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The Right Things

“She’s not,” the Executive Director told me, “doing her job.”  The she was the development director.  The job she wasn’t doing, of course, was bringing in money.  And no wonder.  She was too busy...

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Motherhood and Apple Pie…and Nonprofit Boards

My first 4 years as a development professional was at a large university, where I was not at the level where I got to work with the Board of Trustees.  Fundraising was completely staff driven, and the...

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Keeping An Open Mind

I am not an event person. I don’t like gala dinners, carnivals, poker nights.  And I especially don’t like them as fundraisers.  I think they are ineffective and costly.  I believe that there are so...

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Fundraising—It’s Not Just About Asking and It’s Not Just Them Fundraising

It felt like death. The room had been lively, people talking and laughing.  Eyes all bright; lots of smiles. Then the Board president says “Before get into the business end of the meeting, I’d like to...

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Board Retreat or Bored Retreat

I’m facilitating a couple of board retreats over the next few weeks, so I’ve been thinking about the differences between those that really work and those that…well, don’t work so well. In the former...

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Building Your Fundraising Board

They weren’t going to hit their fundraising goal.  That was bad.  They would have to make cuts.  Okay I said, let’s evaluate what happened this year—and how we can make next year better.  Me, ever the...

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Helping Your Boards to Fundraise

This year, perhaps your Board will really get it.  Maybe this year, they will actually understand their fundraising role.  Or maybe you will actually understand what you can and cannot expect—what your...

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Friends Don’t Ask Friends

When I ask board members what gets in the way of their fundraising, two things always always pop up:  The fear of rejection and the fear of imposing on their friends. The first I get.  I’ve spent the...

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Teaching Board Members to Fundraise

The board member was contrite, but she couldn’t—just could not—ask her friends for a contribution.  Across the table, another board member nodded his head.  “It’s too embarrassing,” he told me....

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The Value of Following Up

Recently, I told someone that yes, I would definitely go on their website and make a small gift.  I didn’t.  Not because I didn’t mean to, but, frankly, it got lost in all the other things I needed to...

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The CEO’s Board Role

In the course of a year, I meet with a lot of boards.  Good boards, bad board, mainly boards that fall somewhere in between.  I’m hired to help them understand their roles and responsibilities and to...

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What Board Members Sign On For

Most my work is helping organizations increase their ability to fundraise.  This means that I do a lot of talking with boards and board members about their fundraising responsibilities. Reactions vary...

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Getting Your Board to Fundraise

IT’s the day before Christmas.  The crazy rush of the last two weeks has come to a sudden—and very quiet—halt.  It’s as if everyone has taken a deep breath and figured, “I’m done.”  And what is done is...

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On Being An Ambassador

Being an ambassador is a critical role for board members of nonprofits. But, what, exactly, does that mean? Simply telling others about the good work the organization does is nice, but is it effective?...

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Changing the Meaning of Board Give and Get

Boards at nonprofits have two main responsibilities beyond the hiring, nurturing, and occasionally firing of the Executive Director: Governance, that ensures that the work being done is done legally...

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The Board You Deserve

A colleague, as he gets ready to hang up his shingle, wonders what has changed in the nonprofit sector since he started consulting. It’s not an idle question—he wants to know if the many years he’s...

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Changing Your Board

It was a great question. One most nonprofit executive and development ask at some point: Should I just accept that my board is not going to fundraise and focus what staff can do without the board? It’s...

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Getting Rid of Bad Board Members

Many years ago, I inherited the board from–well, let’s just say not a very good board. I really needed to fire almost all of them,but they were MY boss and if anyone was going to get fired, it was most...

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My Board Sucks–and other tales of woe

My daughter is very unhappy with her childcare situation. With 4-month-old twins, she is finding the solutions difficult. I’m not minimizing her concerns, but I do see her falling into the two-step...

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When Should a Board Become Tactical?

Of all the issues that seem to divide Board and Staff of nonprofits is the question of what, really, are the board’s roles and responsibilities. They are legion and yet, you could define it with two...

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