Borrowing can help a nonprofit move quickly, expand services, or seize an important opportunity. But what happens when today's debt limits tomorrow's mission? Loan payments don't disappear when donations decline, community needs change, or yesterday's strategy no longer makes sense. While borrowing can be appropriate, nonprofit leaders must weigh the immediate benefits against the long-term financial flexibility their organizations may sacrifice. Before signing a loan agreement, there's an important question to ask: Have we fully explored what philanthropy could make possible?
Read MoreIndependence has been the right choice for my consulting career, giving me the flexibility, professional satisfaction, and family time I value. But a recent collaboration with another consulting firm reminded me of something I hadn't realized I missed: having colleagues, exchanging ideas, and working alongside people who share a commitment to doing excellent work. The experience hasn't changed my mind about running a one-person firm, but it reinforced an important lesson: the people always make the difference. Sometimes, we can rediscover something we value without changing the life we've intentionally built.
Read MoreAmericans trust nonprofits far more than they trust philanthropy, but what explains that surprising gap? Perhaps people see nonprofits as familiar organizations doing meaningful work while associating philanthropy with wealthy donors, powerful foundations, and decisions made far from everyday life. If so, our profession may have a perception problem as much as a trust problem. Before we worry about rebuilding trust, we should ask a more fundamental question: Do people distrust philanthropy itself, or have we allowed the word to mean something very different from the generosity it represents?
Read MoreDo you really need a large development department to raise significant philanthropic dollars? Many nonprofit leaders assume they do, but smaller organizations may have advantages that bigger institutions struggle to replicate. Direct access to leadership, close connections to mission, and more personal donor relationships to name a few. The real challenge isn't how many fundraisers you employ. It's how wisely you invest their time, how you engage your board, and whether you have the discipline to prioritize relationships over activities that don't deliver. A small team may have fewer resources, but that doesn't mean it has to think small.
Read MoreWarren Buffett built a trillion-dollar business empire, but his most enduring accomplishment is something no balance sheet can measure: the trust he earned over decades. From helping leaders navigate difficult decisions to stepping forward when financial markets were in crisis, Buffett demonstrated that credibility is built through discipline, honesty, and long-term perspective. For those in philanthropy, his example raises an important question: Are we building donor relationships that can withstand uncertainty? Or are we focused only on the next transaction? Sometimes the greatest return on an investment is the confidence others place in us.
Read MoreA donor makes a major gift, the check arrives, and then… nothing. For more than 90 days, a very large check sat untouched in a finance department because no one knew what to do with it. And no one asked for help. It is a powerful reminder that fundraising doesn't end when the donor says yes; every department has a role in protecting the trust that made the gift possible. Getting the gift may be our job, but honoring the gift is everyone's responsibility.
Read MoreWhy are community foundations seeing such significant growth? Investment performance is part of the answer, but there may be something deeper happening. People want to make a difference where they live. Donors want more than confirmation that their gift was received. They want to see what changed because they gave, especially in the communities and among the people they already care about. For fundraisers, that creates an important challenge: stop talking only about what your organization needs and start showing donors what their generosity can change in the place they call home.
Read MoreHealthcare organizations expect philanthropy to generate transformational revenue, yet the CEO is often left outside the donor relationship. Fundraisers can build the strategy, cultivate the prospect, and manage the process, but at the highest levels, donors also want to understand the vision and leadership of the institution they are being asked to support. If philanthropy is truly an organizational priority, CEO engagement cannot simply happen when the operational calendar allows it. The question is bigger than fundraising performance. It is whether healthcare leaders are willing to treat philanthropy as part of their leadership responsibility.
Read MoreThe parenting paradox: the better we prepare our children for adulthood, the less we should need to do for them. It is tempting to solve the problem, send the email, explain the situation, or prevent the mistake, but sometimes stepping in is exactly what keeps our kids from learning. Responsibility looks different at 13 than it does at 9, but the goal is the same: gradually helping our children take ownership of their own lives. The hard part for parents is knowing when to help and when to step back.
