A colleague who has spent her career at large, well-resourced nonprofits was complaining about a recent event she attended. The purpose of the event was to match potential board members with nonprofits needing new board members. The problem according to my colleague? The potential board members were all inappropriate—too young, too unconnected, too little financial… Read more
Author Archives: JLevine
Uncertainty
Recently, Tom Backer of the Valley Nonprofit Resources asked me to be part of their “uncertainly initiative.” Anything Tom asks me to do I say yes to not just because I consider him a friend but mainly because he is so smart, so innovative and so important to the nonprofit sector. As a person who… Read more
Where You Want to Go and How You Want to Grow
Setting fundraising goals too often means the board telling staff—you did great (or not so great!) this year. Increase that next year by 10%. But that’s a little like my spouse telling me he expects that next year, Janet Levine Consulting—which is actually just me–should bring in 10% more than it did this year. Well, to… Read more
Moving Donors Up the Pyramid
My favorite definition of successful fundraising is that it is the right person asking the right prospect to support the right project for the right amount at the right time in the right way. Major gift fundraising is all about getting these rights, well right. And the right way to do that, is to get… Read more