YP Journal

How to Make Wise Giving Decisions When Disasters Strike

How to Make Wise Giving Decisions When Disasters Strike

We’re right in the middle of hurricane season. Whether it’s a storm in the Atlantic or the Eastern Pacific, August is pretty much the middle of the season. Every year around this time, and especially into September hurricane season seems the most threatening. Perhaps...

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How Four Simple Behaviors Improved My Giving Habits

How Four Simple Behaviors Improved My Giving Habits

Once July 4th rolls around, I begin to anticipate another year rapidly coming to an end. The list of things I intend to accomplish this year looms larger and longer as I realize how little time is left. Year-long giving is always on my list. It’s a habit I talk about...

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How Aunts and Uncles Teach the Next Generation About Giving

How Aunts and Uncles Teach the Next Generation About Giving

The day started normally. Two generations of family members gathered around a table for the annual meeting, intent on making giving decisions for the small family foundation. While only six of us, we represented many roles. Sisters, husbands, daughters, a niece and...

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How to Give Well When a Nonprofit is in Transition

How to Give Well When a Nonprofit is in Transition

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...

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How Do You Know If Your Last One-third Has Started?

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...

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How Do You Slow Nonprofit Traffic in Your Mailbox?

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...

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Questions You Should Ask Before Donating to Scale an Idea

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...

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Yes, I STILL Love This Work!

Yes, I STILL Love This Work!

As I sit here in our NEW Your Philanthropy office space surrounded by boxes needing to be unpacked, it is hard for me to believe this journey started five years ago. And now I’m looking to the next five and what’s next for Your Philanthropy. Today, I looked back and...

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How to Dig into a Nonprofit’s Numbers

How to Dig into a Nonprofit’s Numbers

Paul Harvey might have left us ten years ago, but the rest of the story has never gone away. Growing up on AM radio meant that I listened to Paul Harvey talk about the news of the day and heard his fascinating The Rest of the Story segments almost daily. I learned...

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How to Give from the Heart and Still Be Smart 

How to Give from the Heart and Still Be Smart 

Walking to the front of the room I knew I had one job to accomplish. I needed to thank officers, welcome new board members and especially turn the reins over to the new board chair. But as I turned to face the audience, it separated into the faces of spouses,...

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Tips to Answer Your Question “Are the kids ready?”

Tips to Answer Your Question “Are the kids ready?”

This story captured my imagination. I’ll tell you why shortly. First, the story. A certain farmer had become old and ready to pass his farm down to one of his two sons. When he brought his sons together to speak about it, he told them, "The farm will go to the younger...

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How to Get Started on Being an Intentional Donor

How to Get Started on Being an Intentional Donor

Is time your friend or foe? One moment it crawls at a snail’s pace and the next minute rushes by like a rabbit in a race with a dog. In my experience, the rabbit always wins the race and my snail-paced moments are rare. As I write today the year is one-twelfth over,...

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How to Give Bill Gates Style        

How to Give Bill Gates Style        

Make it fun! That’s how Bill Gates tells us he gives. If your first thought is “oh, sure, with all that money, of course, he can have fun,” stay tuned. Before we jump into what Bill says, let’s start with what it must have been like to be his parents. Do you suppose...

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How Looking Back Can Fuel Tomorrow’s Change   

How Looking Back Can Fuel Tomorrow’s Change   

January usually begins with resolutions for the future. But before resolutions can be made we need time to reflect on the past. I asked the question: what have we accomplished in the last five years at Your Philanthropy? A little math was in order. Just how much good...

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How to Fill the Empty Seat at the Holiday Table     

How to Fill the Empty Seat at the Holiday Table     

Is someone missing from your holiday gatherings this year? It seems there is always an empty chair at the table. Someone you just lost or lost many years ago, someone who is across the country or simply at another gathering -whatever the reason, the chair is still...

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How a Thankful Heart Inspires Generosity

How a Thankful Heart Inspires Generosity

What comes first? Thankfulness or generosity? A.W. Tozer said, “Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.” Start with a definition of thankfulness from a tenth-grade student who...

