Professional Skill Building
Anatomy of the Leadership Gift Phase
When you’re starting a capital campaign for your organization, it’s important to not only begin with the largest gifts, but also to recruit your top givers as leaders in the campaign. This is what we at CDS call the Leadership Gift Phase. The Leadership Gift Phase is the single most important activity of the campaign,…
Read MoreAn Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure
I work with many of non-profit organizations, and one thing I cannot help but fret is the lack of proper training and understanding in how to use computers and technology. Since so many non-profit organizations are terribly small, they usually have very tightly limited budgets. Unfortunately, this causes them to be “penny wise and pound…
Read MoreStructuring Your Capital Campaign Leadership
Inspirational leadership is imperative for any fundraising campaign! This leadership is not confined to one person, nor one campaign role. It is needed from at least three, or perhaps more, positions within a typical campaign organization. Read on to learn more about the different roles of capital campaign leadership and how their time, effort, energy,…
Read MoreHow to Cultivate Stronger Relationships
Good friendships get better with time, especially if you put in the work to nurture them. Likewise, to achieve success for your organization, it’s vital both to cultivate new potential connections and strengthen your existing ones. Read on to learn how to cultivate stronger relationships with your board members, donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders. Spark…
Read MoreThe Human Resource
Employees are a company’s greatest asset—after all, how much work would get done without them? Even with the greatest technology and resources at our fingertips, we still need people to utilize that technology to grow our business. We need that sharp administrator to log onto the computer to set appointments, do payroll, and manage employee…
Read MoreLife Is About Connections
Part I: Prologue Roughly a year ago, my desk was piled high with drafts and revisions for an application to the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) so that a client, Jumpstart Prison Ministry could be approved to receive low-income designated, affordable housing. Jumpstart is a group dedicated to preparing inmates to reenter society with the…
Read MoreStrategic Planning Pays Big Dividends
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. Michelangelo If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you?…
Read MoreAdding Value
Helping people become all they can be.
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