SCENE: A couple of weeks ago at a national conference. I’m doing the slow crowd-waddle out of the plenary ballroom with hundreds of my fellow philanthropy professionals when I find myself next to a silverhaired Old-Timer whom I’ve known since I joined the field six years ago. ME: Wow, kind of amazing that they’re trying […]
Today I had the privilege of joining a panel of philanthropy leaders on “Sustainability: Insights from the Experts.” We were invited to share our thoughts on sustainable fundraising with a roomful of small and medium-sized nonprofit grantees of a large national organization. The national org invited us to their annual convening because of course they aren’t […]
I’ve been back from the #2018GEO conference for days but I’m still unpacking all the inspiration and desperation that so many funders and organizers poured forth from their personal experience of the inequity and injustice that haunt our country, our communities, and our sector. I’ll be working on this for years, but let me start by sharing […]
Swept away at yesterday’s #2018GEO sessions by inspired speakers holding up a mirror to philanthropy’s responsibilities and practices around equity and racial justice. I couldn’t post and feel at same time, so here’s a roundup of a few well-aimed arrows I managed to jot down that hit me the hardest in the heart: “Your CEO should be […]
Homemade scones, mismatched cups and broken clocks from Goodwill, plastic roses and foofy pens from dollar store, stacks and stacks of my beloved childhood books… and a packed agenda which my brilliant staff co-led to successful completion. Another happy and productive quarterly themed retreat!
I am where I need to be today, apparently. Just received the gift of these words from Tara Houska of the Ojibwe Tribe, reflecting back to me why I’ve recently been immersing myself in the historical and contemporary reality of racism in the US: “Because you cannot transition to justice without first knowing the truth […]
Dammit, I did it again. I completely missed the point. Heart was open, eyes were closed. Want to see if you do better than I did? So there I am, visiting LURN with some of my Southern California Leadership Network Leadership LA cohort on Friday. Merced, who is one of their clients, comes in to talk about the successful […]
As a member of the advisory committee for the LA County Center for Financial Empowerment, I had the honor of speaking today on the “Meet the Funders” panel at the CFE’s first-ever Financial Capability Summit. Here’s the session description – if this looks interesting to you, read on for the specific questions our moderator asked […]
I’ve told this story for a dozen years. It was deeply meaningful to me. But I just recently realized I was telling it all wrong. Because I got the meaning deeply wrong. If you’ve heard me share this story before a few months ago, I’d like to set the record straight now: In 2005, I […]
Honored to be invited to speak on a panel of development and communications experts at a Southern California Edison convening of fantastic local nonprofits. I believe in Fundraising from the Heart, and I did my best to share everything I could pack into a 10 minute powerpoint about storytelling, challenge matches, and the heartbreak of […]