A special note: This blog is mostly about grandparents, but I challenge you to replace those words with parents, aunt, uncle or friend every time you read them. This blog is about all of us and the unique role we play in the lives of the children all around us. “I love it when the grandkids come to visit during the summer. I miss the sounds of family.” That’s what one grandmother told me last week ...[Read More]
How to Share Your Generosity with a Child
How to Be More than a Fair-weather Donor
The recent three-day weekend afforded extra time for my gardening habit, what I call the green monster in my yard. It takes a lot of my free time and is the source of both pleasure and pain. Recently, I experienced some of the pain while trimming bushes. Close by is a pretty, low growing plant called Walkers Low Catmint. I planted it in anticipation of the pleasure our cats would experience rollin ...[Read More]
How to Trust Your Unique Giving Instincts
Join us for a fun event. Help us honor or remember. Please help feed, educate, clothe – you know the drill. These are the messages that jump off the pages and invitations in your mailbox every day. The pleas are real, the invitation to the fun is real, just like the opportunity to recognize and remember. Do you love to have fun? So, the invite to come to a party or play golf to help raise money fo ...[Read More]
How Mid-Year Gifts Make Healthy Nonprofits
Standing in the alley behind our office building, I struggled to breathe evenly. Blinking back tears, I tried to figure out the words I would use to deliver the news. For the first time in our history, we faced a cutback of services and a staff layoff. I had been through plenty of ups and downs over more than ten years at my nonprofit. Only one other time had come close to that same moment during ...[Read More]
How to Get a Seat at the Table in the Fight to End Poverty
As a donor, making a gift can get you a seat at the table in fighting to end poverty. Sitting at the table gives you an up close and personal view of the problem. You become a smarter donor and they get food on their table. Deciding whether the best answer is to write a check to the local food bank or give to a national organization with multiple programs is a real challenge. Your past experience ...[Read More]
How to Make Wise Giving Decisions About Young Nonprofits
The daffodils are fading and the weather warming. I planted a few tomato plants and moved several potted plants to the back porch, and then the temperature dropped. Once again, misled by the inexact science of weather predictions. So, I check the Old Farmer’s Almanac and learn April and May will be cooler than usual. Maybe I will have more tomatoes, but when do the potted plants escape to the outd ...[Read More]