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The Surprising Staying Power of the Middle Class Donor

The Surprising Staying Power of the Middle Class Donor

Ten years ago, the country plunged into a recession deep enough to have a grinding impact on America’s charities. When I read those last two words together, I think about my nonprofit friends right here in my community. When the Chronicle of Philanthropy ran an...

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How to Fund Community Change with Shared Passion

How to Fund Community Change with Shared Passion

A Tale of Two Cities – oh, I meant Two Coalitions. Besides the name has already been taken and I can’t begin to write as eloquently as Charles Dickens. But I can give it my best shot at being succinct about the importance of paying attention to change work going on in...

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How to Give Like the Mega-Wealthy

How to Give Like the Mega-Wealthy

Are you familiar with the idiom, “he puts his pants on one leg at a time,” often followed by “just like everyone else.” Well, that’s what I thought about as I read an article detailing a study of the wealthiest donors and how they make giving decisions. The study...

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How to Travel Making a Unique Difference

How to Travel Making a Unique Difference

With summer officially over, some of us are turning our focus to the holidays that are swiftly approaching. But for the planners amongst us now is the prime-time for planning next summer’s adventures. In a recent travel blog called Multi Briefs, I read an interesting...

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Every Gift You Make Leaves a Lasting Impression

Every Gift You Make Leaves a Lasting Impression

Something had stained the new Tervis tumbler. I scrubbed harder; they didn’t come off. Holding it up to the light streaming through the kitchen window, I could see them plain as day. Fingerprints. Permanently etched onto the plastic glass, there were the tell-tell...

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How to Be the Unique Giver You Were Designed to Be

How to Be the Unique Giver You Were Designed to Be

I have a friend who loves to go to party fundraisers. Her husband finds a buddy to talk with while she dances from one group to another because she loves people and doesn't want to miss a single friend. And for her, it's all the more enjoyable because she can have so...

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How to Use a Donor Hack to Help Change the World

How to Use a Donor Hack to Help Change the World

Remember Phone a Friend on the hit TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Well, it’s a donor hack I recommend to anyone who wants to make a better, smarter, more impactful (put your favorite word here) gift. When it’s time to do giving right, Phone a Friend. Imagine...

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3 Important Skills Your Giving Advisor Needs to Have

3 Important Skills Your Giving Advisor Needs to Have

What does the act of giving look like for you? What happens in your mind between the time you hear or read a story that describes a need and when you make the contribution? Is the desire to contribute a heart response or a mind response? Most likely it is both. Dr....

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Five Easy Questions to Make a Better Designated Gift

Five Easy Questions to Make a Better Designated Gift

Is there one right answer to the question, how many programs can one nonprofit organization operate? Of course, the answer is no because every organization is different. Some are single focused on clients and services. Others provide a multitude of programs, serving...

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How to Build a Giving Bridge One Intentional Gift at a Time

How to Build a Giving Bridge One Intentional Gift at a Time

I know my childhood memory of the Big Eddy Bridge, now under Lake Palestine in Texas, is not accurate. But the memory is real.  Every chance we had my brother, and I would convince my dad to drive over the old and very rickety bridge.  It seemed like every...

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How to Share Your Generosity with a Child

How to Share Your Generosity with a Child

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...

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How to Be More than a Fair-weather Donor

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...

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How to Trust Your Unique Giving Instincts

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...

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How Mid-Year Gifts Make Healthy Nonprofits

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...

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How to Get a Seat at the Table in the Fight to End Poverty

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...

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How to Make Wise Giving Decisions About Young Nonprofits

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...

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Are You Willing to Trust the Next Generation?

Are You Willing to Trust the Next Generation?

"How about oatmeal for breakfast?" That was the question I asked my dad during a recent visit to his home. He was preoccupied and assumed I would make it like, well, just like it’s supposed to be made. "Sure," he responded while passing through the kitchen. I busied...

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Hot Dogs, Money and Kids

Hot Dogs, Money and Kids

If you could invent one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be? That’s the question we put to eleven-year-old Jack during the game Phil and His Family’s Adventures in Giving. Joined by his thirteen-year-old brother and another friend of the same age,...

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Curiosity Triggers Valuable Ideas

Curiosity Triggers Valuable Ideas

“The two best interview subjects are children under 10 and people over 70 for the same reason; they say the first thing that comes to their mind. The children don’t know what they’re saying, and the old folks don’t care.”  He should know; Art Linkletter was at the...

