by Eddie Thompson | Apr 22, 2024 | Development Management, Professional Development
“What were some of your greatest professional mistakes?” In every Thompson & Associates public engagement, online interview, or continuing education seminar, that is the most frequent question I am asked. Luckily, the most important lessons I’ve learned in my 40+...
by Eddie Thompson | Mar 11, 2024 | Charitable Estate Planning, Development Management, Donor Communications
Grant Whitney joined Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences and served there for over 20 years, leading the university’s largest planned gift recognition effort—responsible for enrolling more than 1,000 alumni and friends as new members of the John...
by Eddie Thompson | Jan 22, 2024 | Development Management
One of the paradoxes of life is that the traditional rewards of success—affluence, status, leisure time—quickly erode the values that created that success. Hard work, frugality, and long-term perspective usually lead to prosperity and eventually to wealth. But having...
by Eddie Thompson | Dec 1, 2023 | Development Management, Donor Communications
The story of Chicken Little originated as a European folk tale that had been told for centuries in various ways with varying moral applications. The best-known version concerns a chick hit on the head by a falling acorn. The chick sets off on a journey to inform the...
by Eddie Thompson | Oct 23, 2023 | Development Management, Donor Communications, Professional Development
As a rookie fundraiser at a small liberal arts college, Si Seymour’s 1966 book, Design for Fundraising, had an extraordinary impact on me, so much so that it has been the primary inspiration throughout my 45-year career. Every page of Seymour’s little book resonated...
by Eddie Thompson | Sep 25, 2023 | Development Management, Donor Communications, Professional Development
Almost all worthwhile advice about fundraising can be traced back to one ground-breaking publication: Harold (Si) Seymour’s Designs for Fundraising: Principles, Patterns, and Techniques. First published in 1966, this book continues to be regarded as the essential...
