Blog

"Giving brings happiness in every state of its expression..."This week, I’m reading 3 quotes from the Buddha.  Reflection questions:If you have a task of asking a donor for a gift this week, what is your mindset going into the ask?  A necessary task?  Or, a joyous opportunity for the donor to join in the power of giving?If you have a task of stewarding a donor this week, what is your mindset?  Is something to get off of your to-do list?  Or, do you see the task as planting a seed filled with joy for the donor to consider a life of service and compassion?Copyright expired.What do you think?To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

"...the testimony of those who have shifted in their minds, spirits, and emotions from an imagined world of scarcity and insecurity to one of abundance, blessing, sufficiency, and overflow is almost always the same: it is liberating...."This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition.Reflection questions: As you reflect on some of the donors to the organization you serve, how have you seen a transformation from scarcity to abundance?What about you and I? Are we seeing that transformation from scarcity to abundance in our lives?To purchase this book: The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. Copyright: Oxford University Press 2014. Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.What do you think?To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

"Books which it would have been impossible for me to obtain elsewhere were, by his wise generosity, placed within my reach; and to him I owe a taste for literature which I would not exchange for all the millions that were ever amassed by man..." This week, I’m quoting a story from the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Published in 1920.Reflection questions:When was the last time we asked our most committed donors about their story for giving to the cause we serve?When your fundraising tasks seem overwhelming, imagine what impact today’s generosity by donors and volunteers will have on the future.To read this book: Autobiography of Andrew CarnegieCopyright expired.What do you think?To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

"An association is an educated and powerful body of citizens which cannot be twisted to any person's will or quietly trodden down, and by defending its private interests against the encroachments of power, it saves the common liberties....."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:Many individuals with the means to donate experience giving as a transaction. How will you bring the mindset that you are giving back to the donor the tremendous value of the knowledge of the common good your mission to bringing to the community?How will you consider the ways in which generosity to the cause you serve promotes democracy and saves common liberties?To read this book: Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville.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

"O let us live in joy, although having nothing! In joy let us live like spirits of light!..,"This week, I’m reading a quote from the Dhammapada, written down in the 1st century BC. Reflection questions:When was the last time you stepped back to view the greater horizon of the mission you serve?  Is it time to step back again and live in the love, health, peace, and joy to see what you get to fundraise for?Think now of donors, who are the donors that you can share that joy of living in the greater horizon of the mission? Not to cultivate, ask, or steward, but to simply have a conversation of joy with them.  Who are the donors coming to mind now?What do you think?To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

"Helping a person in need is good in itself.  But the degree of goodness is hugely affected by the attitude with which it is done...." This week, I’m reading a quote from John Chrysostom from the 400 A.D.s.Reflection questions:When was there a time when you were overwhelmed with the generosity of others because their generosity to you was given with such a spirit of joy that you received the generosity with pleasure?Is there an area of your fundraising work that you would like to bring in that same spirit of joy?  How will you do so this week?This quote 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