Fundraising Leadership ™

Executive Coaching, Professional Development, Training, and Career Advancement for Nonprofit Leaders in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Why We Should Embrace The Fun Habit

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An excerpt from the newly published book by Mike Rucker, Ph.D.

I have spent most of my life searching for happiness. It was like a puzzle that I could never quite figure out. As an adolescent, I was a hopeless wannabe with an agonizing desire to find my rank in the social structure of my small hometown of Davis, California. Unhappy at home, I emancipated as a teenager to see if happiness was somewhere out there in the world, waiting for me. It’s been quite a journey since then. [Read more…]

The I’s ALMOST Had It: 2022 Was the Year Integration Tried – but Didn’t Quite – Carry the Day

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Last week, I observed my one-year anniversary of having Covid … by getting sick again. I can’t tell you if it was a flu or RSV or the “C” one. I can tell you that I got my tree up, and before I could hang lights or ornaments, the fever set in.

As I hunkered down on my couch for the next several days, eyeing the reminder of a half-completed task, the magnetic pull towards Pity Party (also known, in PQ parlance, as a hijacking by my Victim Saboteur) was so strong. One year ago, I spent Christmas day alone, quarantined, my house unloved, unvisited, and undecorated – my season like an adult Seussian book where the Covid Grinch stole my wreath as well as my fondue and my red wine.

[Read more…]

Advanced Listening for Fundraisers

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There are four listening competencies tied to the field of Process Consulting. These competencies are not exclusive to Process Consulting, however. They are essential to any form of rich, two-way, and mutual communication. These listening competencies are, therefore, relevant for anyone who intends to have a meaningful career in raising financial support for a critical mission.

Working with people with the means and intention to be generous, and doing so over time, requires a trusting relationship. Trusting relationships are built on this rich, two-way, and mutual communication. [Read more…]

From Page to Sage: 4 Ways Journaling Can Help You Be a More Effective and Grounded Leader

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The non-profit leaders I’ve worked with over two decades have numerous attributes in common: deep empathy, infectious passion, and unwavering dedication to their mission and those they serve. We, and I include myself here, have been fueled by purpose, long before such concepts became a mainstay of applied organizational and leadership development. [Read more…]

Emergence: How a fundraiser lost, and then found her smile

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Twenty years from now, when you think back to this moment in your life, would the memory make you smile? This is the story of how, ever so slowly, without even noticing, one fundraiser lost her smile.

The hope is that sharing this story might inspire you to take stock of whether you are living a life of purpose and flow. If you are not living your very best life, what would it take to get you there?

If you have gently shifted toward a lackluster life, perhaps this tale will also inspire you to take some steps so you can emerge into a more resonant one.

This is my story. [Read more…]

The Key to Empowered Women? Actually Talk About Money

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With greater economic security and empowerment, there are no limits to what we as women can accomplish. With increased wealth, we increase independence, self-sufficiency, and opportunity for ourselves and our families. With increased wealth, we invest in ways that can make positive change and a return. With an increase in wealth, we increase our power to decide and choose what is important and most needed in the world.

But our relationship with money is complicated and awkward. It’s one of the last big taboos for women. We’ve been conditioned since the dawn of capitalism that the men take care of the money. They have been taught to grow it and pursue it, we have been taught to save it, and be careful with it. However, if we don’t talk about money, we can’t build a positive relationship with it, we can’t put it to use, and we all remain separated in our experience and learning. That’s why it’s critical for women to connect, and Actually Talk about Money! [Read more…]

Ethical Compensation and Rewards in Fundraising

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small red and gold stars scattered on a light backgroundWhen I started my first formal fundraising role at Grand Challenges Canada in November 2020, it was a strange time. I had just moved back to Toronto. The world was still mostly closed due to the global pandemic, and interacting with others in person was not really something people were doing.

In this new role, I was tasked to help raise funds for our Indigenous Innovation Initiative. It’s an incredible program looking to use an innovative approach to support Indigenous communities to develop and scale ideas and support them to solve the challenges most important to their communities. The objectives were clear and compelling, so building a case for support was straightforward, but nothing in the past two years has been easy for anyone, especially fundraisers. [Read more…]

How to Take Advantage of Grant Writing Trends

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Nonprofits were sent into a tailspin during 2020 and 2021, thanks to the global pandemic and resulting quarantines. As a result, foundation and corporate funders also pivoted to meet overwhelming needs. 

The results have upended the traditions of persuading funders to give. What are the current grant writing trends in 2022? 

Let’s dig in. [Read more…]

Creating a Better World – Social Change Philanthropy

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“I want to create a better world, not just better conditions in the same world.“
Rosemary Oliver

For years, I used the story of people floating in a river, unable to reach the shore, to describe the difference between social change organizations and more traditional charities.

In case you’re not familiar with it, it goes like this:

A passerby saw a person floating down the river, jumped in and saved him. Day after day, more people were found floating in the river, unable to reach the shore. The community organized, set up teams to watch for and save the floating people. Eventually, someone asked why they were showing up in the river in the first place. She headed upstream to see why these folks were ending up in the water and to determine how to help prevent it from happening. [Read more…]

Fundraising and Leadership, Sure. But What Do You DO?

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Janice, Michelle, Margaret and David in a Zoom box

When people ask one of us what we do for work, we might answer with genuine joy: “I’m a coach” or “I train nonprofit leaders.” And we are super clear on what we do and, to a team member, believe deeply in the impact of our work.  But recently one of us was talking to someone who ostensibly knows what we do, as she is a listener of our podcasts and reader of our blogs. And she said, “I know what you guys do, and also, I actually have no idea. What is it that you do for nonprofits?”

And so we decided that her question was a good one, and worth answering. And we want to do that and also add another question we want to answer for you today: How are our clients different and better after they have engaged with the Fundraising Leadership team? [Read more…]