by Jeff Schreifels | Oct 20, 2023 | Avoidance, Communication, Conversations, Fear, Management | Accountability, Communication, Management, Personal Development
I’m 58 years old. I would say for 50 of those years, I have tried to avoid conflict as much as I could. It’s uncomfortable. But, because I chose to avoid conflict and hard discussions, I wasn’t being honest with myself nor with others. I wasn’t trying purposely to be...
by Richard Perry | Oct 6, 2023 | Communication, Donor meetings, Meeting Preparation, Process Thinking | Communication, Donor Conversation, Focus, Leadership, Management, Meaningful Connections, Personal Development
Either you’ve done it yourself, or you’ve experienced it. You get into a discussion with a donor, or you’re leading a meeting, and because you have not planned it well or you just have a need to process things out loud, the conversation wanders here and there. It...
by Karen Kendrick | Oct 4, 2023 | Brainstorming, Donor strategy, Employee Management, Facilitation, Meetings | Communication, Facilitation, Management, Strategic Plans, Teamwork
How often have you left a donor strategy meeting with your team and thought, “That was a total waste of time.” It’s an hour of everyone reporting on what they’ve done well, only sharing successes (sometimes even repeating the same ones, meeting after meeting). It...
by Jeff Schreifels | Oct 2, 2023 | Donor Pipeline, Donor Relations, Relationship Fundraising | Fundraising, Management, Non-Profits, Pipeline Development, Relationships, Structure
Every non-profit organization I’ve encountered has some kind of barrier that prevents a donor from freely giving to their heart’s content to that organization. Let me list a few: No donor acquisition strategy. A poorly developed donor cultivation strategy where they...
by Guest Contributor | Aug 25, 2023 | Hiring MGOs, MGO Qualities, Non-Profit Leadership | Hiring, Leadership, Major Gift Officers, Management, MGO Characteristics
The adage is that you can teach skills but not attitude. When it comes to hiring fundraisers, I’d add a hearty, “Amen.” To keep up with my own community, I have a LinkedIn alert for major gift jobs. I’m surprised when non-profits with small budgets are offering...
by Richard Perry | Aug 11, 2023 | Cooperation, Non-profit Management, Performance Measurement | Focus, Management, Relationships, Teamwork
“Reach the goal, no matter what!!” That is the philosophy of many authority figures in many non-profits. And they maintain that philosophy because they really don’t know how to do it any other way. So “get the money at all costs” becomes the norm. And it chases donors...