The Relationship Circle

The Relationship Circle

  When you are doing the work of relationship-focused fundraising, asking a donor for money becomes easier, regardless of the answer. It’s just one of many conversations and touch-points you will share with a dedicated partner. Creating a 12-18 month plan for...
Asking for Money: Getting Over the Weirdness

Asking for Money: Getting Over the Weirdness

 One of the first things I unpack with a new client is how they approach the idea of asking people for money.  Often, we end up talking about fear, discomfort, and honestly, shame in being in a position of “begging”. When you are practicing relationship-focused...
Relationship Journey

Relationship Journey

 Traditional wisdom in fundraising says that transformational, recurring donors only arrive once in a life-time for a nonprofit, and are the result of high-paid, individual work by your star major giving officer.  The secret is, anyone in any organization can grow...
Creating a 100-Year Friend: Observe & Interact

Creating a 100-Year Friend: Observe & Interact

Observing your fundraising program, and focusing your donor strategy on your own culture and unique set of circumstances, will pay off in good choices and meaningful practice tailored to the philanthropic mission you serve. Observe & Interact is a principle of...
Transforming Fundraising toward Social Justice

Transforming Fundraising toward Social Justice

There is a Mary Oliver poem that is so present for me right now.  It’s titled “The Uses of Sorrow” – Someone I loved once gave me/ a box full of darkness/ It took me years to understand/ that this, too, was a gift In this 2020 box of darkness of loss, pandemic,...