Good Tuesday afternoon to you! It’s been awhile since I’ve had the pleasure of writing for you all and I’m very glad to be be back at it. Today we are going to explore one of the most essential set of things to consider at the very beginning of a facilitated session – The 5 …

Have you ever hired someone who did not live up to expectations? I’m sure many of us have at one time. The purpose of the interview is to gather information to make an accurate selection decision. A successful interview will help you decide is there’s a match between the job seeker and the position. The …

This is an update/revision of a posting that appeared in October, 2010 In my 30+ years as a fundraising consultant, I’ve seen corporate fundraising done by staff and/or volunteers, with a consultant advising/teaching/guiding; and, I’ve seen a “consultant” doing the fundraising from the corporations on behalf of the NPO. In both cases, it always created …

What happens when your new job is to manage or reinvent a Documentation Department? Where do you begin? What do you need to know? Here are some tips on getting to know your Department and Technical Writer jobs without stepping on any toes and without being too forceful. There is a lot to talk about …

What separates good leaders and masterful ones? Between those who just meet their organization’s and team’s expectations, and those who invite transformation into their organizations and teams? Between those whose services are viewed as a commodity and those who are known to be indispensable? The differentiator? The spirit of the fool. Surrendering to Your Fool …

Quick reaction and the right moves pay off UK mobile provider O2 found itself experiencing a bit of deja vu when, just months after a 24-hour service disruption left hundreds of thousands without a cellular connection, yet another widespread outage hit its system late last week. The company actually came out of that incident fairly …

Don’t forget your proposal graphics! They can be, and usually are, important elements of persuasion. But too many grant proposals have poor graphics, too few graphics, or none at all. Graphics are Important Graphics are far more than entertaining diversions. We know, from considerable research on the subject, that good proposal graphics (appropriately integrated with …

There are many reasons why one social enterprise grows fast, while another one doesn’t. Frankly, I think luck has a lot to do with it, but there are many other factors as well. A recent article in the Guardian suggests that the attitude of the leader is the most critical ingredient, and that’s hard to …

I’m always inspired by Jeffrey Swartz, former CEO of Timberland Co. He understands that who you are being at work matters just as much as the activities that you do. I’ve often pondered the interplay of Beings and Doing. Our work world puts waaaaaaay more emphasis on doing- being productive, keeping busy, meeting deadlines, accountability …

The following, provoked by questions to this blog, is a revision of a posting from April, 2010. Development is the process of creating and enhancing relationships with (potential) donors … hopefully leading to the solicitation/acquisition of (contributed) income. “Development” directly references the relationship between the donor and the nonprofit, and how that relationship satisfies the …