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5 Critical Questions for Powerful Philanthropy

5 Critical Questions for Powerful Philanthropy

Wait, what? How many times have you been sitting at a stop light, checking your phone, and suddenly you hear the radio announcer say something that causes you to go… Wait, what? I need an easy backup button for my radio; just 30 seconds would do the trick. Or, you’re...

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Will Board Service Make You a Better Donor?

Will Board Service Make You a Better Donor?

Start any new endeavor, learn a new skill, or explore an unknown subject and you should have more questions than answers. The more interested you are in learning about that one thing, the more questions you will have. So, when a donor who had recently made a...

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A Giving Ladder You Can Share     

A Giving Ladder You Can Share     

Peeping through a keyhole on Christmas morning I could see the packages and toys Santa brought. All under the age of ten, we four made up the grandkid clan taking turns looking through that keyhole while my grandmother took her sweet time cooking breakfast. My sweet...

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3 Reasons To Listen As We Gather Together

3 Reasons To Listen As We Gather Together

My weekend was spent with a family, two generations. Gathered together for an annual giving meeting they aimed to work through a sizeable list of giving requests and agree on how much to give. The second generation had come from various states to join their parents in...

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Decide Where, When, How in Giving to Disasters

Decide Where, When, How in Giving to Disasters

Disasters have been coming at us, roaring across our TV’s. There is little rhyme or reason and even less sensible explanation for why now, why there, why here. Texas, Florida, California, Puerto Rico and even Las Vegas. With so much loss of human life, personal...

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Why the Giving Triangle Matters

Why the Giving Triangle Matters

I didn’t think much of triangles in the tenth grade. They were just sides and angles. They were consistent, always a base with two sides leaning against each other as they came to a point.  Sides might be equal, or not.  The space inside the triangle is larger at the...

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Donations Instead of Flowers Keep Memories and Nonprofits Alive

Donations Instead of Flowers Keep Memories and Nonprofits Alive

It didn’t start out as a month of remembrances, but it is. I enjoyed reflecting on memories from childhood with Grandparent’s Day early in September. But then not quite unexpectedly my mother passed away. Despite how prepared you think you will be the place and time...

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Honoring Lessons From Our Grandparents

Honoring Lessons From Our Grandparents

Why do we celebrate Grandparents Day? Grandparents are cool. I vote we celebrate all month long! Originally established by presidential decree in 1978, it is intended as a day to honor grandparents for the contributions they make in our lives. It set me thinking about...

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Lessons I’ve Learned About Nonprofit Results and Predictions

Lessons I’ve Learned About Nonprofit Results and Predictions

I paused the television briefly to catch the week’s weather prediction. I was trying to figure out exactly what to expect. It said 30% hit or miss showers. I’m often confused about the percentages for the rain forecast - will the rain hit me or miss me? Years ago, a...

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Still in Search of the Secret Recipe

Still in Search of the Secret Recipe

Four years ago, I wrote about finding the “secret recipe” for doing great philanthropy. I answered the question often asked, “How can I be sure my gift is effective and used for my intended purpose?” It is so easy to assume there is a secret to it all because the...

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6 Tips to Engage the Next Generation in Giving

6 Tips to Engage the Next Generation in Giving

My recent trip to the sunshine state was missing the yellow stuff as I drove in the blinding rain up the coast of Florida from St. Augustine to Jacksonville. Driving a rental car, listening to directions from my tablet, and not being able to see more than the lights...

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Strong Executive Directors Lead Healthy Nonprofits

Strong Executive Directors Lead Healthy Nonprofits

Henry sits patiently at the back door every night. He parks in the middle of the metal threshold, so it's hard to avoid stepping on him in the dim porch lights. He's consistent, every night, from dark till, well, whenever he gives it up, which is after I've gone on to...

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6 Motivations Driving Family Philanthropy

6 Motivations Driving Family Philanthropy

Why does a family work together to give together? Despite the challenges of just being family, something else drives them toward a philanthropic vision and provides motivation to fuel their giving efforts. Sitting with a family while they sift through formal giving...

