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I’ve recently been doing a lot of training with leaders about our relationship with money. I hear a lot of really interesting things from nonprofit leaders.   Things like: People just aren’t generous. Donors don’t care about the populations that we serve. Money is hard to come by. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. […]

I was listening to this incredible interview with Dr. Gabor Maté who is a therapist and expert on trauma.   He was recounting an experience of being in the Peruvian rain forest with a group of 23 other doctors who had come for a healing experience with shamans. The shamans thought that the doctors, being healers

Recently, I was flying home from Spain after vacation.  As reported, the airports were a bit of a mess and the security lines were long. When we finally got to the metal detector and were in the process of depositing our stuff into the plastic bins, an older woman cut in front of us and

In reading the news, it is so easy to be mired in anxiety and fear.  It feels like we’re all living on edge so I offer this to you as spots of joy. No fundraising, just some fun.   Here are some things that are giving me joy right now. The Fckry with Leslie Jones and

When I’m training new fundraisers in soliciting funds from individuals, I hear a lot of fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of being judged. Fear of being harmed through microaggressions. This fear can also masquerade as resentment. Resentment towards capitalism. Resentment towards people of wealth and their advantages. Resentment of past traumas due to racism, classism,

Anybody who’s ever been in a relationship knows the importance of voice tone. The wrong tone could mean the difference between a night of Netflix and chilling or sleeping on the couch alone. Did you know that 38% of what you communicate comes through your tone of voice, while only 7% are the actual words

Good advice for electronics and for humans. As I write this, I’m enjoying the last few precious days of summer.  Does the school kid feeling of the start of a school year ever go away? Friends, enjoy the sunshine, the ice cream, and the last sweet days of summer.

I’ve been practicing yoga for over 20 years and I have one of the greatest and quirkiest yoga teachers ever.  If you’re ever in downtown Brooklyn, take a class with Paulo.  He’ll ask you to flower your anus to the ceiling.  I digress. He also says in noticing your body that “Tightness means something muscular. 

I recently watched the documentary Free Solo about a climber named Alex Honnold who free soloed El Capitan in Yosemite.   That means no rope, no gear, just him and 3200 ft of sheer granite. What I found astonishing about it (aside from everything) is that they did brain scans and found that his amygdala (the

One of my all-time favorite books is How to Win Friends and Influence People because it hinges on an important human truth: we are the center of our own personal universes. As magnanimous and thoughtful as we might be, we are all still the stars of our own movies. For me to be a raving

Ugh, marketing, amirite? As a busy ED, marketing is probably like the millionth thing on your list right after troubleshooting the computers and ordering more toilet paper for the office (am I just projecting again?) Why do we do it? Simply this: good marketing helps to build trust with our audience.  The more they trust

As we are in the midst of hot ED summer (that’s a thing now.  I just decided.), I wanted to remind you to breathe. I know, I know.  That sounds so dumb, but check this out… I just finished reading Breath: the New Science of a Lost Art and it turns out that our big

Mini-rant ahead… I talk to a lot of people about fundraising and there are some common misconceptions.   Some people believe that starting a nonprofit means the free money will rain down on them from “grants” or “Oprah.”   Some people believe that if they create the right video, they will go viral, raise millions of dollars

I’ve been doing a lot of personal development work lately in order to become the very best version of myself. Most recently, I did a transformative workshop with Dr. Eugene Choi and came to a realization: I’m addicted to stress and pressure. So often, we talk about wanting to alleviate stress, but I think that

Many, many moons ago when I was a young single girl living in New York, I would go through dry spells when I couldn’t catch a date to save my life.  This, my young friends, was before the age of online dating. Lo and behold, the minute I was in a relationship, everyone wanted my

I have never had an abortion, but I would have if I had gotten pregnant. I was in my early 20s and I experienced a “contraceptive malfunction.” Thanks to my local Planned Parenthood, I had access to Plan B.  Even after that, I still bought a bunch of pregnancy tests just to make sure. At

I recently read this great book called Tell Yourself a Better Lie about how the stories we tell ourselves and the meaning we make of things that happen determine our lives. All disempowering stories essentially break down to three themes: 1) I’m not good enough 2) I’m different therefore I don’t belong 3) what I

When I work with new fundraisers, the single most important message is this: Hope is not a strategy. Often new fundraisers will bank on getting a fat check from Oprah or Mackenzie Scott or “going viral.”  Sure, I suppose that happens to some people just like some people win the lottery, but it’s not a

I recently binged Billions because I’m really jonesing for more Succession (any Billions or Succession fans out there–hit me up to discuss…you know I love a dishy fall-from-grace hubris moment). Anyhoo, in the last season, Mike Prince (who is a weak substitute for Bobby Axelrod IMHO) says this: “When you decide what you want to

I’m the first to admit that I have some control issues.   I deeply believe in my ability to make things happen.  I believe that the universe doesn’t happen TO me–I happen to the universe.   It’s a worldview that has served me well, but it’s frankly exhausting. The problem with that worldview is that when things