Be the Fruit. Not the Juice. Start something Up this year.

Hugh MacLeod start_upStart.

Don’t be a wuss. Yeah. This year, make a resolution to stop being a wimp and start being an entrepreneur.

I looked up the definition of wuss, and aside from meaning pushover, weakling and ineffectual it comes from Middle English meaning “liquor obtained from boiling or squeezing fruit or vegetable substances.”  Think about this for a minute.

Do your programs, over time, become more and more diluted so that the essence of the ripe fruit they began as becomes essentially lost? Are you doing things by rote, having lost all passion, taste and flavor for the fruits of your labor?

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ONE BIG THING Your Nonprofit Must Do TODAY to Succeed in 2014

Adopt an integrated inbound marketing and fundraising strategy.

If you don’t know what that means, you’re in trouble. Read on.

If you do know, are you really doing it?

It’s time to stop pussy footing around this.

Here’s why:

(1) Nonprofit marketing and fundraising have changed more in the past five years than the preceding 50. I’m not kidding!  The digital revolution ended business as usual.

(2) Fundraising and marketing must be seamlessly integrated. They cannot be separate silos any longer.

Have you caught up with reality?

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7 Proven Keys to Get Nonprofit Board Members to Give

My first year as a nonprofit fundraiser was before social media, cell phones, email, computers and even FAX machines. I had never heard the term “information overload,” and I wasn’t distracted by interruptions every five minutes.  Why do I mention this?

Because in today’s fast-paced world we are often so bombarded with bells, whistles and flashing lights that we lose sight of the basics. We lose focus.

Back in the day, I focused.

My number one focus was our board of directors. I knew that before we could get others to give, the board needed to give. Passionately.

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