The Philanthropy Revolution

As nonprofit leaders, we’re often thinking about the impact our organizations make among the people we serve. But what about philanthropy’s impact on major advances for civilization?

Join me as I take a trip through history and tell the stories of major advances that were (not so obviously) powered by philanthropy.

In this episode, I want to talk to you about my state of fundraising report. Every year we send out a survey to all the people in our community and ask them about how their fundraising is going, what they're doing, where they're seeing success, and then tabulate it all and send it out. We were going to send that out later this week, but you guys are the first ones who get to see it.

What Sleeping Giants am I talking about??

DATA!!!

Yep, that 4 letter word that makes all our heads swim. But research has shown again and again that using donor data strategically dramatically increases giving!Come hang out with me as I talk about how to use data to maximize your annual appeal revenue!!

My friend Tom Ahern joins me this session!

Tom is a Communications Expert and Fundraising Copywriter. We'll be discussing how to use your words to leverage more (and HIGHER) donations!

It's a conversation you won't want to miss!

The Philanthropy Revolution E8: CANDY- The Kind You Don't Want To Eat!

In this episode, I want to talk about CANDY – but it’s not the kind you want to eat!

CANDY stands for:

Chasing

Annual

New

Donors

Yearly

It’s not sweet, and it doesn’t satisfy any sort of craving!

I want to ask you:

Are your donors tuned in?

Turned on?

Do you even know?

If not, they’re not likely to renew – or increase -- their gift!

Come hang out with me to learn more!!

What I’ve learned during my 35 years in fundraising is that good technical skills are important. BUT what’s going to affect the outcome of your fundraising efforts above all else are your attitudes about money. Tune in as I debunk Scarcity Mindset!!

Rev. Jared Slack comes to The Other Ones Foundation after 17 years of service in an area church. Most recently, he was the Pastor for Missional and Spiritual Formation at The First Baptist Church of Austin where his wife still works and he remains a very content parishioner.

Jared brings with him a gift for effective communication and a passion for offering others the opportunity to participate in the vision and mission of The Other Ones Foundation.

The Other Ones Foundation is an organization working to eliminate the homeless crisis in Austin, TX through community based in kinship!!

Join us to find out about the HUGE impact they're having!!!

The nonprofit sector is often referred to as the Third Sector – the 1st being corporations, the 2nd being government. We’re often thought of as less important or less impactful than the other two sectors, but in fact, the nonprofit sector is responsible for the quality of life we experience in the US and makes huge contributions to our economy.  

DID YOU KNOW…  

Nonprofits employ 12.3 million people and the sector’s payroll ($826 billion!) exceeding those of most other US industries, including construction, transportation and finance! Yes, FINANCE!  

YOU – and other mission-driven workers -- pay taxes on salaries, sales taxes on purchases, and property taxes, which is another significant contribution to the US economy.  

Nonprofit organizations that provide care for children and the elderly enable family members to work outside the home.   

Mission-driven organizations (aka nonprofits) provide job training and placement services for people who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed.  

Mission-driven organizations consume goods and services that drive the economy and create more jobs and spend nearly $1 trillion annually for goods and services, ranging from significant expenses like medical equipment to everyday purchases such as office supplies, food, utilities, and rent.  

Mission-driven organizations contribute to our quality of life and make communities more attractive places in which to live and work.  

Let’s not confuse frugality with morality.  

“Overhead” is not a dirty word! In this episode, find out what overhead is, how it’s calculated, and why focusing on overhead is holding us back, keeping us small, and preventing us from fulfilling our mission at a higher level. And, I bet you’ll be surprised where our obsession with “overhead” comes from!

In Episode 3, we explore the possibilities when we focus on philanthropy vs. fundraising, talk about relational vs. transactional fundraising, and some of the ways we can give/receive more love at our nonprofits! 

In this episode, I discuss some of the reasons that contribute to nonprofits' struggle to raise money and what we can do differently to change that!

In the inaugural episode, I discuss the current state of philanthropy, and why it's time for a revolution! What I discussed:

• My recent trip to India, and my experience of serving as volunteer at a temple, where we fed 100,000 people!
• My beliefs about the power of philanthropy
• The current state of philanthropy in the US and what we can do to improve it.

Finally, I made a call to arms, encouraging you all to join me in the Philanthropy Revolution!