MARGARET CANN, Author at Fundraising Leadership ™ Page

2021 Year-End Thoughts and Musings: What Just Happened?

December 9, 2021 by MARGARET CANN

Brought to you by the Fundraising Leadership Team

Photo collage of the Fundraising Leadership team members

Margaret: Can We Stop Talking About “The New Normal”, And Try Instead To “Live in Liminal”?

Last month, I celebrated the American Thanksgiving with my two sons and one of their friends. Since the end of my marriage two years ago, I have been deeply resistant to holidays. Ours is a family that loved and valued traditions – and I couldn’t quite let go of the tradition of the four of us all being at the table. So, for the past two years, we’ve found a way to combine forces.

This has had the positive effect of no one needing to have a major holiday without our sons. However, as anyone who’s ever had a relationship end also knows, it’s had many tick marks in the “negative” column, too. My kids have reported – with accuracy – that it has felt tense and awkward. One of my sons even said it felt like there was something decaying in the room – the decomposing space of a marriage that hadn’t been allowed to burn fully to ash so that something new might (or might not) be possible.

This year, my ex-husband wisely said: let’s not. And he resourced himself with other family members, and I got to spend the day cooking and enjoying a meal of gratitude with my grown sons.

And I realized, the morning after Thanksgiving, as I finished putting away the wine glasses and reflected on a great night, what I had been missing out on by holding onto the comfort and familiar of what’s now the old. We had a lovely night, in which I got treated to my sons’ culinary talents and adventure (deep fried turkey!), as well as a way we danced together during cooking and cleaning that was as delightful as it was oddly unexpected. This is a new way my family looked this year, and even though it is likely to change without notice, I loved it. And I have taken years to be open to this delightful new version. [Read more…]

What Happened When I Cracked My Rose-Tinted Glasses

October 29, 2021 by MARGARET CANN

Sometimes seeing the person that is actually standing in front of me – rather than the person I wish were there – feels like standing in the rain with a painting I spent my whole life perfecting, watching all the colors run down my legs and into the street.

It is an experience of grief.

Many of us could use some exercise around reconciliation of humans, even though it can be excruciating. Sometimes the reconciliation can be required for a spouse or a parent – or even a child. Sometimes, it is articulating that a job you’ve longed for isn’t sustainable, isn’t as described, or is tainted by a boss who feels ogre-like.

Many of us, especially in the nonprofit and fundraising worlds, have some Pleaser saboteur in us. By definition, we have deep reservoirs of hope and idealism. We have it in our DNA, some of us, to see people as good, to look for their shiny and their silver linings. And many of us don’t like rocking the boat, so we make excuses or silently endure the parts of others that are jagged or mean. [Read more…]

Some Pants Are Better To Travel Without

June 14, 2021 by MARGARET CANN

I want to talk about Traveling Pants – but I don’t mean the same thing as the young adult series of books. Those were about an actual pair of jeans that miraculously fit four totally differently shaped friends (really, now that I think about it, perhaps these books were magic realism as much as YA fiction) and connected them to each other. I am talking about a metaphoric pair of pants or jeans that actually might fit one of your friends – but certainly don’t fit you.

Ultimately, some pants are better to travel without.

[Read more…]

Three Skills That Make You a Better Fundraiser

April 28, 2021 by MARGARET CANN

I am having a conversation with a potential donor. I love the initiative I’m fundraising for, but the meeting is not going particularly well. It isn’t my first meeting with this person, but I don’t feel like we are connecting today.

I spent a ridiculous number of hours prepping for this meeting because I thought this guy would have many questions for me. Nope. Nada. Zilch. And I had a whole script prepared, but it doesn’t feel right anymore.

I suspect I’m losing his attention. His cell phone is face down on the table; he hasn’t picked it up yet, but he’s looking at it longingly.

Even seasoned fundraisers can have rough meetings, meetings where our plans to present our worthy work go off the rails. Coaching skills can help during these difficult situations

Our culture seems to agree. Coaching skills are suitable for anyone who manages people, leads teams, and … is on the frontline of fundraising.

There are three skills that make you a better fundraiser (and leader). [Read more…]

Is Your Money Story Affecting Your Ask?

March 17, 2020 by MARGARET CANN

Spoiler alert: I strongly believe that the answer to the question in the title is YES. And not only that, but there’s a decent chance the impact your money story is having isn’t pretty.

So, what is a money story, exactly?

Most of us learn “stories” about money from the Big Three Influencers: our families, our communities and our churches (and other religions). Sometimes the messages are lovely, about sharing and abundance and villages raising children. MUCH more often, people are taught that money is scarce, that it must be earned with sweat, that it is infused with power, that it is linked to greed and evil. They learn that money is something others have more of, and that it creates imbalance. They learn that there isn’t enough. They learn that it comes with strings attached. They learn that asking for it is bad. [Read more…]

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