. I appreciating you visiting with me,” the donor said. Before the gift officer could respond, the donor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a check for $3,000. “And before I forget, I wanted to make sure I gave this to you,” he said. The gift was larger than…