Executive Issues

Have you hit anyone up this week? Have you twisted arms? Have you called in the big guns to help you lean on your best targets? Do those words make you cringe? I sure hope so. Because if they don’t, then you’ve got some serious work to do to reshape the way you think about fundraising...

A monthly donor calling up to cancel is a dreaded call for any organization. It’s something nobody wants to hear. But it’s important to respond in the right way...

We believe that being a major gift officer is the hardest fundraising job in the industry. It’s incredibly hard. You have to not only develop relationships with donors, but with every one of your colleagues to help you inspire and solicit donors with your organization’s great projects...

At the end of the day our organization and I need highly trained and motivated volunteers to help in a variety of roles, especially fundraising. A board retreat is a great tool to use for this purpose. I strongly encourage annual retreats...

Mistakes are inevitable, how a fundraiser responds to those errors is what can really set the organization apart. Instead of spending all our time on looking for someone (anyone but me!) to blame, our first priority needs to be our donors...

Events are a great way to boost donations and donors too. With the right team, strategies and tools, turn any event to an a success.

There is a lot of talk these days about fake news. Fake news is intentional misinformation. Falsehoods. I recall getting an email from a friend during the 2008 presidential election. The information presented was shocking, but appeared to be from a “reliable” news source. I spent 15 minutes on Google and found that the information was completely false...

Don’t forget fundraising compliance. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that moving your fundraising campaign online means the rules don’t apply. Who rules and manages the Internet? If a donor decides to give to you online, that’s on them, right?...

We recently entered the fourth phase of the corporation. First, in the 1920s Alfred Sloan created the concept of the corporation with General Motors; second, in the 1950s Peter Drucker codified the discipline of management; third, in the 1980s Japanese introduced team and quality. And now we are in the fourth phase—the epoch of integrating…

Ethical dilemmas are inevitable. They happen to the best of us, but not to fear! The good news is that it’s not the end of the world. It might seem like it when these dilemmas initially hit, but have faith that you can handle the pressure...