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A few months back, I shared a story about a fundraising caller who hung up on me. I was ready to talk to him about my family’s philanthropy, but the paid caller had something different in mind, so he hung up on me, before he learned that I cared about his cause. Bad customers service, [...]
Houston hedge fund manager John Arnold, a major force behind Enron’s once-mighty energy trading operation and one of the city’s richest men, has decided to retire — at 38. Arnold is No 3 on Houston’s list of billionaires, behind Rich Kinder and Jeffrey Hildebrand, with an estimated net worth of about $3.5 billion. His decision [...]
The Giving Pledge has announced that twelve more families have signed on to the campaign, bringing the total number of pledge signatories to eighty-one. New signatories include Bill and Karen Ackman, Steve Bing, Arthur M. Blank, Edgar M. Bronfman, Glenn and Eva Dubin, Red and Charline McCombs, Michael Moritz and Harriet Heyman, Elon Musk, John [...]
Fundraising operations is tough business. You must carefully balance accuracy, speed, and volume issues. The details are mundane and the technology is complex. Last week, I had a chance to share 8 secrets to spinning like a top via the AFP webinar series. I had a lot of fun crafting the session. It was also [...]
A lot of titles have been hung on this town. It was called the “Silicon Hills” as its technology business grew in 1990s. The blues bars on Sixth Street like to call it the “live-music capital of the world.” And a local business group just wants to keep Austin “weird.” But the capital of Texas [...]
Most of us have heard of the Pareto Principle, or the 80-20 rule (80% of production comes from 20% of the resources). For years, philanthropy experts have used this economics principle from Vilfredo Pareto to explain why so much giving comes from so few people. Of course, for many of the “best” fundraising organizations, that ratio [...]
A new financial institution set up by the UK government to finance charities and community groups has been launched. Big Society Capital has £600m, of which the majority comes from unused cash in bank accounts that had been dormant for more than 15 years. The fund will back social enterprises that prove they can repay [...]
Dr. Seuss, who wasn’t really a doctor at all, would probably be tickled to know that a prestigious medical school has been named after him. Dartmouth College announced Wednesday that its medical school will be known from now on as the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine. Theodor Seuss Geisel was Dr. Seuss’ real [...]
Americans want their voices heard when it comes to issues about which they are passionate. Online advocacy actions grew at a solid 17 percent clip from 2010 to 2011, according to The Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study. The fastest growing sectors, each at more than 29 percent, are: Animal Welfare, Environment & Wildlife [...]
Competition in the fundraising software marketplace has yielded some big changes and some even bigger questions. Organizations are increasingly asking the “should I stay or should I go” question, no matter what system they’ve implemented. Questions of which vendor, which product, and with what impact and effects can be difficult to answer these days. Corporate [...]
