November 1, 2018

This organization pushes several of my buttons !

[This is a long blog. More like an article. But there are good resources and cool ideas and – as usual – my various musings…. insightful, I hope. So I hope you’ll stick with it – or print it for future reading.]

I recently learned about the California Green Academy. I’d previously met the Founder/Chief Sustainability Officer, Greg Justice, through a masters program at the University of San Francisco.

So off I went to the internet to learn about CalGreenLots of stuff pushed my buttons! Here goes…

  • Mission: Promoting systems thinking and the Triple Bottom Line in business, energy, and transport.
  • Vision: Becoming a premier educational source for sustainability and systems thinking.

I fell in love with systems thinking back in the 1990s. I wrote about systems thinking in the first edition of my first book, Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last. And systems thinking is alive and well in each subsequent edition of this book, now up to the 3rdedition.

I’ve never fallen out of this love. Systems thinking is a permanent love. And that an organization actually includes systems thinking in its mission and vision? Wow!!

A few years ago I developed an entire workshop on nonprofit sustainability. My sustainability was definitely NOT just financial. Visit my Free Download Library for my handout.

How about that triple bottom line? Adding  social and environmental values to good old economic measures. Social values like fundamental rights, respect for human dignity, democracy, respect, honesty, and…

By the way, when I think “business,” I think for-profit mostly. Or rather, I think that the world thinks for-profit.

For me, life focuses on 3 sectors: Nonprofit sector. For-profit sector. Government. Businesses are for-profit and nonprofit. (Of course, we can also think of the government as business. But I don’t so much.)

I wish the world better understood the nonprofit sector – called the social sectors by Jim Collins in his marvelous monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors; and, read about civil society in Mike Edwardsbook of the same title. By the way, here’s a must-read book for anyone who works in the nonprofit sector, also by Mike – Small Change: Why Business Won’t Change the World.

I’m pleased to say that the CaliforniaGreenAcademy just added Nonprofit Studies to its Programs. Hey, CalGreen, consider the book suggestions above for your library in Nonprofit Studies – and for those for-profit businesses, too.

More Simone buttons pushed by CalGreen peeps….

Anyone who knows me or reads anything of mine or hears me speak knows how important diversity-equity-social justice are to me. I contacted Greg about the dominance of men within the organization. Greg explained the impressive detailed efforts taken to-date in this 1-year old organization. He talked about the board member search firm CalGreen has just retained.

Now check out these blogs – and the impressive actions described.

When I’m talking governance, I always talk about board composition and diversity and equity and… But I’m now thinking about following the lead of CalGreen and talking about adopting these UN policies.

Okay. That’s it. Farewell for now, Simone

P.S. I’m increasingly pissed about energy and transport and the not- so-good job we do in the US about these 2 items.

P.P.S. I think “chief sustainability officer” is a really good name for the chief executive officer. Of course, we’ve encountered so many CEOs who did/do a damn awfully terrible job of making sure their corporations are sustainable. Remember these corporations: Lehmann Brothers, Enron, Wells Fargo Bank…And on and on still today and over and over…

Okay. This is really farewell!

October 29, 2018

More cool learning…Australia & New Zealand

I’m going Down Under again. I am so lucky!

The Extraordinary Donor Journey is off to Auckland (December 3), Melbourne (December 5), Brisbane (December 6), and Sydney (December 7).

All day long with Guy Mallabone, Stephen Pidgeon, Bernard Ross, and me, Simone! Imagine the learning and insights, joking and laughter.

Check out the details and schedule and each location by clickinghere.

Read all about us 4 presenters and our topics in this brochure.

Hope to see you there!

 

October 17, 2018

Meet the Donors…HURRY UP!!

You know those typical panels….with a bunch of foundation reps sitting up front and making mini presentations and then you ask them questions?

Feel like you ought to be there because it’s “face-to-face” with grantmakers. And if you don’t go, your boss will be pissed.

But really…Did you learn anything more than what you could have found on the internet? Hmmmm…..

