Category Archives: Culture & Values

To Sell is Human; To Give, Divine – Why We’re All in Fundraising Now

Philanthropy; Not Fundraising

I recently attended an inspiring talk by Daniel Pink, author of To Sell Is Human, and found myself furiously taking notes.  Next thing you know I was impulsively buying the book (autographed, of course)! Do I have buyer’s remorse? Absolutely not. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Everything he has to say is so directly applicable to fundraising and the nonprofit sector that [IMHO] it’s a ‘must read’ for those of us in the philanthropy business. Here’s why:

We erroneously think “selling” is bad.   In fact, it’s probably even more of a taboo word in nonprofits than the word “fundraising.” People just don’t like it. Pink did an experiment where he asked people to give him the first word that came to their minds when they thought of “sales/selling.”  They answered with such words as:

Philanthropy, Not Fundraising: I Have a Dream

I have a dream for 2013 – and beyond. I have a dream  this is the year your organization will move beyond defining yourself by what you’re not (nonprofit) and will begin to define yourself by what you are (social benefit). I have a dream  this is the year your people will move from an…

7 Practical Ways to Play at Work, Feel Better and Achieve More

Forget your troubles, come on get happy. My last post was about playing your way to purpose at work.  Since play is critical to innovation, not to mention well-being, today’s post suggests practical ways to enter the joie de vivre zone.  Goodness knows it seems 98% of the people I talk to express significant feelings of stress…

You Say "Potato," I Say "Patattah": Development vs. Marketing, Part 2, How to persuade your E.D. and Board that they’re the same thing

The fact that development and marketing are charged with making the same relationship-building and communications decisions means that it is time, once and for all, to actively align these functions.  Yesterday in Part 1 we discussed the natural linkages between these functions and that, first and foremost, everything we do is about the customer experience. Today,…