What Happens When We Don’t Understand the Why of Giving
Not as many people give according to our “strategic pillars” as we would like to believe or as our fundraising…
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Yes, you have to spend money to raise money, but…
A lot of money spent on fundraising has little or no effect on fundraising results. And when you spend money…
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How Balanced or Imbalanced is Your Fundraising?
Fundraising should be as comfortable as two people exploring possibilities. If done wisely and well, fundraising is nothing more than…
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Fundraising Requires A Great Deal of Courage – Not Just the Courage to Ask
I hear it often. I ask an advancement leader how a particular fundraiser is doing or ask a president how…
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The Unmeasurable Impact of Human Connection in Advancement
The most important part of advancement is something we can’t measure. It’s the problem with all fundraising systems and process…
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From “Giving To” to “Giving Through”: The Great Philanthropic Shift
In 2007, after listening to a lot of donors and conducting a lot of research, I advised, “Don’t just ask…
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Revolutionizing Fundraising by Building a Philanthropic Supply Chain
Donors are looking for a better philanthropic value proposition. They want to know how their dollars will be turned into differences.…
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Why Standard Fundraising Practices Are Hurting Your Philanthropic Partnerships
So much of standard fundraising practice is inconsistent with philanthropic partnership building. Would you enter into, feel comfortable with, or…
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Effective Fundraising Strategy is Rooted In Fundraising Fact
Everyone Is entitled to their own fundraising opinions but not their own fundraising facts. That’s what the brilliant Daniel Patrick…
MoreFundraising Success: The Road Less Valued
I began noticing the disparities early in my fundraising career. Much of the fundraising advice shared at professional conferences did…
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For Stronger Philanthropic Partnerships: Match and Share Back Stories
I wasn’t interested in many Olympic sports until someone came up with the clever idea of preceding them with insightful…
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A Great Disservice Some Fundraisers Do To Fundraising: Play to The Stereotype
Which stereotype do fundraisers play to? The one that perpetuates false expectations, that makes the best work seem insignificant, and…
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What So Many Fundraising Appeals Miss: People Want to Help People
While fewer numbers of people are giving to institutions, they continue to give in ways they find more interpersonal. They…
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A Prospect We Must Entertain: Recession
The word “advancement” connotes forward movement. That requires forward thinking. Responsible leadership at both the organizational and advancement level requires bifocal…
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The Three Characteristics That Distinguish the Best Advancement Practitioners
What are the three characteristics that distinguish the best advancement practitioners? Integrity, Curiosity, and Discipline. Of the three, integrity is…
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The Zoology of Fundraising: More Chameleons, Fewer Peacocks
The Education Advisory Board, after analyzing donations to 1,217 major-gift officers at 89 colleges and universities in the United States…
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The Pathway to a Significant Philanthropic Investment is Not Paved With Just “Visits”
A common KPI used to evaluate fundraisers is the number of visits they pay on prospects in their portfolios. It…
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How to Find A Good Advancement Leader: Ask the Right Questions
You’ve had a least one bad boss or worked in at least one depleting advancement operation. Now you’re interviewing for…
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The Faces of Philanthropy: Are They Changing?
The list below was an attempt by Forbes Magazine to capture the “faces of philanthropy” way back in 1994. It’s…
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The Seven Principles of Advancement Leadership
I recently had the pleasure of orienting a new chief advancement officer who is coming to the position from another…
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What Advancement Must Become: Builders of Communities of Shared Interest
You don’t have to poke too far into most nonprofits’ fundraising results to see significant donor erosion, usually masked by…
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The Key to Better Fundraising Results: Less Training, More Practice
What happens all too often when advancement leaders announce that they’re bringing in an expert to train their staff? Some…
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How Confident Is Your Fundraising Posture?
Put the proposition in human terms. Imagine two people that you observe on multiple occasions: One seems to be playing a…
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How Stereotyping Wealth Leads to Missed Fundraising Opportunities
When you think about the wealthiest of earners in the U.S., those who fall into the top 0.1 percent, who…
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