High performers often leave organizations because of toxic environments. Today's mass exodus of employees from the nonprofit sector is connected in timing to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's about something...
10 Ways Major Gift Fundraising IS Like Sales
Many fundraisers object to the idea that major gift fundraising and sales are similar or share similar characteristics. I'm not one of those people. Sure, one is selling a product...
Lead With Questions
As a leader you might think your job is to have all the answers. In reality, that's not your job at all. Your job is to assemble talented people around your...
2020 Was a Great Year for Giving. Or Was It?
2020 was a windfall fundraising year for many nonprofits, thanks to the increased urgency and generosity created by the global COVID-19 crisis. According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s 2020 4th...
Major gift insights from the trenches
It's been said that there is no better teacher than experience. That is certainly true when it comes to major gift fundraising. Theory will only get you so far in...
2021 Nonprofit Fundraising Predictions
On February 26, 2020 I was sitting in a hotel room in San Francisco having just met with one of my key client partners – an international ministry organization. News...
No Thank You
To thank or not to thank. That's the question of the day. I've been a fundraiser or a fundraising consultant for 20 years now, and this last week I found...
Leading and Fundraising in Times of Crisis
Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. -- Mike TysonLet's face it. We've collectively been punched in the face over the last eight weeks by this...
The Importance of Strategic Volunteers
In the United States, as soon as several inhabitants have taken an opinion or an idea they wish to promote in society, they seek each other out and unite together...
2019 Year In Review
As I look forward to the start of the next decade in just a few weeks, I also want to take a minute to look back at 2019 and celebrate...