The Board Report That Cuts Through the Noise Issue #015 This week's strategic brief (4-minute read) Hello Reader, Your brilliant strategy might be sitting unread on page 47 of a 75-page board book. You’ll get 12 minutes of presentation time once a year, maybe twice. The rest of the time, your written words must do the heavy lifting. That reality demands a completely different approach than the chief fundraisers who present monthly. I learned this when a board member told me: “I read your...
10 days ago • 3 min read
From Database Chaos to Strategic Intelligence Issue #014 This week's strategic brief (4-minute read) Hi Reader, Most chief fundraisers organize their database wrong. They choose volume over value. That mistake kills your ability to focus on the relationships that actually drive revenue growth. I saw it in our own pipeline review: over 600,000 contacts in our CRM. But less than 7,000 deserved attention. Once we reorganized around decision-making instead of data collection, our team knew...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Creating Advancement Paths for Top Performers Issue #013 This week's strategic brief (3-minute read) Your best fundraiser just asked about “next steps.” The problem? In most nonprofits, the only ladder leads to management. But last week’s issue showed why that’s often a mistake. I learned this the hard way. I once promoted a million-dollar fundraiser into a director role. Six months later, they were frustrated, the team was disengaged, and revenue dipped. They didn’t want to manage. They...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Why Your Best Fundraiser Shouldn't Be Your Major Gifts Director Issue #012 This week's strategic brief (5-minute read) Your best fundraiser probably shouldn't be your Major Gifts Director. Here’s why: the skills that close big gifts rarely translate into building high-performing teams. Yet chief fundraisers keep making this mistake. We promote star producers into management because we lack a clear way to separate doers from managers. The fix is a simple system I now use before every...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The 10 Leadership Shifts Every Chief Fundraiser Must Make Issue #011 This week's strategic brief (5-minute read) The chief fundraisers who double contribution revenue don’t just work harder. They make 10 big leadership shifts that separate them from those who stall. After 30+ years leading teams, and now growing from $8M to $27M, I’ve seen where most chief fundraisers get stuck and what the successful ones do differently. The breakthrough is simple: the skills that got you to $10M become...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The 3-Hour Quarterly That Turns Fundraising Plans into Results Issue #010 This week's strategic brief (4-minute read) Most quarterly planning sessions fail because they try to solve everything in one marathon session. The compressed 3-hour format I've developed creates more strategic clarity and better execution than all-day retreats. The key insight: time constraints force focus on what matters. My management team completes our quarterly planning in three hours. Six people. We identify our...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
How Level 10 Meetings Transformed Our Development Team Issue #009 This week's strategic brief (5-minute read) Thursday at 1:00 p.m. sharp. My development team meets for our weekly Level 10. By 2:00 pm, we've identified opportunities to engage two top corporate donors, agreed on the next step for a cultivation plan for a foundation, and everyone knows priorities. No rambling updates. No lost decisions. Last week, a reader told me: “Our team meetings feel like chaos. We talk about everything...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
A 30-Minute Agenda to Grow Capacity Issue #008 This week's strategic brief (5-minute read) Tuesday, 3:04 p.m. Teams Chat #17 pops up on your screen: “Can you approve this $50K prospect plan?” You hired a Director of Individual Gifts so decisions would leave your desk. Yet here they are, every day. Sound familiar? Last week I asked which “system” is slowing your growth. Nobody blamed dashboards or CRMs. You pointed to people problems: “My team brings me every decision.” “Our 1:1s feel like...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
How to Choose the Systems to Fix First Issue #007 This week’s strategic brief (5-minute read) Heads up: There’s a free kit at the end of this issue to help you apply today’s framework. Don’t miss it! Years ago, after a major campaign, I missed a major gift renewal because a donor’s pledge fell through the cracks. The thank-you letter went out late. No follow-up call was made. And when I finally reached out, the donor had already committed elsewhere. Not because they didn’t care—because they...
2 months ago • 3 min read