Executive Issues
October 28, 2015 at 9:52 am
Joan Weill, the wife of billionaire Sanford Weill, has inscribed herself in stone as one of the greatest, most insensitive egos in today’s philanthropic world. She recently pledged $20 million to financially struggling Paul Smith’s College in northern New York, located in the heart of the Adirondacks. Her only condition was that the institution, created…
October 28, 2015 at 9:46 am
You are losing donations. If you write appeal letters, fundraising newsletters or other donor communications, this video is a must for you to see. With these seven tips, you'll quickly plug some of the holes in your fundraising efforts. In the video below, Steven Screen and Jeff Brooks walk you through some easy storytelling fixes…
October 27, 2015 at 10:04 am
Nonprofit leaders expressed trepidation about the prospect of a $15 per hour minimum wage for all workers in New York, with one putting the cost for the organization in the millions. "There's no way we can deal with that," said Alan Krafchin, president and CEO of the Center for Disability Services, at an Albany Business…
October 27, 2015 at 9:52 am
If you’ve been in fundraising for any length of time, you’ve no doubt come across what I call “Busyness Syndrome.” I first encountered this disorder during my second nonprofit development job. I’d been hired as a grant writer for an agency serving disadvantaged women and children. They were an organization I admired and was familiar with from my days working for a large grant-making foundation that funded them often. But what I found inside the organization was disheartening...
October 26, 2015 at 10:26 am
A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak to the Big Bend Association of Fundraising Professionals about anything I wanted to talk about. So I chose to talk about what I’ve learned working and volunteering in the nonprofit sector for the past 30 years. I titled my speech “The Lessons I’ve Learned, Sometimes the…
October 26, 2015 at 10:13 am
A group that has been advertising car donations that support local charities, such as Make-A-Wish, was actually giving most of its donations to two private for-profit corporations, according to Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson. Swanson held a press conference Wednesday morning to announce a compliance report that's been issued, questioning the payments of one of…
October 26, 2015 at 9:53 am
Edith Cruise called to tell me someone named Dan Savage had mailed her a pornographic letter. “Do you know who he is?” Cruise asked me. Uh, yeah, I do. Savage is a journalist who writes a sex and relationship column called "Savage Love." People write to him for advice, but Dear Abby he is not. I…
October 26, 2015 at 9:39 am
Over the years, Richard and I have evaluated dozens of major gift programs from a wide array of organizations. When we look at these files, we often see a ton of donors who give the same amount every year. But we see very few gifts in the high five, six or seven figures. Why? The problem is that over time, development directors and their major gift officers seem to come to the conclusion that this is how their donors always behave...
October 23, 2015 at 9:24 am
Forty years ago, she was a struggling computer programmer for AT&T in Philadelphia. Today, she is the only woman on the President's Management Advisory Board. How did Gail McGovern, CEO of American Red Cross, manage to get there? And what can we learn from her? Here are five of the watershed moments that helped her…
October 22, 2015 at 10:24 am
Ben Carson said, “nine out of 10 nonprofits fail.” Yet data on nonprofits show that half of the organizations that received their tax-exempt status 20 years ago were still considered active by the IRS in 2015. Carson, who currently ranks second in an average of national polls for the GOP presidential nomination, made the claim…
