I had just completed a strategic planning process involving board members and staff, and the board chairman had finished studying the strategic plan. He was not one to read a lot or put up with much process. He usually knew what he wanted and was known for getting things done, regardless of what might stand [...]
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I received a request from a journalist for my top six hints for a successful charity auction. I told her my recommendations would vary a bit based on the size of event and whether the host was managing with volunteers or had hired the services of professional event managers to run part or all of [...]
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With the economy beginning to peek out from under its slump, hiring top executives for nonprofit associations has become the subject of questions I have received. In particular, selection committees are seeing attractive job applicants well-experienced in managing nonprofit associations, but who have little or no professional credentials in the association’s specialty. Committee members wonder, [...]
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Don’t get me wrong. I’m a believer in strategic planning. Especially when strategic plans are also used to build true operational plans which then tie into and ground budgets in reality. That’s the overall planning scenario I recommend and prefer to use in advising or managing a nonprofit organization’s board and staff. So it was quite [...]
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I was in a meeting with various department heads and faculty. Among the group was one of the most respected deans on campus, a particularly learned professor who had built the college she represented into one of the most prestigious in the entire university system. I was pitching a start-up initiative based on the idea [...]
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Many people love to attend fundraising events because events are so much fun. Many of these same people are also members and officers of nonprofit organizations. It’s no surprise when those event lovers say they want their organization to host an event, too. And why not? Everyone knows events are fun and “all the other [...]
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My wife and I attended a statewide event planned by a team of staff and volunteers. It was a fundraiser serving the added purpose of recognizing the efforts of volunteers from throughout the state who had hosted fundraising events in their own communities during the preceding year. At our table was a couple, longtime volunteers [...]
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A good analogy to a well-run auction fundraising event is a well-run circus. There is something for everyone, and the goal is for everyone to have fun. Something is always going on to see or do. The circus has its center ring and the main event. The gala auction event has its auction, always held [...]
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I have heard event planners say they can’t understand why some organizations’ events do so well but fundraising events held by other organizations in the same city do poorly. They say that they and other event planners do everything they can think of to imitate the successful organizations’ events. They imitate what appears on the surface [...]
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