If you’re in the Rhode Island area and have ever wondered what’s not on funders’ websites… Register HERE for a new and improved AFP-RI Meet the Funders experience coming up on October 26 7:30 – 10:30am.
Intimate setting. Fabulous venue. New and returning funders. World style cafe format… Think elbow-rubbing. Truly!
Participating funders (down from the stage and right at your tables):
  • Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
  • Centreville Bank
  • Citizens Bank
  • Division of Community Development for the City of Providence
  • Rhode Island Foundation
  • Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
  • United Way of Rhode Island
  • Wells Fargo
  • Women’s Fund of Rhode Island

Only about 20 tickets left…    Register FAST!!

September 25, 2018

Raise more money by learning the right stuff

Yes, there is right stuff to learn in this profession of ours. The fundraising thing.

And there’s wrong stuff…or irrelevant stuff…or OPINION instead of EXPERTISE.

So here are some great resources to learn the right stuff and develop yourself and help you tell your boss and board to stop the opinionating and focus on the expertising.

MOCEANIC!!  You MUST MUST visit and join us and learn and share and………

  • Sign up for e-news and free fundraising tips and online courses and all kinds of cool useful important stuff!
  • WOW! Check out the Moceanic crew like co-founders Sean Triner and Christiana Stergiou. Add in Jeff Brooks. And advisors like Roger Craver and Adrian Sargeant and Tom Ahern and Harvey McKinnon and Ken Burnett and me, Simone and more!

BLOOMERANG!!! I’ve decided NOT to talk about donor/fundraising databases. Instead…Get yourself a marvelous donor retention tool.

  • Loyalty is the Holy Grail of any business (Thanks, Roger Craver 2009). LifeTime Value is the best of the best.
  • Adrian Sargeant’s donor loyalty research is what you want to apply all the time. (And that’s the algorithm for Bloomerang.)
  • Bloomerang is so user-friendly that your 5-year old pal can show you how to use it.
  • Bloomerang also has a regular blog and free webinars – whether you use that donor retention tool or not.
  • P.S. Tom Ahern communications stuff is also imbedded in this donor retention tool.

So those are just two thoughts for this week.

July 16, 2018

Include your voice in critical research!!!

Hey colleagues…

Do you (and your organizations) want to raise more money?

Then our fundraising profession needs MORE VERY GOOD RESEARCH. Research that helps us fundraise better.

So add your voice to this important new research!!!

YES. With just 16 minutes of your time, you can help design new research. YES! YOU!

Click below…

https://philanthropycentre.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ebTdaDN6uJUwC7b

I just reviewed the survey. This is GREAT!! Please play. PLEASE COMPLETE THE SURVEY. I want the answers. You’ll want the answers.

The results can help  RAISE MORE MONEY!!!!!!!!!

 

Filed under: Resources / Research

July 6, 2018

On my gosh. I forgot my weekly blog!!!

I got lost somewhere in Twitter and in my e-newsyletter. And I fogot my favorite place… my weekly blog.

I’m so sorry! So here are some interesting resources that I’ve just been encountering:

BOOK: The new ASKING STYLES: REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR FUNDRAISING book by Brian Saber

ORGANIZATIONS:

  • MULTICULTURAL BRIDGE. A grassroots organization dedicated to advancing equity and justice. The wonderful Gwendolyn Hampton VanSant.
  • EduLeadersofcolor.org. Cultivating spaces for leaders of color invested in social justice to challenge inequities in education, strengthen local organizations led by people of color, and foster community partnerships. I met Karla Vigil, co-founder on the telephone today!
  • RI Urban Debate League: RIUDL is all about equity and social justice. In fact debate is a proven tool that helps students in urban schools. Ms. Ashley Belanger has been a marvelous Executive Revolutionary and I know RIUDL will hire another great one.

EDUCATION AND LEARNING: Do you know MOCEANIC? What’s not to love? GREAT blog. COOL cartoons. EXCELLENT online courses. You must visit Moceanic!

  • People like Jeff Brooks and Harvey McKinnon and Tom Ahern and Sean Triner and Christiana Stergiou offering courses. Me, too, eventually (I just have to create it still!)
  • Popular blog posts and even videos from Jeff and Tom and Roger Craver and Sean and…

AND FINALLY…VISIT SOFII, the Showcase of Innovation and Inspiration.Ideas, information, initiatives to help you change the world. The best of the best fundraising… from yesterday and today. And help for you to create the best of the best tomorrow.