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Play Makes Smart Giving

Play Makes Smart Giving

Lego kids have come of age, and I don’t mean recently. They’ve been of age for some time now. You probably remember stumbling over Lego bricks or trying to build the picture on the box. Your forty-something-year-old kids had their share of boxes and buckets of Legos,...

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3 Quick Tips for Better Donor Listening Skills

3 Quick Tips for Better Donor Listening Skills

Listening to a book about listening is a challenge. Now I question my listening skills, and as the narrator speaks my mind drifts between memories of failed listening with family, co-workers, friends and even donors. For example... Donor Offers – No One’s Listening...

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Four Ways to Influence Giving Like Warren Buffett

Four Ways to Influence Giving Like Warren Buffett

Are you the Warren Buffett of your social network? Do others follow your lead giving to the same organizations or in the same way you do? Two weeks ago, I spoke to a community leadership class about giving and philanthropy. We focused on everyone’s personal giving...

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Church-School Partnerships for the Good of Children

Church-School Partnerships for the Good of Children

Think back to a time when someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up. Now think about a time when you asked your child or grandchild what they wanted to be when they grew up. Doctor, teacher, nurse, astronaut, cowboy, rock star. OK, you and I would not...

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To Be or Not to Be an Anonymous Donor

To Be or Not to Be an Anonymous Donor

How “anonymous” is an anonymous gift? A good place to start is what it means to you. Is it not being noticed for specific actions or gifts you made? Is it being known by a few but not the many? Is it making a gift or doing something that is unremarkable or...

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5 Secrets to Donor Happiness

5 Secrets to Donor Happiness

I love the colors of early spring. They make me happy, lift my spirits and make me want to share my happiness. Here’s how you can be happy, experiencing pleasure and contentment. Warning donors, it requires spending. It requires giving of and beyond ourselves. If you...

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Entrepreneur or Artist, Be True to Your Giving Spirit

Entrepreneur or Artist, Be True to Your Giving Spirit

News flash: Nonprofit organizations seldom have concrete goals, measurable outcomes or a precise strategic plan which can be relied upon by the donor to make safe, highly impactful and targeted gifts. Only the tiniest percentage of donors can be sure their charitable...

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The Exploring Donor…to Learn More and Give Better!

The Exploring Donor…to Learn More and Give Better!

When does a question matter? Of course, that leads to what questions matter and to whom do they matter? Recently, I had the opportunity to help a donor think through the critical questions that needed to be answered by a nonprofit organization in hopes of a...

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Pockets Carry What We Care About. What’s In Your Pockets?

Pockets Carry What We Care About. What’s In Your Pockets?

Pockets carry what we care about, cash, change, credit cards, keys and cell phones. Pockets are hiding spots for nervous hands, little boy’s rocks and Littlest Pet Shop pets. As a child, my brother carried rocks in his pockets and my granddaughter today carries...

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How Will Political Change Impact Your Giving? 

How Will Political Change Impact Your Giving? 

In the early eighties, as a very young nonprofit executive director, I experienced the impact of political change or rather the impact of the predictions of change. President Reagan was inaugurated in 1981. Tax reform winds were blowing strong. It took until 1986 for...

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Look, Listen and Learn for Better Giving This Year!

Look, Listen and Learn for Better Giving This Year!

I don’t remember this for a fact, but I have it on good authority from author Robert Fulghum that the first word I learned from the Dick and Jane books of my first class reading circle was LOOK. It’s a very simple four letter word but has layers of meaning. To look at...

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The Power of a NextGen Giver: Steven Rogers

The Power of a NextGen Giver: Steven Rogers

Steven Rogers is a nextgen giver raised in Tyler, Texas, in a family that is serious, but quietly active in the giving community. Today he works as a business consultant and has been working with clients both in the U.S. and Mexico. When he was in his senior year at...

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How Giving Traditions Glue Generations Together

How Giving Traditions Glue Generations Together

A large wooden crate seemed to hold all the decorations needed for the Christmas tree trimming I remember from my childhood. My dad would produce the crate each year, and my mother would supervise the opening and unpacking. The box held all kinds of treasures -...

