Past Articles

Philanthropy

Endowments Now! and here’s why….

by Heidi Sadowitz Hauptschein, Bloom Metz Consulting
Bloom Metz partner, Seth Bloom, recently wrote an article titled, Endowments Now! which was published in the Summer 2011 edition of Partners for Sacred Places, (a nonprofit organization that  helps to preserve the use of older sacred places).
Many nonprofit organizations are feeling the pinch of the strained [...]

Capital Campaigns

If You Don’t Ask – The Answer is Always NO!

We hear it all the time, but we STILL find ourselves or our volunteers in that terrible quandary of “is it the right time?”  Well friends, eventually, your prospects will wonder why you never brought up the subject. 
•          Sophisticated donors understand the cultivation process, and if you haven’t moved the process forward, they will lose [...]

Fundraising

READ outside your box! nonprofit nugget for you to think about

Read outside your box! Reading for-profit business magazines gives you new ways to look at management and communication.
Read outside your box! Reading arts and leisure newspaper sections gives you conversational fodder in building relationships.
Read outside your box! Reading nonfiction books outside your field expands your perspective on the world.
Read outside your [...]

Donors

There’s Gold in them Hills!

Securing the Future for Your Nonprofit Organization
Especially in our challenging economy, more and more nonprofit organizations are wishing their past leadership had established a stronger culture for planned giving in order to supplement operations with a reliable source of income through a permanent endowment fund.  Understandably, organizations are trying harder than ever to sustain their [...]

Capital Campaigns

What is Happening With Religious Fundraising?

Am I the only one confused? On the evening of March 21, 2011, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, reporting from the Association of Fundraising Professionals conference in Chicago, released an article about one of the sessions at the conference, “Religious Fund-Raising Faces a ‘Crisis,’ Says Speaker” http://philanthropy.com/blogs/prospecting/religious-fund-raising-faces-a-crisis-says-speaker/29254?sid=&utm_source=&utm_medium=en.. The article begins by quoting one of the panel [...]

Capital Campaigns

How NOT to Fundraise: Lessons from the NPR Fiasco

Last month in this space Jeff Metz posted a wonderful blog titled Cultivating a Donor: Like Cultivating a Garden.  http://www.nonprofitwatercooler.com/2011/02/cultivating-a-donor-like-cultivating-a-garden/  
Too bad that NPR fundraising vice president Ron Schiller did not bother to visit the Nonprofit Water Cooler before he went to lunch with what he thought were representatives of the Muslim Education Action Center.  [...]

Capital Campaigns

Cultivating a Donor: Like Cultivating a Garden

When growing a garden, the gardner has to plan the garden, plant the seeds, provide the right balance of water, sun and nutrients and keep the garden free of weeds and threatening pests. Cultivating a donor is much the same process. You need to have a plan, plant the seeds of knowledge about the good [...]

Ethics

Holiday Cheer, Business Ethics and Employee Receipt of Gifts

Once again the holiday season, the time for giving and receiving gifts, is upon us.  Does your nonprofit have a clear policy limiting or prohibiting employees from accepting holiday gifts from vendors? 
For a nonprofit employee a holiday gift from one of the nonprofit’s vendors can be viewed as both appealing and harmless.  Surely acceptance of [...]

Leadership

Delmarva’s call for community leadership: SmartDrive

Collaborations between corporations and nonprofits, another way of giving back to the community.

Donors

It Can’t Be Just About the Economy, Stupid!*

While I agree the economy has presented challenges for nonprofit organizations, I think it has become a convenient “excuse” for some nonprofit organizations as well as donors.  The donors are easy so I’ll start with them.  For many people, their income is the same as it was one year ago, even if their savings/investments have declined, [...]