by Eddie Thompson | Nov 3, 2015 | Donor Communications
Tooth-to-Tail Ratio (T3R) is a military term used to measure the strategic efficiency of a fighting force. T3R is the ratio of combat forces (the teeth) to the number of support personnel (the tail) required to place one trained, supplied, and strategically-integrated...
by Eddie Thompson | Sep 14, 2015 | Charitable Estate Planning, Donor Communications
Fundraisers are a lot like professional matchmakers. They regularly introduce eligible people to their organizations, point out all the most admirable qualities, and hope those potential donors will fall in love and begin lifelong relationships. If they can win hearts...
by Eddie Thompson | Aug 13, 2015 | Charitable Estate Planning, Donor Communications
In a previous post I wrote about Benjamin Franklin’s 200-year endowments to the cities of Philadelphia and Boston. His testamentary gift was made for the express purpose of helping young men establish themselves by funding apprenticeships. Like so many planned gifts,...
by Eddie Thompson | Jun 11, 2015 | Donor Communications
Very few set out with the career goal of becoming fundraisers. Historically, nonprofit executives (including fundraisers) emerged from the ranks of financial professionals, business leaders, academic faculty, or the nonprofit’s most experienced program staff. In the...
by Eddie Thompson | Mar 3, 2015 | Donor Communications
Creating a positive culture of accountability is not something accomplished by decree, i.e., the values we “decided” to adopt at a recent strategic planning meeting. Cultural values develop through time, particularly over difficult times. Leaders who stick to their...
by Eddie Thompson | Aug 14, 2014 | Donor Communications
Over the last decade there’s been a lot of emphasis on quantifying and measuring the results of charitable gifts. More and more donors view gifts to a nonprofit as social investments and evaluate their giving decisions in terms of the ROI (return on investment)....
