A recent five-hour drive to my dad’s home was more than enough time for thoughts to drift in and out about work over the last several weeks. First, there was a phone conversation with a couple exploring a list of nonprofits and navigating how to make large donations to safe, stable organizations. I reflected on the hard work of being intentional about the giving list and their next steps. T ...[Read More]
How to Give Well When a Nonprofit is in Transition
How Do You Know If Your Last One-third Has Started?
What if today is the beginning of the last one-third of your life? How will you define success for that last one-third? Generosity or zeroes in the bank? I recently read an article about giving in the last one-third of a lifetime. The writer, Bruce Deboskey, a well-known philanthropy consultant, was talking about donors beyond the age of 65. Of course, I immediately wondered how many of us know wh ...[Read More]
How Do You Slow Nonprofit Traffic in Your Mailbox?
Frankly, I’m stumped. A friend asked how to get nonprofit organizations to stop sending information, invites and fundraising letters. What makes this a complicated question, and what I explained to my friend, is that nonprofits learn a relationship with a donor takes more than one connection – more than one mailing, more than one e-mail or newsletter. Nonprofits learn it takes at least seven ...[Read More]
Questions You Should Ask Before Donating to Scale an Idea
If it’s such a great idea why aren’t they doing it everywhere? Or maybe it sounds like this; it’s an incredible idea. It should be in every school, neighborhood or every community. Sometimes it even sounds like this. I just had a phone call from someone in California or Mississippi or Tennessee about our program. They want to know how to do it for their community. That’s probably an executive dire ...[Read More]