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Changed By A Glimpse Through A Donor’s Eyes

Changed By A Glimpse Through A Donor’s Eyes

By Margie Boyd, Executive Vice President, Your Philanthropy As an executive director of a newly formed nonprofit, I had a lot to learn and I knew it. My passion far exceeded my experience level. I needed help so I reached out to someone I had heard was the best friend...

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The How of Humble Inquiry–Dawn Style          

The How of Humble Inquiry–Dawn Style          

When a reader takes the time to comment on something I've written it gets my attention. Did I hit my target or miss it all together?  Then there are comments like the one Phedra Johnson recently left on “The Benefits of Humble Inquiry between Donors and Nonprofits."...

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Do You Want To Become A More  Effective Donor?

Do You Want To Become A More Effective Donor?

It's the chicken and egg dilemma. Which came first, the effective donor or the effective organization? In 2010 British researchers announced they solved the chicken and egg problem that dates back as far as Aristotle. They reported the chicken must have come first...

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The Benefits of Humble Inquiry Between Nonprofits and Donors

The Benefits of Humble Inquiry Between Nonprofits and Donors

Are we speaking the same language? Seriously, when a nonprofit says here’s a list of items our organization most needs are you moved to make a phone call and take something off the list? When a donor says “I’m excited about what you do and would like to learn more,”...

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The Power of Storytelling and Your Children’s Legacy

The Power of Storytelling and Your Children’s Legacy

Storytelling is a skill we learn very early in life. Before we can read and write; we make up stories. We entertain ourselves and others with our stories, and we fill in gaps for what we don’t know. As a child, I regularly used the three blocks from home to school to...

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Ask a Fellow Donor About Their Giving Experiences

Ask a Fellow Donor About Their Giving Experiences

A thread of embarrassment runs through donor stories. So much so that donors seldom share their giving experiences. For some it’s about too little to give, others too much too late. Other stories hint at long-held family beliefs that it is shameful to talk about...

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Let’s Explore and Discover Your Personal Giving Recipe

Let’s Explore and Discover Your Personal Giving Recipe

It’s just me and the pinto beans. Whether dry or fresh, one spice or five, quart pan or crock pot – all have been a part of my quest for a recipe with just the right flavor. Even after many years of cooking, tasting and testing I haven’t’ nailed it.  I’ve studied...

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What My Nonprofit Friend Wishes Donors Knew

What My Nonprofit Friend Wishes Donors Knew

I have a friend who served as the chief fundraiser at several different nonprofit organizations. Recently, he penned an open letter to donors to share what feels like a divide between nonprofits and donors.  He posed the question, "Is there a way around what seems...

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Why Does Nonprofit Duplication Exist?

Why Does Nonprofit Duplication Exist?

He was sitting across from me at the conference table. Excitedly describing the idea he had for a new nonprofit there was hardly time for a breath between sentences.  Not wanting to pour cold water on his idea I sat back and listened. Finally, there was a pause, and I...

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Every Hometown USA, We Have Work To Do!

Every Hometown USA, We Have Work To Do!

It happened several times before I left on a trip recently. Visiting with friends the subject of vacation would inevitably come up leading to my answer that I would be going to Orlando on Memorial Day. It was met with smiles and comments like “what fun…., we had a...

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Tips to Make Safe and Effective International Gifts

Tips to Make Safe and Effective International Gifts

The time difference is eight hours between Tyler and Rome. For several days, we were on long-distance phone calls and emailing back and forth in an attempt to make an immediate international crisis donation. A passionate and deeply concerned donor was searching for a...

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Best Donor Responses to Charity Alarms

Best Donor Responses to Charity Alarms

The alarm, blinking lights and a voice loudly announcing we should vacate the building immediately interrupted what had up to that moment been a productive morning.  The unwelcome interruption to my work flow caused all manner of mental acrobatics. My first reaction...

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Four Ways Saying No Leads to a Better Yes

Four Ways Saying No Leads to a Better Yes

You’ve begun to think of yourself as a philanthropist, a donor to causes and organizations you care about.  You know others see you as a philanthropist because overnight your mailbox has filled with fundraising letters, newsletters and invitations to events. You’re on...

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What to Do When Overhead Meets Mission

What to Do When Overhead Meets Mission

When the board president called and asked to drop by later in the day to go over the proposed budget I didn’t think much about it. When he arrived his copy of the budget had a column of neatly written numbers all the way down the page. I had a sinking feeling I was in...

