Last week, I posted an interview with my friend Jeff Walker on philanthropy and a term he coined, “natural fundraising”.  We both received a lot of positive comments on this term “natural.” As the Tao Te Ching helps point out, that which is in harmony with nature is going to be far more abundant, effortless, [...]

Jeff Walker’s clear insights into what moves people and how to turn passion into action make him one of the most enlightened philanthropists I know. After a successful career as a leader in private equity, Jeff has turned his full attention in the last few years to his philanthropic passions. I spoke to Jeff recently [...]

At the heart of fundraising is our ability to connect with others around shared values. A friend and colleague, Gunther Weil (www.valuementors.com), says it’s not all that easy for people to fundamentally shift their worldviews and values.  There are only a few ways that this will happen.  One is a major life-changing event – things [...]

I’ve hired lots of fundraisers in my career.  While there are many characteristics that make people successful, without fail, all great fundraisers I’ve hired or met share two traits in common: 1). People want to spend time with them.  There’s an old adage in fundraising that it’s harder to get the first appointment than the [...]

“We need new donors!” The “new donor” mantra.  I hear it in every nonprofit organization. There’’s a belief – just commonsense you could argue – that if your organization seems to have hit a fundraising ceiling the logical response is to quickly fill the pipeline with fresh, new, energetic donors. Of course you want to [...]