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I don’t want to throw cold water on your fine day, but it is reasonable to start thinking about the inevitable economic downturn that may be just over the horizon.  Markets are cyclical and that means there are regular recessions every seven-ten years. Recent history includes downturns around the 1986 tax reform, the dotcom bust of the late 1990s, 9/11’s aftermath, and the burst of the housing bubble in 2008-2009.

It has become clear to me after working with many dozens of organizations and training on building major donor portfolios, that the word “portfolio” means many different things to advancement professionals.  I will try and capture the range of definitions being applied in the field.

There is a BIG question you can ask your CEO and your board that can define the readiness and help position your organization to raise real money.  The answer will help you to define your next strategic advancement moves and/or your next career move. The BIG question to leadership is “what would you do with […]

We all want to be satisfied in our job and to look forward to the work ahead when our feet hit the floor in the morning.  The people I meet who once worked in the private (shareholder) sector and migrated to the nonprofit (stakeholder) sector often say they did so because of a lack of job satisfaction in their prior position.  “It was always only about making money.”