Want to attract millennials? Try throwing a big ol’ party.

It’s so nice to get up on my millennial soapbox once again and find a few more folks standing up here with me: Kristen Eddings of the Washington Global Health Alliance and UW School of Law student Jessica Smith. These two fellow impassioned millennials gave a great presentation at last week’s Northwest Development Officers Association winter [...]

Beyond the Thank You: Making the Most of Your Stewardship Efforts

As fundraising professionals, my TCG colleagues and I often remind our client organizations about the importance of retaining donors, and the role of good stewardship in retention. As individual donors, the end of the year is a great time to observe how well those organizations we personally support know us: our giving habits, our interests, [...]

Favorite Recent & Upcoming Presentations (Slides Included!)

The Social Media for Nonprofits Conference, on a national whirlwind tour, swept through Seattle just over a week ago and hurled a vast amount of sensible advice and provocative ideas at its rapt audience. You weren’t able to attend? The tour participants were kind enough to share their slides publicly. I strongly encourage you to [...]

+Another social network?

“It’s like a reverse Fight Club, where the first rule of Google+ is that we only talk about Google+.” I must admit: this quote definitely summed up my first week on Google’s newest contribution to the social networking field. No one was quite sure why they were on Google+, but by golly they were going [...]

“We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

Millennials: we’re everywhere, and the workplace has started to notice. If you haven’t been to a webinar about how to deal with us or read an article outlining our predilections and whims, no doubt you will soon. Rumors are flying about our priorities and our motivations, and I’m wondering: has anyone actually talked to millennials [...]

Thinking Without Borders

You’ve probably heard by now that Apple has just released a white iPhone 4.  In celebration of this “I can’t believe this is really news” event, I want to highlight a few very smart innovations in nonprofit use of the iPhone technology. Amnesty International iPhone App In my rural Idaho high school, I was one [...]

Does It Matter Today How Much Giving Was Down During the Great Recession?

As a member firm of Giving Institute, the parent organization of the Giving USA Foundation and publisher of Giving USA, we are looking forward with great anticipation to the June 20th release of the annual report for 2010. A little controversy always helps to spice up the debate. Recently, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that [...]

Timing Really is Everything

Conventional wisdom suggests we communicate with our clients and constituents during the work hours—after all, when are we more glued to our computers than between 9 and 5?  According to new research from Hubspot, a marketing firm based out of Boston, we’re doing it all wrong.  Here are some surprising results on how to best [...]

Questions around Charity Navigator Changes

For any of you who attended my session at the Northwest Development Officers Association Spring Conference in January, you may remember when we brought up the topic of changes at the website Charity Navigator. Since that session, I have received number of inquiries from people wanting further information. In this January 11 blog post, Charity [...]

What is Your Giving Budget for 2011?

Lately, I’ve spent time lately reviewing my 2010 giving plan and setting plans and budgets for 2011. I generally start prep work for my tax return in January — preparing my list of charitable donations and organizing the related receipts takes longer than the whole rest of my return! Many years ago, my husband and [...]


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