It's That Time!

As I write this, Mother Nature has just now started to blow cooler breezes our way. My calendar says October. As you read this, yours probably says November.

Still, I have Christmas carols in my head. And this uneasy feeling that there aren’t enough shopping days left. Such is the fuzzy-logic limbo that is editorial planning. You live and breathe in quarters rather than days, and by the time a new season or even year rolls around, it’s been old news for three months.

Considering that this is the November/December issue of FundRaising Success, this actually is the last time we’ll be “chatting” in 2005.

Change is afoot for 2006 — new columns, new interactive opportunities, new editorial advisors (meet them in the January issue) and greater frequency. F-i-n-a-l-l-y, FundRaising Success will publish monthly.

As we head into the new year, I’ll close out the old with my familiar refrain. Please feel free to let me know what’s on your mind. What do you want to see more of in the magazine? Less of? Our publisher is fond of describing FS as being “written for and used by fundraisers.” I like to say that it also is written by fundraisers. Even if you’re not putting your byline on a story or being contacted for insights (be patient, we’ll get to you), you still can guide the content of the magazine and mold it to fit your needs. I invite you all to take advantage of that.

Just a reminder
The deadline for the 2006 Fundraising Professional of the Year Awards is Dec. 16. Winners will be announced in the February issue.

And finally ...
Let me take a moment on this bright October morning to extend holiday wishes from myself and my staff. I wish for you and yours the same things I wish for me and mine: warmth, peace, joy, a sense of gratitude and the grace (to paraphrase Doris Klein, who designs glorious Christmas cards for the Heartbeats catalog) “to live with outrageous hope, and to walk simply and listen for Christmas in your heart.” And if not Christmas, then the spirit of love and promise that it — and all the winter holidays — embodies.