by Eddie Thompson | Feb 1, 2013 | Donor Communications
As a student at Vanderbilt University over thirty years ago, I served as a graduate assistant to the Department of Educational Leadership. Vanderbilt was hosting a meeting of university presidents to discuss funding issues. In the late 1970s, and early 1980s, our...
by Eddie Thompson | Nov 25, 2012 | Donor Communications
I’ve spent thirty years meeting with donors from each non-profit institution I serve as a charitable estate planning consultant. Setting up estate plans that contain advanced structures and procedures is the easy part — almost incidental to the process. The most...
by Eddie Thompson | Oct 30, 2012 | Donor Communications
In their recent book, Great by Choice, Jim Collins and Morten Hansen published the results of a nine-year research project in which they identified three characteristics of what they called “10X leaders.” These were CEOs who led their companies to achieve ten times...
by Eddie Thompson | Jul 10, 2012 | Donor Communications
The language of classic planning and decision-making can be a bit confusing. What is, after all, the real difference between strategic, tactical, and operational planning? How does institutional doctrine differ from institutional policy? Most importantly, how can...
by Eddie Thompson | Apr 15, 2012 | Donor Communications
I first got to know Mary at a college I attended. I was a graduate student, and she was the registrar and gatekeeper to all things regarding my fees and class schedule. Mary seemed to be a nice enough person — neatly dressed, very proper, but one who took a...
by Eddie Thompson | Mar 29, 2012 | Donor Communications
As professional fundraisers, we will spend a large portion of our lives managing relationships between donors and non-profit organizations. That sounds like such a simple thing to do. But as you know, both ends of that relationship at times can be complex and...
