Ever get something you didn’t expect?Better, yet, ever give something you never expected to give?That is exactly what I will do next Monday.Wichitan Roger Lowe will receive the Hartsook Institutes Growing Philanthropy Award for Model Nonprofit CFO. Roger is the Senior Vice President of Wichita State University.Some of you know that periodically, Hartsook Institutes honors…
“You can write, kid,” was the note at the bottom of a first year English student over 50 years ago. This note ignited a flame that started a distinguished writing and journalistic career of a new friend of mine, Don Reichardt from Roswell, Ga. Don was honored along with my longtime, good friend Ron Loewen…
I’ll admit, I think about fundraising all the time. It’s not easy being me, but no one seems to feel sorry for me. All kinds of thoughts are swirling around my head today and I can’t seem to find the “glue” to meld them into one comprehensive message. So today I’ll share three unrelated thoughts.Impact…
For the first time in history, fundraisers and nonprofits can’t take for granted that the charitable deduction will be in place for its donors.Let that sink in for a minute.Now, let’s talk. If you receive $60 gifts, your nonprofit will probably not feel it. But if you get $1,000 gifts, you probably will.For too long…
A big “thank you” to Andrew Watt, for addressing the fundraising profession directly and forcefully: the days of passive gift collection are over. Now maybe we can get on with growing philanthropy and building a profession that can generate more than 2% of Gross Domestic Product.Our new AFP International President and CEO put in on…
If you don’t use Blackbaud’s many online resources for nonprofit organizations, you’re missing out. Go to Nonprofit Industry Research on their website for some of the most current, comprehensive looks at fundraising. You know me, I live and breathe fundraising. So on the 15th of each month, I check out their Index of Charitable Giving and The Blackbaud Index…
Unfortunately, as I see it, yes.I asked my friends at Blackbaud if anyone had compared the rate of decrease of discretionary buying by the American public from 2008 to, say, 2010 (let’s keep this most recent financial picture out of it) and compare it to the Giving USA report of decrease in giving?The answer was,…
Since 1998, NPT and its editor-in-chief Paul Clolery announce their view of the 50 individuals who contributed the most to advancing the nonprofit community in the previous 12 months in their list, NPT Power & Influence Top 50.I follow the list religiously and respect the editor as a fair and objective journalist. Just so we…
This haunting question has perplexed the major scholars in the field of philanthropic giving for years.Well, the answer is this: at its core, “Nothing.”Did you hear me? Nothing.But for some reason many naive institutions want grants rather than gifts. I have come up with the answer. From now on by order of Hartsook, all gifts…
I can’t even sit back on a Sunday morning at Wrightsville Beach and enjoy the Sunday paper. Being consumed by thoughts of fundraising is a curse I’m certain I don’t share with many people.A recent article in the Star-News on non-profit giving in the Cape Fear region was quite timely. However, unfortunately, it missed the…
