Blog

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” ― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan One of my favorite tennis players of all time is Andre Agassi.  If you haven’t read his memoir, Open, do yourself a favor and read it. In it, he writes about how his […]

“Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.” Gandhi Disdain for people with wealth seems to be one of the last acceptable prejudices.  I recently had Esther Choy on my podcast who discussed her research on first generation wealth

When you are on an ask, a meeting, a date or a  conversation…it’s only weird if you make it weird. I’ve been thinking about a study that showed that only 7% of communication is the words that you say.  38% is vocal and 55% is body language.  When I think of all of the hours

Recently, I have been doing training on money mindset and the mindset of abundance for fundraisers.  In the course of these trainings, I have been challenged by participants to discuss the historical wealth and racial inequities based on patriarchal and white supremacist exploitation. In other words, how can we have an abundant mindset about money

I’m a huge fan of 80’s pop music.  My husband thinks my taste in music is cringe-worthy, but I just wanna dance with somebody before I go-go because I just don’t stop believin.   Anyway.   One of my personal faves is/was Boy George’s Karma Chameleon so imagine my delight when I found out about curious chameleons.

There are a lot of people I know who would rather stick rusty needles in their eyes than ask for money. The reasons why people are scared to ask for money: Rejection Being embarrassed Not knowing what to say Being asked for something in return Talking about money leads to discomfort Judgement that they would

I wish I had a magic wand that would make money appear in your bank account without having to ask for it. I wish that you had a generous leprechaun who hid pots of gold for you to find. Alas. When I’m working with clients to become better fundraisers, I feel like they want a

People pay me money to teach them how to fundraise.  I’m really glad that they do, but the answer is so very simple. Learn how to have a conversation.   That’s it.   That’s the big secret. I don’t mean to be flippant, but the best fundraisers are the ones who are able to really hear the

The hardest job to fill in nonprofits isn’t the Executive Director–it’s the development director.  Change my mind on that. The reason? We don’t have a tightly defined scope of what we expect a development director to do.  Or, rather, the scope is so broad that it’s a little bit of everything which adds up to

“The man who chases two rabbits, catches neither.” ― Confucius It may surprise you, gentle reader, to learn that I am not perfect.   I know.   Take a second to clutch your pearls. One of my biggest strengths is also my biggest weakness, which is that I see opportunities and options everywhere.  The problem?  I suffer

“Never complain, never explain.” -Katharine Hepburn There is a Chinese saying, “chi ku” which translates to “eating bitterness.”  It’s a Confucian concept meaning that one should suck it up.  And, in our family, we do, but not in silence.  We have lifted up complaining to a high-art form.  I come from a long, illustrious line

I recently saw a talk that showed the way to increase influence is to recognize the difference between what you want to say and what the other person needs to hear.   For example: Your partner complains, “You NEVER do the dishes.” In that moment, you can react emotionally with a quick retort with what you

Human beings are uniquely remarkable for our ability to tell stories.  We are not the fastest, strongest, fiercest species.  What we lack in tooth and claw, we make up for in imagination and the ability to create stories that move us.  It allows us to believe in ideas like love, faith, nations and companies. While

We create so much mind drama about the fundraising process (Guessers, anyone?), but it really boils down to a simple equation. Asks-no’s = yeses. I’m no mathematician, but it seems pretty simple to me. The more asks we put out, the more rejections we will get, but the more yeses we will get too.  I’ve

A friend of mine recently shared this article with me about people who are Askers vs. Guessers and it kind of blew my mind. Basically, there are two kinds of people in the world: Askers and Guessers. Askers are people who ask for things (favors, promotions, etc) with the full understanding that they may get

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six of them sharpening my axe.”― Abraham Lincoln Did you know that the great Lebron James spends $1.5M per year on maintaining his body and mind for peak performance? Lebron considers these costs as an investment in himself so that he

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Dear friends, This past week was a particularly tough one for me.  On Monday, I was laid up in bed with body aches from my second COVID vaccine.  On Tuesday, I learned that my

In the last years of her life, my maternal grandmother forgot things like the names of her grandchildren (I mean, there are 18 of us) but she never forgot about her money.  She was like the old Chinese lady Rainman (for you millennials, look that one up).  You could name any year at random and

“I get by with a little help from my friends.” -The Beatles Before I was an Executive Director, I could scarcely imagine what a high-wire act it was.  Fundraising, managing a reticent board, dealing with staff issues, budgeting, dumpster diving for lost retainers–yup, all in a day’s work. The hardest part of the ED job