The Tale of the Three Envelopes

The Tale of the Three Envelopes

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day. In that spirit, I thought I would share one of my favorite stories of being an Executive Director. The following story was first told to me by my friend and mentor John Durel. A check of the internet reveals it’s been around for awhile...
Life’s Too Short to Not Be Awesome

Life’s Too Short to Not Be Awesome

***I hope you like the picture. I did a search on “Awesome” and this is what came up.***I was just sitting here thinking of what to write. To be honest, I was struggling a bit.I was going to write about habits and Steve Jobs. I still will, but not this week. Because I...
Twitter for Busy Nonprofit Executives

Twitter for Busy Nonprofit Executives

“I tried Twitter for awhile,” my friend told me, “but I just didn’t have time for it.” Me, I love Twitter. So I felt a little defensive, like if she had just told me my kid was ugly or something. She continued, “People tell me I need to be on it, but I don’t know how...
Cold Showers and Open Minds

Cold Showers and Open Minds

“Have you gone completely insane?”This is my wife talking, upon finding out that I’ve been taking cold showers for the last month. And yes, I mean COLD…not an ounce of hot water, from beginning to end.“Why would you want to do that?”“Well,” I responded, “I’ve...
Want to be rich? Hang out with rich people.

Want to be rich? Hang out with rich people.

Originally published in 1996, The Millionaire Next Door is required reading for any nonprofit executive who has fund development as part of his or her job (and that would be everyone). After all, if you’re going to offer these people the opportunity to invest in your...
Why I hate email templates

Why I hate email templates

Oops. That title is mis-leading. What I should have said is “Why I thought I hated email templates…but why I love them now.” Back when I was running a nonprofit, I was perpetually drowning in email. Occasionally I would do an internet search or ask a mentor for...