Scarcity or abundance? What do we choose? Some time ago, I sat in a staff meeting, where the talk was all about scarcity. Not that anyone thought about it exactly that way. We thought were talking about how to be careful with spending, and about prudent choices about programming. We were talking about what we […]
Trademarked
Can a friend be trademarked? I received a solicitation in the mail the other day. I bet you’ve also gotten this one or one like it. It comes with many colorful address labels. And a nickel! What really made me laugh this time, though, was the salutation. They obviously knew my name, because it was […]
Letting Go
Letting go is hard. If you’re like me, you have a tendency to want to control as much as possible of your work life. That makes us good at what we do. You don’t want someone indifferent handling donor care – or data entry – right? But that’s a different dance when you’re working with […]
No thanks
Almost every day I receive an acknowledgment letter that misses the mark. We’ll call it a no thanks. But the one I received recently really offers a lesson in what not to do. Thank you fail It’s plainly generic, to begin with. Though my name and address appear on the letter, the salutation reads “Dear Friend”. […]
Work in Progress
I’m a work in progress. So are you! I’ve been a fundraiser for a long time. Yet I still think of myself more as a student, not a teacher. And I’ve been feeling a little guilty about that. Instead of just soaking all those smarts up, shouldn’t I add something? I’m going to try. I […]