claire@clairification.com
Facilitate Means to Make Easy
Whoop-de-doo!
I’m delighted to announce… I’m taking on a new role as FUNDRAISING COACH for Bloomerang!
You may be aware I’ve been providing advice and guidance to their blog and webinar series for the past 18 months. Now I’m assuming a more formal, expanded role — and couldn’t be more delighted to have this opportunity to share even more wisdom with you.
In case you missed it, here’s my most recent article for Bloomerang: Major Gift Fundraising’s Most Important Fairy Tales. There’s a reason fairy tales are so resonant. They all have universal morals that can teach us a lot. I’ve already got one new fairy tale I’d like to add, and if you have others I’d love to hear from you! [Just add in the ‘Comments’ section below; get creative!]
Remember, change is not crisis.It’s opportunity.
And I’ve got plenty of jam-packed new articles and more opportunities than ever coming your way in 2019.
Not to worry.
Never fear, Clairification is my heart and nothing will change here.
- You’ll still receive the bimonthly, curated ‘Clairity Click-it’ filled to the brim with free articles, webinars, podcasts, e-guides, templates, white papers and all sorts of goodies I find for you across the web. It’s my way of keeping you up to date with the best of what I read and listen to – and I do a lot of that!
- Enrolled ‘Clairification School’ students will still receive all annual benefits – new, exclusive articles delivered weekly, access to my complete articles archive (700+ on every topic you can imagine) and all my webinars, monthly practical tips, bonuses, discounts and priority attention. If you’re not yet enrolled, please see what others have to say about the benefits – and don’t let anything stand in your way this year. Become the absolute best you can be by getting cost-effective ($8.33/month) weekly support and validation from yours truly.
- I’ll continue to offer individualized, no cookie cutter, one-to-one coaching designed to help you resolve your most particular pressing needs and address your singular greatest challenges. Whether you only need an hour, or if you’d like to have me on retainer to be your mentor and partner all year long, I’m here for you! Want to talk? Grab a time for an exploratory 15-minute chat.
I’ve always relied on the kindness of strangers.
But, please, don’t stay a stranger for long!
I’d like to give a shout out to my amazing Clairification School students (YOU already or… I hope that will be YOU this year!) and sponsors (see below) who enable me to bring you everything I’ve learned over 30 years in the trenches as a director of development (fundraising + nonprofit marketing) and 7 years as a coach/consultant. My motto is: If I know it, I want you to know it. But it takes time and, as they say, time is money (or lack thereof). Without my students and sponsors, the Clairification blog with meaty, detailed posts and webinars filled with both the ‘why’ (theory) and the ‘what’ (actionable tips) would be cost-prohibitive.
So… thank you students! And… thank you sponsors! And please take a moment to check out all the support and solutions my sponsors offer (scroll to the bottom and click away).
Thank you for being a part of the Clairification community, and for doing the important work you do.
Please give yourself a big pat on the back from me!
May this be one of the best years ever,
P.S. What’s an announcement without an actionable tip? This one is to make your writing and messaging more powerful. It comes from the inimitable Seth Godin.
There are words that now have no meaning at all.
Literally no meaning.
We write them to take up space. To make ourselves seem more serious or smarter.
We speak them to give ourselves a pause, a moment to catch up to our riff.
‘Well’ and ‘so’ have been doing this work for a long time, but add to that the more syllabic words like ironically, literally, and hopefully.
And don’t forget all the adjectives, beginning with ‘very’ and ‘really’ that (ironically) make something sound smaller, not bigger.
When you remove meaningless words, the power of your words goes up.
I encourage you to apply Seth’s wisdom to your own writing and editing. You’ll be surprised how many useless adjectives you use. Take them out. Tighten up your text. Give your readers’ some breathing space.
P.P.S. In case you missed them, here are the top 5 articles, in terms of popularity, read on Clairification last year.
- Fundraising Silent Auctions: It’s the Items, Stupid. Velvet Elvis painting anyone?
- 7 Magic Words that Increase Charitable Donations. Really Work.
- New Tax Law: How Worried Should Your Nonprofit Be? Why the sky wasn’t falling, and it still isn’t.
- 6 Keys to Rock Thank You Calls and Retain More Donors. Get thee an attitude of gratitude.
- What Do You Call a Development Staffer Who Facilitates Philanthropy? Donor Sherpa?
