Embarking on a major campaign can be intimidating. It is a huge, often multi-year endeavor, and you have just one chance to execute it properly. But there are tried and true methods to perfecting campaigns, and if your organization has not started a capital or endowment campaign recently, now is the time to seriously consider it. The campaign marketplace is ripe due to today’s philanthropic trends.

In my career as a fundraising and development professional and consultant, and as a mother myself, I have found so often that a mother’s best advice is development’s best advice. As moms, we have a little saying for everything to help our children remember the important life lessons we teach them, and many of these sayings work perfectly for adult development professionals looking for counsel or answers.

We’ve been talking about having a “culture of philanthropy” in the nonprofit world for a very long time. We’re still talking about it. But why? Why is it still so prevalent in the philanthropic conversation? Because we haven’t quite figured it out yet.

Far too often, it can be a comic and tragic reality that we mistake relationships for something we work to cultivate and not something we work to develop and nurture. Nonprofits do not have the luxury of being able to make this mistake.

It can be the best of years; it can be the worst of years, but 2022 is our year. What happens in the next 12 months is up to us to deal with, overcome, and hopefully we will celebrate the hand we are dealt. Without further ado, please enjoy my (foggy) crystal ball view of 2022.

Recently I have been reflecting and refreshing my perspective on Penelope Burk’s ongoing research dedicated to evidence-based approaches to donor retention and raising more money to support missions of nonprofit organizations throughout the world.

Are you open to new opportunities along the path to nonprofit leadership? None of us know exactly where our journey will take us, but advice from Bob Carter, the guest on episode #95 of the Path Podcast, will certainly help.

Historically, nothing drives charitable giving like disasters, whether natural or economic. During disasters, both the need for help and the desire to help are amplified. That holds true with the current COVID-19 crisis.

As we face the most active hurricane season in recent history, I’ve come to learn that as leaders, being proactive is our best way to contribute. Make no mistake, I am not a disaster management specialist. I am, unfortunately, a disaster fundraising expert.

As a consultant focused on philanthropic leadership, I talk to people nearly every day who say they want to give generously to important organizations in their community, but they don’t know where to start. That paralysis of indecision often leads to an ungratifying giving experience, potential donors giving less, or not giving at all.