Blog
You Have A Strategic Plan. Now What?
Creating a strategic plan, if done right, involves stakeholders and requires time and thoughtful work. It builds consensus around shared goals, provides direction, and hopefully creates excitement. So then why do some nonprofits do nothing with it when finished? Is it time? Effo…
Read MoreAre You Consistently Engaging Your Donors?
Engaging prospective and current donors consistently throughout the year should be part of your annual development planning. There are so many ways that a nonprofit or institution of higher education can engage donors. Below is a shortlist: Send a prospective or current donor your annual …
Read MoreConfidence: A Fundraising Gamechanger
Confidence is a critical element to success in almost any endeavor. In fundraising, it is a gamechanger. Without confidence, fundraising professionals and volunteers do the most dangerous thing of all—nothing. I have seen it over and over. Professionals and volunteers who lack confid…
Read MoreWhat Instrument Do You Play?
“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.” H.E. Luccock I make no claims to being a classical music connoisseur. On a good day, I can pretty quickly distinguish between Mozart’s Symphony No 40 and Beethoven’s Symphony No 5. Beyond t…
Read MoreCraft Your Personal Mission Statement
Do you ever think about your personal mission statement? As members of the philanthropic and business communities, our organizations’ mission statements are important, encouraged, and expected. Yet few people actually develop their own personal mission statement. Throughout the …
Read MoreIf You Build It...
Remember the movie Field of Dreams and the famous line “If you build it, they will come”? The movie is about Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) who hears a voice in his cornfield telling him, "If you build it, they will come." He interprets this message as an instruction to…
Read MoreProve Yourself in the Little Things
Our oldest son started his summer internship a couple of weeks ago. My husband reminded him that you must prove that you are responsible in the little things before you are given additional responsibilities. So much truth in so many aspects of life, especially fundraising. In our professio…
Read MoreTeam Up
The 2019 soccer season is in the books! It was a rough season for our household. Luckily, we ended on a high note with our first win in the last game of play of the tournament weekend. Yep, it was a long season of practices, rainouts, near wins, total defeats, and bruised egos. But that last…
Read MoreWhat Comes Before Mission and Vision?
I’ve recently had the good fortune to work on several strategic planning projects, helping clients chart their course for the future. These projects begin with an organizational assessment – collecting stakeholder feedback to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and thr…
Read MoreThe Tom McGuire Memorial Fund at Triangle Community Foundation
Throughout 2019, we are seeking intentional ways to say thank you to the amazing clients, leaders, colleagues, and friends who have partnered with us, taught us, guided us, hired us, agreed with us, challenged us, and stuck with us along this 15-year journey of helping build a strong, vibran…
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