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Five Reasons to Trust the Next Generation

Five Reasons to Trust the Next Generation

Most mornings you can find me walking early with my dependable old dog and two curious cats. Yes, the cats do go with us on the walk. It is quite the sight! Watching them interact one day, I realized you can trust the next generation. I’ll explain. I’ve wondered more...

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5 Keys to Build Teamwork in Family Giving

5 Keys to Build Teamwork in Family Giving

Henry Ford said “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” I know Henry was referring to building cars but that quote also holds the keys to a sustainable blend of family and philanthropy. Success depends on teamwork...

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3 Clues to Discover Your Giving Calling

3 Clues to Discover Your Giving Calling

I read a blog post by Jeff Goins and reflected on his challenge to find my calling.  It’s a big challenge for sure, and after thinking about it for a while I drifted toward finding my calling in giving. In essence, my giving calling is the “one big thing” I want to...

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Small Business Philanthropy ROI

Small Business Philanthropy ROI

From micro loans and businesses to downsizing and tiny homes, small has captured our attention. Small businesses are a staple of any community. According to the Small Business Administration website as big business eliminated jobs small businesses grew adding more...

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The Donor Joy Recipe

The Donor Joy Recipe

Donor joy is elusive. If there’s a recipe for donor joy it is hard to find. In my experience the donor tries to get there by throwing a little of this and a little of that into the bowl, leaves out critical ingredients, and doesn’t bake it long enough. The entire time...

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Philanthropy Partnerships Create Better Community

Philanthropy Partnerships Create Better Community

In every community there are examples of philanthropy partnerships. It is partnership between philanthropy, business, government and the people that creates better communities. They come together to accomplish what matters. From Philanthropy Partnerships to Parking In...

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When Giving Matters Answer Two Questions

When Giving Matters Answer Two Questions

Giving matters, so what's the most important question you should answer? Your answer to WHY is important. Simon Sinek, author of the bestseller, Start With Why, has turned that simple, three letter word into a very deep well. He started digging the well with a sharp...

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For the Sake of Others

For the Sake of Others

The words of Albert Einstein remind me that no matter how much I've accomplished, how much I've given of my time, my money and my wisdom it will never be finished. In this famous quote he said "we are here for the sake of others." “Strange is our situation here upon...

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Think. Plan. Do in 2016.

Think. Plan. Do in 2016.

Add one thing.....write donation checks. Think. Plan. Do in 2016.   Do you find yourself writing most of your donation checks in December? Do you know why?  Here are answers most of us would have to that question: I like to wait until all the requests come in so I can...

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Philanthropy Changes the World

Philanthropy Changes the World

Philanthropy Day events are taking place all over the country. National Philanthropy Day is both an official day – officially celebrated November 15 this year – and a grassroots movement about the importance of philanthropy in our world. I love their tag line. “Change...

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Add Trust and Respect To Giving

Add Trust and Respect To Giving

Disappointment The conversation was right after Thanksgiving. The topic was Thanksgiving dinner at the Salvation Army Lodge.  There were questions about whether everyone who came through the line was really in need; evidently several were overdressed for a free meal...

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Philanthropy and Putting First Things First

Philanthropy and Putting First Things First

Like a lot of kids in the sixties I walked to school. My walks were full of imaginary stories I created with complete dialogues for all the actors. I still create imaginary stories. This one involves Stephen Covey, philanthropy and one of his famous phrases, putting...

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Find Donor Partners at Fundraiser Events

Find Donor Partners at Fundraiser Events

How many special event fundraisers have you attended - this year, last year, the last decade?  I've been to so many that it would take all the fingers and toes of a roomful of friends to count them all.  None stand out; they blend together in my mind. Now before you...

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Give Philanthropically AND Make a Difference

Give Philanthropically AND Make a Difference

Why should you give philanthropically and strive to make a difference?  You have to think about it for a minute to catch the importance of  the "and" word. And it is very important. In our philanthropy we often assume we're making  a difference. We take the idea of...

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My Philanthropy or Your Philanthropy?

My Philanthropy or Your Philanthropy?

