The way to sustain the high morale of valued staff is to:

• Remind them of the higher purposes that your organization is working toward

• Define goals that constitute tangible steps toward the attainment of those higher purposes

• Show them how their labor will advance those goals and, when progress is made, how their efforts contributed directly to the outcome.

Dear Students and Alumni Everywhere,

Some of you might have heard of me but may wonder if I am nothing more than a sentimental construct of the past. Some of you know me by name only.  Some, I fear, know me not at all.

I am unmistakably present at fewer institutions than I would like but part of me can be found in many.   I represent the part of a learning institution that cares for you, that delights in your presence, t...

As I work with clients to help them see the greater philanthropic return that can be enjoyed from engaging in values-based, long-term strategies, some become gripped by anxiety.

“This sounds good,” they say, “but what about now?”  “What about our results for this year?”

I realize that some see long-term strategies as coming at the expense of short-term results.  But it isn’t an either-or proposition.  Taki...

I interviewed a young alumnus of Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), who had graduated at the very top of his class after having dropped out of a community college years earlier, so I could understand what had turned his life around.  He – let’s call him Brad -- explained that he started GGC with good intentions but soon lapsed into an old pathology – he skipped a class.  But at GGC, it was only a few minutes into that first skipped c...

I’ve been fortunate enough to be in positions where I was able to help a number of organizations secure a large number of private gifts.  Some of those gifts were remarkably large.  Some were awe-inspiringly generous when contrasted to the donors’ means.  All of them were a privilege to witness.

And, yes, I fell into the trap of saying, “I raised” those gifts.  When others congratulated me for doing so, I was all too e...

I am called in by organizations to answer what seems to be one question: “How can we raise a lot more money – and very soon.” It is, in fact, two different if not competing questions.   The secret to raising a lot more money is to not let the need for the “soon” be the enemy of “a lot more.”

It is not what leaders of many organizations want to hear but the role of a consultant is to tell the truth as politely a...

“To regret deeply,” said Thoreau, “is to live afresh.”

There is as much meaning and wisdom in those few words as there is energy compressed into the nucleus of an atom.   One could commission books of essays explicating the fuller meaning of those seven words and happily engage our greatest minds in the task to great literary, spiritual and psychological effect.  Doing justice to them in short form is impossible bu...

What’s in a name? Well, when it comes to fundraising, it all depends on how it’s offered and to whom.

What doesn’t work well is the wholesale offering of “naming opportunities.” Distributing a list of buildings or programs that you are willing to name at a particular price is, quite simply, counter-philanthropic. In other words, the practice is not only inept and ineffective, it undercuts institutional dignity and, as a resul...