Tag Archives: non-profits

Leverage or control

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

Ever funder, rightly, loves “leverage,” as in “each dollar I put in brought in another four dollars of additional funding.” What’s not to love? Except of course that getting leverage means you’re giving up control.  There are more folks around … Continue reading →

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Deep and abiding respect for…

Posted on March 12, 2013 by

…the philanthropists who, along with you, make it all possible. The philanthropists who dare to dream of a different, better world. The philanthropist who decides, when she doesn’t have to, to do something, not just to talk about it. The … Continue reading →

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Dan Pallotta at TED

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

I had the privilege of attending the TED conference last week – a bounty of new ideas, optimistic predictions, and insightful reflections on the world today and the world as it could be tomorrow. The most challenging and exciting talk … Continue reading →

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How do you find a great Head of Development?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

I’ve been asked this question a lot, and was asked it again the other day by the CEO of a growing, successful nonprofit, so here are some thoughts. First, let’s clarify who’s asking the question and what this means about … Continue reading →

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Nonprofit v. For Profit

Posted on February 16, 2011 by

I had the chance last night to moderate a Feast Debate (#FeastOnGood) on non-profit vs. for-profit models.  Ruti Wajnberg and Jorge Vega did a great job orchestrating the evening, and it was a pleasure to host a conversation between Jo … Continue reading →

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Is “fundraising” a dirty word?

Posted on October 28, 2009 by

Continuing yesterday’s thread, I think we might need a new job title.  “Fundraising” is stigmatized – it sounds transaction-y and narrow and kind of like something you don’t want to do.  (If there’s a job out there that no one … Continue reading →

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A ‘sustainable’ revenue stream?

Posted on March 16, 2009 by

Hats off to Nell Edgington at the Social Velocity blog for a post titled “The Critical Alignment of Mission, Money and Competence,” which kicked off an interesting conversation between Nell, me, Sean Stannard-Stockton who writes the Tactical Philanthropy blog, Nathanial … Continue reading →

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The core skill of innovators

Posted on February 9, 2009 by

In reflecting on how we create innovation in the social sector, I came across this great talk by Randy Nelson of Pixar University.  He starts off by describing the problem NASA had: when they were looking to hire someone to … Continue reading →

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Should foundation program officers be more like venture capitalists? (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on February 9, 2009 by

(This post first appeared on the Tactical Philanthropy blog, as part of a conversation Sean Stannard-Stockton kicked off on creating a ‘capital market’ for philanthropy.  It is the continuation of my earlier post on whether foundation program officers should be … Continue reading →

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Kiva and Acumen overhead ratios redux

Posted on January 14, 2009 by

Sean Stannard-Stockton picked up my post Why overhead ratios are meaningless for Kiva and Acumen Fund in his Tactical Philanthropy Blog, and in reading his summary of my post I realized that I wasn’t as clear as I could have … Continue reading →

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