Here’s how it happens time after time. Someone I haven’t seen for a while asks me how my new business is going? Then they often follow it with “What’s the name again? My Philanthropy?” I always smile and say with emphasis “no, it’s Your Philanthropy.” What often...

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Philanthropy Zones Need Better Signs

Philanthropy Zones Need Better Signs

Did you know philanthropy zones are easy to miss? They lack clearly marked signs. Sometimes philanthropy zones have signs but they are confusing. It's like the school zone I drove through this week. It's really two overlapping zones - one a public middle school, the...

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Philanthropy Changes: How The Next Generation will Operate

Philanthropy Changes: How The Next Generation will Operate

In honor of “The Dog Days of Summer” let’s talk about a new opportunity to be philanthropic and entrepreneurial at the same time. For a $20 donation you can support the start-up of Silidog Silent Tags. It’s the best kind of opportunity – a way to make life better for...

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How to Grow Young Philanthropists

How to Grow Young Philanthropists

A Young Philanthropist Begins We asked a group of kids between the ages of eight and thirteen to come up with ideas to donate their own money. Two nine year old boys (an important element of the story) put their heads together in serious and silly discussion. When it...

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4 Questions Lead to a Better Gift

4 Questions Lead to a Better Gift

The weather man predicted 100 degree days are on the horizon. It’s too hot here in Texas for most outdoor activities unless you’re heading for water. It’s hard to even find a breeze. My solution is early morning walks before the thermometer starts climbing. Then I...

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Give the American Way

Give the American Way

She waves proudly in the wind. As I drive down neighborhood streets evidence of our patriotism is most on exhibit between June 14 and July 4. Our Flag stands proudly in front yards next to mailboxes and flies from porches, street after street. As a young teen living...

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Four Tips to Donate Fast and Well

Four Tips to Donate Fast and Well

Flash philanthropy is here. Also known as crowdfunding, it’s an email or a social media request followed by an immediate and overwhelming urge to say yes, add the credit card and hit send. Will the emotion be enough to trigger digging out the credit card? Will the...

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Recent Journal Posts

Apr 17 2024

Aspiration and Generosity: The Dynamic Duo that Leads to Your Best Giving

What are your aspirations for generosity? Do you dream of what might be? What you could be doing? How you might do something differently? Dreams always lead to me...
Mar 21 2024

3 Ways to Make 2024 Giving the Best Year!

Exactly twenty-two months ago, we adopted a two-month-old corgi. On the drive home, we named her Sophie. Later, while completing her registration papers, I decided that...
Feb 20 2024

Create a Legacy Statement for Future Generations

Tiny stacks of 35-millimeter slides covered the dining room table. One by one I passed them through the slide viewer. The story of my parents’ earliest years together...
Feb 07 2024

Five Tips to be a Smart Donor and Great Fundraiser

My date and I headed to the zoo for a fun afternoon. With curiosity as a guide, I expected to enjoy the animals and maybe answer a few questions about a guy I found...
Jan 24 2024

A Legacy in the Words of One Man

When you hear a suggestion to share your stories with your children and grandchildren, do you hear a voice say, “They’re not interested, don’t have time, and don’t care...
Jan 10 2024

What Makes a Nonprofit Evergreen

Roses are still blooming in my yard. Variegated pittosporum is glowing next to drab lantana stems that have died down for the year. What is slow to go dormant or even...
Dec 12 2023

Why the Holidays Are the Best Time to Model Giving

I’ve shared this story before, but the message remains important to the heart of giving. Take a moment to learn why ladders matter on Christmas morning and all year...
Oct 30 2023

How Hidden Risks Can Make Giving Decisions a Challenge

When I was about three or so years old, my family went for a drive in the Colorado mountains. I think we went for a picnic, but what I remember is jumping out of the...
Oct 17 2023

Five Questions That Will Make Your Giving Meaningful   

Why should you give philanthropically and strive to make a difference? The answer goes beyond different vehicles for giving, choosing the right organizations, and even...
Oct 03 2023

One of Our Greatest Gifts — Our Time!

Dawn Franks has significantly impacted my thinking (and acting) about the ideas of legacy and generosity. When she asked me to consider writing some personal thoughts...

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