I heard it again on my last trip out — a proposal to expand an organization’s mission packaged as a development strategy. “By launching X, we’ll open the organization to a whole new group of donors,” the executive director said with more conviction than evidence. Never mind that the organization’s strategic plan included nary a [...]
Move your fundraising beyond the insanity of the same-old, same-old
March 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I gave up CNN or any other of the myriad news channels this past week. Not for Lent, but because the debacle unfolding in Washington, D.C. was simply too painful to watch. I’d like to think that the trauma of the last fiscal cliff experience would have knocked a little compromise (I stopped hoping for [...]
Prepping for Hurricane Sandy and storm spotting from boardrooms
October 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It’s been a crazy few days here in south central Pennsylvania as we prepared for and then weathered Hurricane Sandy. Unlike our neighbors to the east, this corner of the Mid-Atlantic region came through the storm with limited damage – an outcome you’d expect to elicit a unanimous chorus of praise. However, when the worst [...]
Cadence, the 20 Mile March, and God’s abundance
January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Today I begin work with a strategic planning committee at a nearby faith-based nonprofit. As is true for virtually all organizations of its type, there are serious issues to be addressed ASAP and patience is running thin even before the planning has commenced. Although not included among the deliverables listed in my letter of agreement [...]
Fundraising and eating elephants
October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
You’ve heard the one about how to eat an elephant. It’s done one bite at a time. The point, of course, is that seemingly daunting challenges are easier to “swallow” when approached incrementally. We’ve been convinced that it takes massive action to achieve anything of significance. Yet for most of us, most of the time, [...]
Even good ideas may have to die
March 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
On first read, the phrase “murder board” is a jolt to pacifist sensibilities. But not to fear. It’s excess ideas, not the folks who dream them up, that author and Silicon Valley strategist Nilofer Merchant targets in The New How: Creating Business Solutions through Collaborative Strategy. She explains: Murder boarding is a kind of counter-weight [...]
When we fail to plan
March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In today’s mail, I received a frantic letter from a ministry where just a year ago, the board was patting itself on the back about the organization’s strong financial position. Now I learn that a disaster is likely unless “300 people give $120 each or 500 give $72” by the end of the month. The executive [...]