Okey dokey. I’m off to play with clients now.

 

Filed under: Resources / Research

June 11, 2018

One of my favorite “business” books

I believe that conversation is a core business practice. And conversation is different than discussion. Very different!

Theodore Zeldin wrote the most beautiful book about conversation: Conversation – How Talk Can Change Our Lives.

Here are some of my favorite Zeldin statements…direct quotations from his lovely book.

  1. Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards; it creates new cards.
  2. Having one’s ideas challenged and transmuted by verbal intercourse makes one aware how much one owes to others, how much a partner can contribute to one’s intellectual, moral and emotional development, thought one remains a separate, unique person.
  3. Conversation, like families, dies when it is inbred. Or when your guests have had more or less the same experience as yourself.
  4. Conversation has to explore new territory to become an adventure.
June 5, 2018

Ah neuroscience… So useful for fundraising.

Surely every single fundraiser knows that giving a gift is not a rational decision. In fact, most decision-making is based on emotions. Sure, we might rationalize it within seconds, but even the rationalizing isn’t rational!

Dr. Antonio Damasio “…[A]t the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing. In fact, even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion … we are living an illusion of conscious choice.”

Dr. Antoine Bechara, leading authority on the mental processes behind decision making: “What if sound, rational decision-making in fact depended on … emotional processing? The studies of decision-making in neurological patients who can no longer process emotional information normally suggest just that … I will make the case that decision-making is a process guided by emotions.”

Want more information on all this?

  • Read Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships (2008. Ahern and Joyaux)
  • And read Tom Ahern’s books and newsletter.
May 21, 2018

Neuroscience can help fundraisers

Thanks to MRI machines, we can monitor what’s happening in the human brain.

For example, did you know: When you’re the victim of a mistake – if the handling of that mistake is really good – you experience a dopamine high. (If you don’t know what a dopamine high is, check it out!) That dopamine high can be great … I almost think we should make mistakes on purpose to give our donors a dopamine high. (On the other hand, I figure we all make sufficient mistakes that what we really need to do is to handle mistakes very very very well!)

So here’s my story of my dopamine high! One day, I get a very nice email from EMILY’S List, indicating that it appears that I haven’t renewed my membership. And how much I matter as a member and what my participation has accomplished.

I checked my checkbook and, as I had remembered, I had renewed.

So I called EMILY’S List. A human being answered. I asked for the development office. A human being answered. Wow. Not caught in voicemail hell!

The development officer immediately looked me up in the database. Quickly and efficiently. No referral to someone else!

I had renewed. She apologized very graciously and corrected the entry.

I wasn’t angry or even annoyed. Everyone makes mistakes. No big deal at all. Off I went to my appointments.

I returned home and there was a very gracious email apology. Then a couple hours later, a personal call from the chief development officer apologizing. That was so unnecessary. No need for another apology!!

And then… After apologizing to me personally, the chief development officer said: “Do you realize that in 4 more days, it will be the anniversary of your 20thyear as an EMILY’S LIST member? Thank you so much.”

What an amazing experience. Talk about a dopamine high! I tell everyone this story. I repeat this story over and over when presenting.

Thank you EMILY’S LIST. You gave my brain a dopamine high. You made me admire you even more.

February 19, 2018

Oh my gosh. I might be in love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Visit this site, Training for Change.

Training and capacity building organization for ACTIVISTS and ORGANIZERS!

Some cool trainings online. White People Confronting Racism. Advanced Online Training: When Things Go Wrong. And many more!

Tons of training tools in subjects like: 3rd Party Nonviolent Intervention. D-escalation & Peacekeeping. Diversity & Anti-Oppression. And more!

Bunches of publications: Opening Space for Democracy. The Sword That Heals. Towards a Living Revolution: A five-state framework for creating radical social change. And more!!!!!

And so much more. Wow. I am in love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Filed under: Resources / Research

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