Sometimes you can choose when to fall in love It feels wonderful to be in love. Colors are brighter, sounds are sweeter. You know, all that pop song stuff. But it’s a dangerous thing to fall in love with your own writing. Or with your own organization. Don’t get me wrong – you want to […]
Say thank you like you mean it
Don’t settle for a boring, emotion-free thank you. I picked up my mail the other day and opened an envelope from a well-respected advocacy organization. It was an acknowledgment of my recent gift. And it was so disappointing! Mentally, I went through a list of failures in one letter: My husband’s name was spelled incorrectly. […]
Your killer advantage: great customer service
A customer service story Do your donors feel like this? The other night, my husband called my cell phone. “Are you home?” he asked, puzzled. “Yes”, I answered, just as confused. Apparently, he’d been trying our home line and getting no answer. I checked, and yes, our line was dead. I tried to call AT&T, […]
The power of one
You’ve probably been hearing the story of young Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old girl with end-stage cystic fibrosis. She’s in desperate need of a lung transplant. Without one, she isn’t likely to survive the next couple of weeks. But transplant rules don’t allow her to move to the front of the line – before adults and […]
A small big thing… and lessons learned
I’d like to share a couple of lessons learned. Long, long ago in a galaxy far away, I took my first fundraising job. I had run a department at another nonprofit theater – managing a full-time staff of 25. So in a way, it felt like I’d been knocked down a few pegs. But I didn’t […]