It’s been two years since my mom died. But in my mind, she had already passed away seven years ago, with the onset of dementia.
Being an active listener ranks highly as a skill valued in any profession. However effective listening skills prove even more useful in a relationship-building job like fundraising. In fact, becoming an empathic listener is one of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
A few simple tips can help you retrain yourself into becoming a better listener. Read on to learn the top five habits to help you build active listening skills.
Sometimes it seems like every nonprofit is currently searching for engaged, committed board members. You may live in a place where the usual CEOs, entrepreneurs, and political figures’ list of board assignments is already too lengthy to ask them to add your nonprofit too.
Artificial intelligence is today’s most relentless buzzword, as teachers, bosses, online daters, and everyone else learns the advantages and disadvantages of allgorithm-predicted answers in our daily lives. But there is one place in your development department where AI does not belong.
Philanthropy is a longer-term option for making gifts to help people in need over multiple years’ time while charity focuses on immediate relief to the needy.
I’ve been fortunate to have had a long and varied career in philanthropy. And over the last 20-plus years, I’ve noticed five recurring, consistent themes that, for me, sum up what philanthropy is all about.
While the planned giving world isn’t exactly the wizarding world of Harry Potter, believe it or not, there really are some magic words — “power words,” if you prefer — that can make bringing home the endowment bacon a lot more likely.
Before she became ill, I used to see Jessica every Sunday night when her parents came to play in the little mixed-couples pickup basketball league at the gym. At that time — and this was thirty years ago — Jessica was about one year old. Cute kid. An only child who was barely talking yet.
My Dad never wanted to talk about creating a will. “Don’t worry,” he’d say, “It’s not like I’m going to die tomorrow.” Then he’d change the subject—usually to the tomatoes he was growing—because he found talking about planning his estate too uncomfortable. Guess what? My Dad died without ever making that estate plan.
I’ve written before about the dangers of the DIY (do-it-yourself) mentality in nonprofit fundraising. The most frightening thing is the amount of time you’ll spend doing everything but meeting with donor prospects. Here’s how you can make your fundraising more successful by outsourcing some of your development needs to outside fundraising experts.
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