Read MoreDoing the right thing is easy to talk about and much harder to practice when it costs us something. Sometimes helping someone means giving away time, money, convenience, or opportunity without any expectation of getting something in return. The test of our values is if we do something when nobody is watching and when there is no obvious benefit to us. If something good comes back six months later, be grateful for it; just never make that the reason you did the right thing in the first place.
Read MoreLeadership is not about proving you are the smartest person in the room. Leaders who constantly criticize, second-guess, and diminish others may look confident from the outside, but often their behavior reveals deep insecurity. The damage can be enormous: creativity disappears, talented employees leave, and good people begin questioning their own abilities. Great leaders build confidence by developing others, because leadership should elevate people, not diminish them.
Read MoreInflation rarely arrives as one dramatic event. It reveals itself in an $800 flight, a familiar dinner that suddenly costs twice as much, or a pharmacist quietly asking whether a higher prescription price is still affordable. Those accumulating costs shape more than household budgets. They influence how people give, what they postpone, and whether they remain visible on a donor list. Before fundraisers interpret a smaller gift or a missed year as fading loyalty, we may need to look beyond our institutional lens and consider the financial pressure donors are carrying.
Read MorePolitical advertising season is coming, and I am already tired of being told why every candidate’s opponent is apparently the worst person in America. Negative ads may be part of the political game, but voters deserve something more useful: What are you going to do? Tell me what problem you want to solve, how you plan to solve it, and why I should believe you can make things better. And if the next few months become as exhausting as expected, a beer commercial with two Clydesdales walking through the snow may start looking downright inspirational.
Read MoreThe fundraising world may finally be catching up with an idea that has been around for years: some of the best donor events are not really fundraising events at all. Smaller, personal gatherings can create something a ballroom full of people rarely can, genuine relationships with the mission and with the people leading it. The goal isn't to get a check that night; it is to create the kind of connection that can eventually lead to transformational philanthropy. Sometimes the smartest fundraising strategy is to leave the pledge cards at the office.
Read MoreAI is not going away, and schools cannot realistically educate students by pretending it does not exist. The challenge is finding the line between using AI as a learning tool and allowing it to substitute for the intellectual work education is supposed to develop. Students still need to write, research, reason, solve problems, and occasionally struggle without a machine doing the work for them. The technology will change quickly, but the fundamental goal of education should not: use AI to help students learn without allowing it to replace learning itself.
Read MoreBoard members can be some of a nonprofit's most valuable fundraising assets, but that does not necessarily mean they should be the ones asking for the money. In organizations with professional fundraising staff, board members are often most effective when they open doors, build credibility, share their personal connection, and deepen relationships alongside development professionals. The board member brings access and authenticity; the fundraiser brings expertise, timing, judgment, and donor strategy.
Read MoreTravel has a way of reminding us that the best part of a trip is often getting home. Canceled flights, impossible traffic, airport chaos, and changing plans can turn a straightforward journey into an exhausting exercise in problem-solving. The lesson is not to expect travel to go smoothly, but to prepare for the moments when it doesn't. Because after the meetings, the delays, and the frustration, the destination that matters most is still home.
Read MoreExecutive compensation should reward leadership, but employment contracts should also protect the institutions making those investments. Utah's approach to requiring public university presidents to repay money when they voluntarily leave early raises an important question: why should contractual accountability run only one direction? Talented leaders deserve competitive compensation, but organizations deserve meaningful protection when a leader chooses to leave. Good contracts should balance both.
Read MoreHow does a foundation remain faithful to its founder while responding to a world the founder could never have imagined? The answer is not in preserving old grantmaking patterns, but in preserving the purpose behind them. Donor intent should guide foundations toward enduring values while allowing the methods used to achieve those values to evolve with knowledge, circumstances, and need.
Read MoreTechnology has made it easier than ever to communicate, collaborate, and work from almost anywhere. But technology cannot create the relationships that make organizations stronger. A leadership retreat reminded me that some of the most valuable moments happen between the agenda items, when people share stories, discover common ground, and begin to see others as people rather than job titles. In an increasingly digital workplace, getting people together may be more important than ever.
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