LIBRARY RESOURCES & BLOG
This area is filled with how-to articles, engaging conversations, and tons of examples of Catalytic Thinking in Action including actual planning sessions. Much to explore and learn from!
“Money is a limited resource. We can’t fund everyone.” Those few words encompass the most insidious assumption at the heart of competitive grant-making and competitive fundraising. The “reality” created by that assumption is the source of all the fear and the overwhelming sense of scarcity that undergird this work, everywhere around the world. For years … Read more
I received this question via email this morning, and it made me smile. First, the message: In today’s world, is an annual report of the traditional kind important for nonprofits? Smaller as well as larger? We are debating how much money and staff time to put into some kind of publication – we haven’t done … Read more
What if boards don’t need training? What if board members already know what they need to know, and just need to be reminded of that? What if “what boards need” is help with uncorking and putting to use the wisdom they already have just from living life? What if “what boards need” is encouragement to … Read more
We’ve had an idea for a program at Creating the Future, and in following our own advice, we don’t want to launch anything until we get all the possible insights we can. Programs are so much more effective when they’re built by the people who will use them! This will be a program for people … Read more
When groups begin aiming their work at making more of a difference in their community, they quickly realize that none of us can accomplish much on our own. Individual organizations begin reaching out to others doing similar work. They hold summits and host ongoing discussions. They create plans. Often, great things happen from that work. … Read more
The first-ever, last-minute, Creating the Future year-end appeal is now officially over. Yes, if you still want to give, your funds will be hugely appreciated. But we have stopped the fireworks, the tweeting, the videos, the letters. We have declared victory, with just $1,000 in the bank from this campaign. No, that is nowhere close … Read more
Our open, transparent year-end appeal is happening! As of this morning, we had topped $1,000 in our last-minute appeal. We are excited! Our commitment has been to share our strategy, our targets, our goals and our progress. And while I blogged our goals and budget last week, we are learning that doing a campaign with … Read more
Fundraising – the place where everyone feels they have to hide, work competitively, and whatever they do, NOT to share what they learn (lest they lose their competitive advantage!). Well I guess we will just see if that is the case! As we announced last week, we will be doing our year-end fundraising appeal entirely … Read more
I thought it was going to be easy. Yes, I know, famous last words, but I really did. In a post early last week, I asked whether or not we should do a year-end fundraising appeal. We received many responses to that post (sadly, most of those responses were off-line – what is it about … Read more
As I noted in yesterday’s post, Dimitri’s and my decision to immediately begin running Creating the Future full time means we need to start fundraising, and fast! (Truth is we probably needed to start fundraising months ago, but starting now will just have to do…) And so, given that it’s the end of the … Read more