The Five P’s of Leadership

There are whole libraries full of things that tell you what to do about leadership and how to remember what’s important. Here’s another short edition to that library – the 5 P’s of leadership. They are:

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Capital Campaign Essentials: The Case Statement

There are four essential elements to every successful capital campaign. In our Capital Campaign Essentials series, we provide a quick overview of each of these four elements so that you can successfully grow your organization’s fundraising influence. This article focuses on defining a case and teaching you how to build a case statement. Check out…

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Capital Campaign Preparation

So you’ve decided to conduct a capital campaign on behalf of your organization. This campaign and its success will help determine its future effectiveness in providing services consistent with your organization’s mission and purpose. You’ve taken all the appropriate steps, including a comprehensive feasibility study to ensure that your base of support is ready, willing,…

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Pareto’s Principle – The 80-20 Rule

Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian economist who, in 1906, observed that twenty percent of the Italian people owned eighty percent of their country’s accumulated wealth. Over time and through application in a variety of environments, this analytic has come to be called Pareto’s Principle, the 80-20 Rule, and the “Vital Few and Trivial Many…

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Guide to Creating a Major Donor Rating Chart, Part 2

Last month, we advocated in the Fundraising Free Press that organizations cull their databases and speak with board members about people who could be major donors. To get very practical, we offer in this article a sample spreadsheet with commentary to – hopefully – make clear how to do the science of rating and then how…

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The Campaign Cabinet Gets the Campaign Moving

Your nonprofit organization has decided to take the plunge and begin a capital campaign to raise $5 to $6 million. You have just retained Custom Development Solutions (CDS) to direct your Feasibility Study to help determine the timing and size of the campaign. Now you’ll begin to use the capital campaign plan which was the…

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The Big Gift — The Impossible Dream, or Is It?

Non-profit organizations spend most of their time responding to immediate pressures and crises, focusing a great deal on the short term. It seems as though time spent dreaming about huge contributions is a luxury many development professionals cannot afford. Nonetheless, focusing on the day-to-day needs of the organization should not prevent you from planning for…

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