Building Relationships Beyond the Ask One of the biggest misconceptions in fundraising is the belief that donor conversations begin when an organization needs money. In reality, the strongest donor relationships are often built before a gift is ever discussed. They...
What Happens After the Event One spring, I helped create dessert social featuring Miss Oklahoma. The event wasn’t a fundraiser. There were no pledge cards, sponsorship asks, or campaign presentations. Ladies came for the yummy desserts, visited Miss Oklahoma and...
Why Filling a Room Is Never Just About the Event One of the questions I get asked most often after a successful event is, “How did you do that?” People usually assume the answer has something to do with the topic, the speaker, the marketing, or the...
Making connections in the In-Between Times is a winning strategy. Early in my career, I worked for a mentor who shared a piece of advice that has stayed with me for decades. He said, “It’s what you do when you don’t have to do anything that puts you...
“How Did You Do That?” A few years ago, I had coffee with a friend who was discouraged because the events she was producing were not very well attended. Leadership in her organization kept pointing back to a previous decade when participation seemed easier and...
