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Happy Valentine’s Day!  Have you seen this labr-adorable gem kicking around the interwebs?Just too sweet for words, right? And anybody who’s ever raised a Labrador puppy knows that was a split second of cute amidst a fury of scrambling, petting, biting, jumping and many other gerunds as well. Last time we talked about data needing…

We’ll come back to the discussion about Why Data is Like a Labrador Retriever after this brief digression. Facebook Live.  Anybody using it in Fundraising?  Annual Fund? John Haydon is one of those fundraising/digital marketing gurus who should be on your go-to list.  He’s got some great pointers for using it on a blog over…

How are Fundraising Databases Like a Labrador Retriever?  Reason #1 – They need Rules, Structure and Consistency This is Barclay at eight weeks old: [wpvideo nvg7x9gC] That was a tough year . . . Dogs, especially new puppies, need rules, structure and boundaries.  And everybody in the “pack” needs to follow the same rules, otherwise…

These are Labrador Retrievers: To be specific, these are MY Labrador Retrievers – left-to-right:  Oliver, Barclay and Tucker Buck-White, aka The Buck-White Boys. Labrador Retrievers – or labs – have been the most popular dog in the United States for twenty-five years.  They’re great, great dogs – especially these three knuckleheads. Bred to work in…

Behind every successful program a nonprofit does, there’s a fundraiser. Behind every political campaign, there’s a fundraiser. Behind new buildings and programs and scholarships and endowments, there’s a fundraiser. Behind every donor, there’s a fundraiser. And fundraisers make it all about the donors. How awesome is that?  What other profession gets to see dreams come…

Did you take some downtime this holiday season?  Rest is good.  R&R is required. It’s good to get away, think about other things, give the gray matter time to chill and rejuvenate. If you didn’t – do.  It’s worth it.  You’ll be better for it. And so will your donors. We talk about resting lists…

I’ve just finished signing 617 Thanksgiving cards. My own name has taken on semantic satiation.  BUT, I really became aware of the phrases we use to express gratitude: “Thank You” “We are grateful” “Thanks!” Those are all first-person statements.  “Thank You” is a truncation of “I/We Thank You.”  So even gratitude becomes about me and…

Here in Las Vegas we’re technically a day late – National Philanthropy Day is officially celebrated on November 15th.  Hey, the space wasn’t available – Blessed are the Flexible. Feels like it couldn’t come at a better time.  We are looking forward to pausing for a couple of hours and honoring the great work in…

I attend a fair number of webinars, training sessions and conferences.  I find them rejuvenating, encouraging, stimulating and I always walk away with something I can use or put into practice.  And I really get a lot of energy from being around other fundraisers, annual fund people and smart, energetic, passionate people. The Nonprofit Storytelling…

No preamble, right to the list on this one . . .  This really is the best conference out there.  Other conferences look at it and go, “Dang, that’s the conference I want to go to; A human brain can only handle so much Tom Ahern in one day because it just cannot process that…