Yearly Archives: 2024

"...When we have decided to accept, let us accept with cheerfulness, showing pleasure, and letting the giver see it, so that he or she may at once receive some return for their goodness..." This week, I am reading a quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger, published in 59 AD. Reflection Question: What is one thing you can do this week to let your donors know that you see their gifts and they are welcome to belong to your mission? Reflection on Quote: Seneca describes a number of attitudes that can accompany the receiving of a gift from cheerfulness to offense to slavish humility. He points out that when we receive gifts languidly, it leaves the giver in doubt.  It also tells the donor that they are not welcome to join us in the mission; that they don’t belong.  And, that is painful. This work has entered the public domain. What do you think? To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com. Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

"...When we have decided to accept, let us accept with cheerfulness, showing pleasure, and letting the giver see it, so that he or she may at once receive some return for their goodness..." This week, I am reading a quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger, published in 59 AD. Reflection Question: No matter the donor or the donor’s motivation, how are you and I receiving gifts? What is the attitude of our hearts? Reflection on Quote: When we look back over the last few months, what has been our attitude in accepting gifts? Seneca describes a number of attitudes that can accompany the receiving of a gift from cheerfulness to offense to slavish humility. Beyond the attitudes he describes, I would add one more. Busyness.  When we do not add enough margin to our days, especially during busy fundraising seasons, we can neglect saying thank you and thus give the appearance that the donations are not needed.  Or, we can instead take the time and aim to accept gifts with cheerfulness. This work has entered the public domain. What do you think? To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com. Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

"...A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed...." This week, I’m reading a quote from the Jewish wisdom on generosity from Proverbs 11. Reflection questions: As you wait for donors to respond to a campaign, have you given to the mission you serve? How are you leading this week in your daily life with the intention of generosity in your own life? Reflection on Quote:A part of any campaign is the waiting.  We wait for a donor to join us in that beautiful space called generosity.  In that space is both the donor and us, you and I. If we are asking donors to be generous,  what should we doing?   As we wait for donors to join us in that beautiful space of generosity, our hearts must be transformed by generosity as well.  As a consultant, my work has been to teach nonprofits on how to encourage generosity from their donors.  Several years back, I had an epiphany.  I was asking others to be generous - even sacrificially generous, yet I had never stopped to reflect on my own generosity.  Now, it happened to be around tax time, so I took a look at past tax returns and…

"...For with wisdom cometh patience, And with patience cometh rest..." This week, I am reading the poem The Hardest Time of All, by Sarah Doudney. Written in 1896. Reflection Questions: Where are you waiting for some major change to occur as a result of your work?  Is it time to gain more wisdom or to be more patient or to stop and rest in that area? Will you take the time to document your hopes for change in the coming year and then schedule an email to send that reflection to yourself in a year as a way to see that those hardest times of waiting was when the change was actually occurring? Reflection on the poem:This week, I attended our statewide Association of Fundraising Professionals conference, just to sit in the audience and learn.  A recurring theme was perseverance in small daily tasks that will yield fruit.  Our work does take patience in order to see change. Whatever your faith tradition, let’s take a moment to reflect on wisdom, patience, and rest as it works itself out in faith.  With wisdom comes patience and patience comes rest.  If we stop and reflect on the changes that have occurred in the last…

..."An association [nonprofit] is an educated and powerful body of citizens which cannot be twisted to any person's will or quietly trodden down,..." This week, I’m reading selected quotes from Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville, published in 1835. Note.  His use of the word association is our current word for nonprofit. Reflection questions: Are you getting caught up how national events affect the nonprofit you serve?  Will you instead reflect on ways your nonprofit is improving your community through the power of association and democracy? How are you giving opportunities for donors to see that they are a part of that powerful body of citizens that work together to save common liberties? Reflection on quote: In the United States, we are in the middle of election season.  As nonprofit leaders, we can wonder and even worry about the effect the election will have on the missions we serve.  However, instead of getting caught up in that worry, we can look to the role of nonprofits in democracies and how generosity promotes democracy.  Let’s consider these ideas that, according de Tocqueville, nonprofits have a vital role in maintaining democracy. Nonprofits through our missions allow citizens to act together to alleviate the…

"...the potentially world-changing and life-giving power that may be present in or working through the goodness of the donors' hearts and souls; if only someone would acknowledge it, call it forth, and nurture it!" This week, I am reading a quote from Growing Givers’ Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry by Thomas Jeavons and Rebekah Burch Basinger. 2000 edition. Reflection questions: Where are there areas that we are failing to recognize the world-changing and life-giving power that resides the donors’ hearts and souls? How are you giving space for donors  to share their desire to be world changing and life giving? Reflection on quote: As we prepare for year-end giving or any fundraising campaign, how we message matters.  Are we selling a transaction or inviting generosity? This quote reminds me of a conservation nonprofit client and their experience with a donation.  The donor planned to give appreciated stock for their donation.  When the donor was told how to avoid capital gains tax, they refused and instead insisted on selling the stocks, paying the capital gains tax, and donating the proceeds. This donor cared more about the world-changing and life-giving power that was present in or working through the goodness of his heart and…