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How to get what you expect (and more) from your fundraising program

Rule 1 for nonprofit CEOs with visions of big gifts dancing in their heads: “Beware shopping for a development director when you are hungry—that is, when your organization is in desperate financial condition.” Rule 2 is like unto the first: “The notion that even a great development director can single-handedly pull an organization out of financial ruin is rarely accurate.”Read More »How to get what you expect (and more) from your fundraising program

Ask, and a helpful mission statement will be given you.

At the moment, I’m up to my eyeballs in policy work for the board that I chair. A trio of us are slogging away on ends policies – those few pithy statements that, in the words of John Carver (our governance guru), proclaim the differences the organization makes, for which beneficiaries, and at what cost. We’re several iterations in and still struggling to spin specificity from a mission statement broad enough to make the world the organization’s oyster.  Read More »Ask, and a helpful mission statement will be given you.

4 strategies for turning year-end stress into fundraising success

Were T. S. Eliot a fundraiser and not a poet and assuming a June 30 fiscal year-end (the standard for North American charities), he’d likely name May and June, along with April, as the cruelest time of year. The last leg of the annual race for the gold is the most taxing, always. With the year-end deadline looming large, development staff are stretched to the limit — physically, emotionally, and spiritually — and soul care gets lost in the busyness.

Read More »4 strategies for turning year-end stress into fundraising success

Reflections on two years as a blogger, two weeks late

Is my face red! I let the second anniversary of Generous Matters slip by unheralded. Okay, so two years is but a blip in the blogosphere. For me, however, it’s a big deal. When I first put fingers to keyboard on March 3, 2011, I didn’t know where this blogging thing would take me. Three hundred plus posts later, I’m still here. Even more amazing, so are you. Hooray for us!Read More »Reflections on two years as a blogger, two weeks late