Data and security breaches are only becoming more common. In the past few years, Equifax admitted that 147 million of its accounts had been exposed, and Marriott reported that the data of roughly 500 million guests had been compromised — and that’s only to name a few. Philanthropy is not immune to these attacks. After … Continue reading Security Will Continue To Put Philanthropy At Risk — Here’s What You Can Do
10 Ways Your Brain Reacts to Uncertain Times
Volatility. Uncertainty. Complexity. Ambiguity. These four words (shorthanded to “VUCA”) describe the type of high-stress, high-demand scenarios that can rapidly degrade one of our most powerful and influential brain systems: our attention. During uncertain times, we are all living in VUCA conditions. Compounding the constant health and economic concerns, we are facing unprecedented levels of … Continue reading 10 Ways Your Brain Reacts to Uncertain Times
A Mental Trick to Help with Challenging Conversations
Imagine the colleague with whom you have a very challenging relationship, the person who makes the most innocuous conversation tense and uncomfortable. Now imagine the following scenario: You’re sitting at your desk working away when a message from that person pops up on your screen. You open the message and it reads: “I got the … Continue reading A Mental Trick to Help with Challenging Conversations
Five For-Profit Practices That Philanthropy Should Avoid
Judy Park, Kavya Shankar and a group of Stanford MBA students interviewed millennial donors from the Silicon Valley startup world and these conservations showed a pattern of overreliance on certain for-profit principles in the nonprofit realm, despite potential flaws. One young tech executive in San Francisco said she wanted to maximize return on investment. The … Continue reading Five For-Profit Practices That Philanthropy Should Avoid
Helpful advice for aspiring writers of all ages
“Write something good, and feel good about writing it.” That sentence is from award-winning writer Jacqueline Woodson in response to the question “What’s the goal of writing when you’re 15?” Being a writer is all about expressing your unique perspective with feeling and originality, not about having a huge vocabulary or getting published, says author … Continue reading Helpful advice for aspiring writers of all ages
Don’t Waste Your Time on Networking Events
Large, traditional business networking events are a time-honored institution. They have been a staple of aspiring and successful professionals for so long that most networking advice focuses not on whether you should attend, but on how to make the most of these events when you do attend. In theory, they’re one of the best ways … Continue reading Don’t Waste Your Time on Networking Events
10 Ways to Reduce Interviewer Bias
Strangers often get a bad deal when it comes to being accurately assessed during interviews. While people who are known to the hiring manager are assessed on their past performance, strangers are judged on their motivation to get the job, a bunch of generic competencies, the depth of their technical knowledge and the quality of … Continue reading 10 Ways to Reduce Interviewer Bias
5 Email Marketing Sequences You Should Set Up For Your Nonprofit
One of the most valuable tools available to digital marketers is email marketing. If used properly, it has extraordinary potential to increase revenue and boost return on investment (ROI) in your marketing efforts. But your results depend significantly on your emails' timing and content. A surefire way to power up your email marketing is to … Continue reading 5 Email Marketing Sequences You Should Set Up For Your Nonprofit
The permission to ask ask
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of working with Tess Nixon Spiller. She wrote this blog at the time and when I first read it, it felt to me she was a magician who had just lifted the lid on their most successful magic trick. It just blew me away... "so that is … Continue reading The permission to ask ask
Fundraising in 2021 – what might we expect?
Back in June 2020, Mark Phillips wrote a study on what fundraising in 2021 might look like? As we head towards an easing of lockdown 3, now seems like a good time to reflect on Mark's wise words to help us through the rest of the year. When Mark was writing thus, there obviously was … Continue reading Fundraising in 2021 – what might we expect?
Propper Fundraising 