The Philanthropy Network Blog

As a veteran fundraiser, I’ve lived through a fair share of disruption: The ‘98 Asian Financial Crisis, The 2000 Election, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina (my wife and I were living in New Orleans at the time), the 2008 Great Recession.  You’d think that  this uncertainty thing would be familiar territory by now.  And yet coronavirus has us drinking from uniquely powerful firehose of doubt.  And when there is so much doubt, it’s tempting to sit back and wait for something concrete, for the fog to lift, for the storm to lift before taking action in any direction. But for organizations that depend on philanthropy, we can’t sit still. And the ones who focus on creatively strengthening engagement and stewardship programs, sharpen and differentiate their storytelling, and boldly craft new initiatives can come out of the darkness stronger than ever, more engaged than ever, with a willing and capable body of enthusiastic supporters ready to build on your already bold vision. Even s...

Remember parties?   Seems like a distant memory right?  But at one time parties did actually exist, and when they did I would people would ask me what I do for a living. And when I answered “I’m a professional fundraiser” the conversation nearly always turned to crowdfunding:   Kickstarter .  GoFundMe .  IndieGoGo . These platforms have democratized fundraising in ways never before possible.  They’re intuitive, easy to use, but man is it a crowded space!  Fortunately, I had the thrilling chance to serve as an informal advisor in the early days of  GiveCorps , prior to their acquisition by The Network for Good . So when the party conversation turns to crowdfunding, my answer is always the same, and in the spirit of sharing (And in the absence of parties), welcome to  Seven Steps to Mastering your GoFundMe Campaign: Somebody is about to ask about Crowdfunding... 1. Do not be afraid! The feeling in the pit of your stomach?...

  The best part about working on the frontiers of scientific research is that you get to talk with donors about solutions.   Solutions to climate change. Solutions to cancer.  Solutions to water shortages.  Global WiFi provided by a network of low altitude geostationary satellites.  Being a fundraising professional for three global research powerhouses meant surfing the endless frontier of human progress.   But what I also loved most about working in scientific fundraising was that I got to make the case - day after day after day - for why donors should support projects and programs with current use dollars, rather than through endowments.  I would reason that the problems facing researchers today, from physicists and biologists to social scientists and even historians, are remarkably complex, requiring sustained, high intensity inputs to create the necessary escape velocity towards real solutions.  Besides, once a given problem is solved, the end...

When David and Jennifer Risher announced their decision to launch The #HalfmyDAF movement, I was immediately compelled to reach out to them to say thank you (and politely suggest that they didn't go far enough!).  Even without going The Full Monty , to me the Rishers and the #HalfmyDAF movement is the best thing to happen to philanthropy since on-line giving.   First, some context: The Donor Advised Fund was designed for donors who, for timing purposes, needed to make a tax-advantaged donation, but essentially did not know where to give the money and did not have a private foundation.  It has existed in some form since the 1930s, and over the ensuing decades, favorable legislation designed to prevent the proliferation of administratively expensive private foundations (which can be tracked via this handy dandy PDF at the Council of Foundations ) lead to the creation of the DAF, which by 2019 was the fastest-growing charitable vehicle in the US - an unintended consequ...

In 2007, I was the Regional Director for the MidAmerica Region in the Office of Leadership Giving at MIT when my wife accepted a job at a prestigious law firm in Portland, Maine. At the time I faced a choice: leave MIT, or pitch a "telecommuting" arrangement that would allow me to continue my career at the Institute. Rather than leave what at the time was my dream job, I started working with the MIT Office of Work & Family Life, the MIT Ombudsman's office, and my supervisor, I crafted a proposal to pilot a remote work arrangement. MIT agreed to a 6-month "trial".  A decade at MIT and 13 years as a remote advancement professional later, here we are - all working remotely together. I started my trial period at MIT as a single major gifts contributor and grew my responsibilities to include regional leadership and talent management, to eventually leading all capital fundraising for MIT.nano, then the largest basic research project in MIT History. At MIT I cultiv...

That's no moon. It's a space station. -Obi-wan Kenobi OK so you're about 14 days into your involuntary mobile worklife. If you're lucky, you've created a reasonably sound, functional work routine, connected with your staff, colleagues, bosses and friends, upgraded your at-home tech footprint, and found some continuity in terms of your own productivity. You have a strong sense of what to do when you start your day, a predictable re-entry plan for the end, and in between - well, you're figuring it out. Moreover, if you're like me, you're also grappling with the likely long-term reality of your kids on some distance learning platforms (mine are learning on BlueJeans, SplashMath, Duolingo, and Google Docs), a spouse or partner at home with you (my wife, a law partner, is working from an adjacent space), and your usually calm pets confined with the family, absorbing the stress in the house, feeling needy, and reacting to new family routines. So over...