1. Who Are Your Planned Gift Prospects? – Part I by John Elbare, CFP Before you get started with planned giving, you need to identify your most likely planned gift prospects. Planned giving works best when you target your efforts toward a segment of donors who are most inclined to consider a planned gift. Avoid …

Are San Jose airport officials making you feel secure? The story of the teen who managed to sneak into San Jose International Airport, cross the tarmac, and climb into the wheel well of a waiting plane – and then actually survive a flight to Hawaii, is making headlines around the world. It’s sensational, and it …

1. Keeping Your Bucket Full … With Direct Mail by Jonathan Howard Think of your current donor file as a leaky bucket you want to fill. This poses two separate challenges. You need to reduce leaks and add new water at the same time. If you stop doing either task, your water level will sink …

Now that you have prepared your content well and have worked on being calm and focused, you are well on the way to feeling confident, focused, and ready for your important presentation. Here is the rest of the story; what to do in the hours and moments before the big event. 1. Walk to calm …

People often struggle to prepare themselves for a major presentation. They spend hours reworking their slides, and rehearsing lines in their heads. Yet, they often end up feeling frazzled and unfocused. How can you prepare yourself so that you are ready and able to present your ideas successfully? Read on: Have a clear goal for …

Why renew focus on an issue you’d clearly rather avoid speaking openly about? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) would probably love to have this whole George Washington Bridge scandal just…go away. It seems Christie felt he was expected to do something to explain things, but his choice to appoint a friendly lawyer to “investigate” …

1. How Many Development Staffers Do We Need to Attain Our Fundraising Goals? by Tony Poderis I’ve often been asked about a formula/guideline for determining the number of development staff needed relative to an organization’s fundraising goals? I always reply, strongly, that “there’s no such animal.” There simply cannot be such a formula developed that has …

[Editor’s note: We asked to reprint this article from Tony Jaques’ “Managing Outcomes” newsletter because it addresses an issue we constantly see major organizations ignore – the fact that advertising can, and often does, create unnecessary reputation threats.] Two of Australia’s largest corporations are under fire because of their advertising. The Victorian Supreme Court recently …

Here we go. It's now down to the Final Four in this year's NCAA March Madness. As I analyze the four remaining teams and highlights of their seasons (and take a look at my butchered bracket!), I think about how March Madness and - more importantly - the game of basketball really does embody what we know about facilitation. Let's consider that thought for these reasons.

John was reluctant to present monthly results to his leaders. His heavily chart-laden slides either resulted in sleepy audiences, or in lots of questions, most of them off-topic. What to do? If your presentations are number-heavy, or if you are presenting financial data, you might want to try some of these tips to bring them …