Fundraiser Education

It’s 2018. And time to jump right in to fundraising activities. Before you dive in and expect different results doing more of the same, take a pause and notice what happened last year. As you review lists of names and donor data, remember that you exist to serve others: your clients and your donors of time and money. These are real people—not just numbers...

You’re in a team meeting when lightning strikes: Your team just hatched the most incredible idea! It has the potential to answer all your problems, fix community issues and revolutionize your organization. It is so tempting to go out and try to raise money for it immediately. After all, who wouldn’t want to fund the next great idea?...

You are a change-maker. You work for a nonprofit organization, so you must want to change the world. To be part of the impact. To move the mission forward. To end disease. To end hunger. To end racism, inequality and injustice. To end cruelty against mankind or nature. To end the bad stuff, the complicated stuff in this world...

You may not recognize the name Tarana Burke. She’s the black woman who founded the #MeToo movement a decade ago to support women of color who survive sexual harassment and assault. Although this movement has mostly directed attention to work-related abuses involving white women, since it hit critical mass in 2017, it also speaks to…

When was the last time a nonprofit or well-meaning charity responded to your casual gift with a “Thanks, but this may not be for you,” as they gracefully declined your offering. Huh? You’re probably thinking, “Did I hear you right?”...

Most years, we write one (or two) Fixes columns about the year in social innovation. What were the big ideas, the new trends? This year, it’s tempting to sum all that up in a word: Ha! Never has social innovation seemed less relevant. Although the federal government is never the most nimble innovator, it’s normally…

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” has been the go-to guide for those seeking business-savvy social skills for decades. In this book, tycoon Dale Carnegie popularizes the power of influence and uses his enormous wealth and popularity as a basis for his expertise...

On Christmas Eve 2017, I was driving on Interstate 64 near Charleston, West Va., when I passed the Dunbar exit. At that moment, I mentioned to my wife the impact of my former professor and how that individual affected me academically like no other in my life. She knew every time I would pass that exit, I would say the same thing. I told her I had recently sent a Christmas card like I always do to Dr. Jack Yeager. Dr. Yeager’s influence on me was profound...

The Golden Age of Advocacy has begun. For the first time in history, people can communicate directly with decision-makers in front of a public audience. The combination of smartphones and social media has become the world’s single-most powerful civic technology...

It’s no secret that 2017 was a tempestuous year. In just a year, we went from celebrating the Charitable Tax Deductions’ 100th Anniversary to a tax plan that would lessen its value and send aftershocks threatening much-needed programs...