Welcome to my series: “Tip of the Morning, to you!” where I share a quick tip about the Fundraiser’s 4-step Learning and Action Journey I created and that you can find in my online Membership Community, Spark.

It’s a common path that fundraisers follow as they move through their careers. It’s a learning journey because the best fundraisers I know never stop learning. And I’ve added in the action part because fundraising requires us to raise money, so we...

This is a time for Resilience. Grit. Perseverance. Collaboration. Selflessness. Altruism. Not just in our world of fundraising but in all life. This a time for EQ – not IQ. Above all, this is a time for kindness.

In today's video, I will be talking about some of the interactions I have been having over the past week, some thoughts to keep in mind, and a little bit of advice to get you through this trying time,

Take gentle care.

Cathy

And we’re being asked to be extraordinary in response. 

For some it feels like the world is swirling out of control and we're seeing and hearing about the fear, concern and downright panic people are feeling.

So, this is our attempt at offering some comfort – or at least some perspective as you try to adjust in these trying times.

We hope you like it.

COVID-19 has changed everything. How do you keep fundraising when folks are worried about the state of the world and worried about their health?

In this video, I'll explain 5 tangible actions and things to keep in mind during this time including KYPU! (watch the video to see what that means.)

Take gentle care.

Cathy

As life becomes harder and more threatening, it also becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have, the more the good things of life become unexpected gifts...

If you want to succeed at fundraising, you can't simply work hard at raising money. You need to create the right conditions within your organization - the enabling ecology - for fundraising to thrive.

The enabling ecology approach  intentionally integrates the culture of philanthropy and your organizational values directly into your fundraising program.

In this video, Cathy Mann, MA, CFRE shares the four elements of the enabling ecology and why you need all four for fundraising to...

It may be hard to reflect on the worst thing about your last fundraising event. But as Chris Baylis of the Sponsorship Collective reveals, this type of data is critical to getting companies interested in sponsoring your organization.

In anticipation of our first webinar, The Fundraisers' Guide to Corporate Giving, webinar hosts Cathy Mann & Chris Baylis sat down and recorded a podcast episode about what is often perceived as the "secretive" world of...

I tried a little experiment recently. On LinkedIn, I asked a simple question: what advice would you give to your younger fundraising self? A couple of dozen folks shared their best advice. Here’s a link to the article I wrote about it in case you want to check it out.

Their responses got me thinking. So I tried another experiment. I asked, ““What are the fundraising questions keeping you up at night?” and offered to answer as many as I could. Over the course...

I’ve been working in fundraising for a long time. As a result, sometimes, I think things that are common sense – simply because I’ve been at this for a while – are not common at all. I was reminded of this a few years ago when friends helped my partner and I re-side an extension on our house. It was humbling and an important lesson. In the arrogant way that only a complete naïve can offer, I said, “It’s a little extension. How hard can it be to...

I have a friend who’s dying of ALS. My great-niece has Cystic Fibrosis and my mother died of breast cancer 6 years ago. These issues are all causes that fall into the realm of what we think of as traditional philanthropy. But traditional philanthropy is not what gets me fired up. To quote my colleague Rosemary Oliver who works at Amnesty International, “I want to create a better world, not just better conditions in the same world.”

I share these personal stories so...

I mean, come on.. who calls a podcast Heteropatriarchy on Fire? Well, I do. And I’m loving all of the really interesting things I’m learning and the challenging conversations I’m having and the belly laughs I’m sharing as I interview some leaders in the world of philanthropy.

The podcast is actually called It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask (itdoesnthurttoaskpodcast.com) and this season, I’m interviewing Shift Disturbers in Philanthropy. Heteropatriarchy on Fire, which...