IT’S NOT THE MOST GLAMOROUS PART OF THE JOB. But very necessary. We cannot get to first base with anyone until we get the meeting, either for ourselves or for the principal or key volunteer in our organization. So part of what we have to do is “sell” the meeting to the friend or constituent. How do we do that? Read More
The perfect fund raiser
April 17, 2010 – 10:16 am
I TEAR UP EVERY TIME I hear Michael J. Fox talk on the radio. Maybe owing to people close to me who suffered the same or similar condition as Michael’s. Maybe because those people demonstrated that same kind of courage and self effacement as this still relatively young man.
Michael J. Fox has a new book (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future) which is partially why he popped out of my radio this morning on Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon. I say, partially, because he has been on that program before. It is always evident that Scott Simon is moved, no, awed, by the man. It is not the disability that impresses Simon, I think, but what the actor has learned from the disability and which he willingly shares with all of us. Read More
The toughest question
November 3, 2009 – 9:30 pm
HERE IS ONE OF THE MOST significant and most difficult questions of philanthropy.
Why?
Three letters and a bit of punctuation within which is captured an inquiry that could easily set us scrambling for information. In our rush we may articulate a reverse justification that begins at that thing we wish to fund. Or so often we can side step the question. The donor gives us the benefit of the doubt, maybe driven by their own emotional connection to the work our non profit is doing. They may even have their own answer to the question and on the strength of that choose to make their gift commitment. But why should we, the fund raising professionals, leave that to chance?
Philanthropy and the National Parks
October 1, 2009 – 9:15 pm
ART, LITERATURE, science, politics, conservation, history, the depression, two world wars, human rights and nature itself. These unequal things are the characters in the story of this country’s national parks being told by a Ken Burns film this week. We in Montana are privileged to have four of these wondrous places within or in close proximity to our borders. Struggles occurring mostly in the first half of the 20th century involving the singular efforts of remarkable men and women are responsible for the system today that stretches from the heart of my home town of Philadelphia to the Hawaiian Islands. From the top of the world in Alaska’s Denali National Park to the bottom some 200 feet below sea level, Death Valley National Park, in Nevada and California.
But there is one unrecognized hero in this story. Philanthropy.
Promise
September 23, 2009 – 9:38 pm
AUTHOR, MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY pioneer, history professor K. Ross Toole would taunt his students saying go ahead. Leave Montana. See what the rest of the world has to offer. You’ll be back. He used to get to say that to a lot of young people, myself included. His Montana and the West course was offered in the cavernous University Theater at Missoula.
What we do
September 10, 2009 – 7:14 pm
Photo W O’Leary | Sunrise over the Bridgers
IF YOUR ORGANIZATION is interested in having us consult with you here is a brief description of how we do things. We don’t have an off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all, program for you. We start working on a proposal after we’ve had a chance to talk with you a few times. Every organization doesn’t want the same thing and every organization isn’t in the same place. So we start where you are now. Most of the folks we talk with do not at present have a major and planned gifts program in place. Most are living on earned income, special events, grants and a bit of annual fund. A few have done some major gifts work. Read More
Major gifts and the BIG idea
August 15, 2009 – 12:07 pm
WHAT DRIVES MAJOR GIFTS? The answer: ideas.
So often development work is reduced to this notion of ego. What the donor wants. The recognition the donor wants. The entertainment the donor wants. And probably this is not entirely wrong. But these are not things upon which one can build an entire major gift development effort. So what is it that motivates the big gift? And some not so big gifts.
What’s a board to do?
July 28, 2009 – 7:46 pm
We have to be specific about what we want
from our boards when it comes to major gifts
WE WANT THE BOARD to help Major Gifts development work. But what are they supposed to do? There is the slightly cynical observation … the role of the Board is to “give, get or get off.” But there is a bit more to it than that. The Board creates the context for a Major Gifts development effort. Seeing as Major Gifts development is a strategic function, the Board must be involved at some level. In all things the Board of a non profit organization — whether it be a college, university, hospital or local humane society — is there to act on behalf of the community that is being served. Read More
Bumps in the road
July 11, 2009 – 10:58 am
No shortage of opportunity even when things don’t seem to be going that well. What counts most in tough times is Leadership!
MOST NON PROFITS EXPERIENCE BAD PATCHES. A few bumps in the road. It’s to be expected. So how does one handle the bad bits without ending up closing the store? Well first off, don’t panic. To quote Winnie the Pooh’s Eyeore: it’s what would ‘appen. Think of it as a management problem. So often cash flow (lack thereof) can be the crisis precipitator. While we will concentrate on the cash issue here, the general advice we can offer about organizational crisis is this: a) assess the situation; b) make a plan; c) do the whole Teddy Roosevelt thing in responding … be vigorous … act; d) communicate with your stakeholders (especially staff); and e) be appropriately concerned and at the same time be cool, be in charge.
Are you ready?
June 17, 2009 – 9:29 pm
WE BELIEVE MOST NON PROFITS have what it takes to attract Major Gifts to their organization. Is yours ready? As Executive Director here are some questions you might consider going ahead:
- Do you have a core group of individuals who have been making gifts to your non profit for five or more years? Do some give every year? Read More