Categories
Take the Grandparent Challenge and Let the Grandkids Tag Along
A morning walk triggered a fond memory in early June, mid-sixties. The water was cold as I jumped into the shallow end of the pool. My grandmother, slowly walking down the pool steps, declared it unusually cold for an early June morning. We were up early for her morning swim
How to Give Well When a Nonprofit is in Transition
A recent five-hour drive to my dad’s home was more than enough time for thoughts to drift in and out about work over the last several weeks. First, there was a phone conversation with a couple exploring a list of nonprofits and navigating how to make large donations to safe,
How Do You Know If Your Last One-third Has Started?
What if today is the beginning of the last one-third of your life? How will you define success for that last one-third? Generosity or zeroes in the bank? I recently read an article about giving in the last one-third of a lifetime. The writer, Bruce Deboskey, a well-known philanthropy consultant,
How Do You Slow Nonprofit Traffic in Your Mailbox?
Frankly, I’m stumped. A friend asked how to get nonprofit organizations to stop sending information, invites and fundraising letters. What makes this a complicated question, and what I explained to my friend, is that nonprofits learn a relationship with a donor takes more than one connection – more than one
Questions You Should Ask Before Donating to Scale an Idea
If it’s such a great idea why aren’t they doing it everywhere? Or maybe it sounds like this; it’s an incredible idea. It should be in every school, neighborhood or every community. Sometimes it even sounds like this. I just had a phone call from someone in California or Mississippi
Yes, I STILL Love This Work!
As I sit here in our NEW Your Philanthropy office space surrounded by boxes needing to be unpacked, it is hard for me to believe this journey started five years ago. And now I’m looking to the next five and what’s next for Your Philanthropy. Today, I looked back and
How to Dig into a Nonprofit’s Numbers
Paul Harvey might have left us ten years ago, but the rest of the story has never gone away. Growing up on AM radio meant that I listened to Paul Harvey talk about the news of the day and heard his fascinating The Rest of the Story segments almost daily.
How to Give from the Heart and Still Be Smart
Walking to the front of the room I knew I had one job to accomplish. I needed to thank officers, welcome new board members and especially turn the reins over to the new board chair. But as I turned to face the audience, it separated into the faces of spouses,
Tips to Answer Your Question “Are the kids ready?”
This story captured my imagination. I’ll tell you why shortly. First, the story. A certain farmer had become old and ready to pass his farm down to one of his two sons. When he brought his sons together to speak about it, he told them, “The farm will go to