What is a genius and what does it take to become one in your professional and/or personal life? Let’s toss out the notion that this is about IQ. Thomas Edison famously wrote “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” Simone de Beauvoir wrote “One is not born a genius, one becomes…
DetailsThe last post was about asking. Now we turn to the equally important task of thanking. Where do we go astray? Member # 83,457 Dear Friend, Oh behalf of the board of our charity, thank you so much for your gift. It means a lot and will help us continue to fulfill our mission.…
DetailsNetwork for Good has a great ebo out with 10 Resolutions to Make (and Keep!) for On Fundraising and Marketing Success in 2012. It’s worth downloading the whole thing, but I’d like to talk about the first resolution they highlight: Put fundraising first. Put. Fundraising. First. Give this a minute to sink in. . Of…
DetailsWhat makes us think a perfect stranger, who’s never given to our organization before, will choose to do so? It’s highly counter intuitive. People are likely to continue doing what they’ve done before. We talk a lot in fundraising professional circles about the folly of concentrating too many resources on donor acquisition and too…
DetailsWe’re seeing a lot of predictions for how fundraising and nonprofit marketing will play out in 2012. They’re all interesting, and merit some consideration and reflection. Today I’m engrossed by a recently released 2012 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report from Kivi LeRoux Miller. It’s worth downloading a copy, but here are some highlights with a few…
DetailsWhat’s a Website for? To catch flies? If so, think of yourself as the spider. Who do you want in your web? And why? Bragging rights (we lo busy with lots of visitors)? Decoration (it los pretty this way)? Sustenance (our purchasers of services and donors)? Jeff Bros recently posted on the issue of messy…
Details
We’re in the era of ‘Big Data.’ The digital revolution has made it so there’s and information that can be acquired and stored. We’ve gotten really good at collecting data. It’s everywhere. But use of data is not. In fact, at the moment less than 0.5% of all data is ever analyzed and…
DetailsIt’s interesting how these Five Common Strategy Mistakes shared by the Harvard Business Review blog are as applicable to nonprofit as for profit businesses (albeit with slightly different twists). Many thanks to Joan Magretta , author of Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy, for alerting us to these common traps into…
DetailsWhat would our community/world be like if our organization ceased to exist? It’s the time of year for us to channel George Bailey and think about how our organizations – and our donor-investors – can leave a meaningful mark. How do you answer the question? This question should be at the heart of crafting our…
DetailsWe’ve been talking a lot about all the wonderful opportunities social media provides to us for building relationships with our communities. While this is true, usually every icious piece of peanut-buttered toast has the potential of falling sticky side down. Like peanut-buttered toast, social media can lead us into sticky situations if we toss it…
Details