The Four Laws of Fundraising

We were recently preparing a proposal for a prospective client and realized that there is significant overlap between scientific principles and fundraising. For many who are not familiar or comfortable with fundraising, the practice can feel like a foreign experience,...

What Your Board Says About Your Organization

Last week, we conducted research for a client wanting to strengthen their board. We examined over 40 websites of nonprofits who are in the same space as our client to get a sense for the type of people those organizations engaged. Based on what we read, we have...

The Future of Philanthropy

As we have been practicing social distancing over the past few weeks, many people have yearned for things going back to “normal.” On webinars, in Zoom chats, in phone conversations, colleagues have been trying to solve problems like scheduling fundraising events by...

What I learned through September 11

The morning of September 11, 2001, I was working for the national office of United Way, preparing for an upcoming board meeting. Right before 9:00 a.m., my boss ran into my office with news that changed history: a plane had crashed into the North Tower of World Trade...

Closing the Gender Gap in the Fundraising Profession

As someone who has been in the nonprofit sector for over 25 years, I had the perception that there was no gender gap. Women ran the organizations for which I worked (including United Way and the American Red Cross, two of the largest nonprofits in the sector). My...

Do Your Homework and Don’t Fall in Love

  Earlier this week, Diane spoke at an event hosted by the Wertz-Jackson Group of UBS Financial Services about how women make an impact. The discussion focused on philanthropy and social impact investing.   One of the attendees asked about the most important...

Panel Discussion on Impactful Giving

I was honored to join First National Wealth Management (FNWM) last week for a double panel discussion on how we can find the right intersection of philanthropy where both donors and nonprofits benefit. Pete from FNWM and I were speakers in the first panel, exploring...

You must ask for due diligence to work

The Department of Justice (DoJ) today unsealed indictments related to a year-long federal investigation of racketeering related to admissions to some of the most prestigious US colleges and universities: Stanford, UCLA, Wake Forest, Yale, Georgetown, University of...