Fundraisers tend to categorize donors in three ways, either as annual donors, major gift donors, or legacy donors. Annual donors are those who give smaller amounts more frequently -- monthly, annually, or when a giving campaign comes calling (think United Way or the Girl Scouts). These gifts usually go to the general fund or support … Continue reading Your Brain on Philanthropy: Denomination Effect
I was taking a bath when I read about the Anchoring Effect. (I'm basically Archimedes.) It hit me so hard I actually stopped reading, put my book on the floor, and stared into my Rosemary-Mint scented bubbles for a long time. Holy crap. I've been doing this wrong since I started fundraising. My failure to … Continue reading Your Brain on Philanthropy: Anchoring Effect
I'm a fundraiser. I work with people to find the environmental causes that matter to them and then help them make gifts that are meaningful -- meaningful to them, and meaningful to my organization. It's not a profession I ever imagined myself in, but I'm coming to genuinely love it for what it is. The … Continue reading New series: Your Brain on Philanthropy
As I wrote in my last post, I recently came to terms with the (to me) dull, trudging work of gathering and analyzing data. I realized why, in order to get to the dazzling and fulfilling work of finding large trends and doing the big picture thinking, I need to first get mastery of details. … Continue reading THE TREES ARE PEOPLE. With their own inscrutable “why.”
I've read quite a bit about my "personality types": INFJ, Enneagram 5, Princess Ariel, Highly Sensitive Person, etc. Part of what I'm interested in when reading about "my" types is getting insight into how I process information about the world and how to do that better. Because frankly? My memory of details is shit. And … Continue reading Stupid trees. JUST BE A FOREST.
Piano was a huge part of my childhood. It's what I poured a lot of my extra time into, and was something I considered doing for a career (until I realized just how much time I would have had to devote to the practice room -- I am too interested in too many things to … Continue reading Losing myself
Recently I had a phone conversation that led to someone asking for my forgiveness for a hurt that I truly and honestly had forgotten about. At the time of the apology I said "Of course I forgive you!" with all the cheer and comfort and grace I could shove into my slightly tight voice. And … Continue reading The weight of forgiveness
What security are they afraid of losing? Two instincts drive human behavior: self-promotion and self-protection. (I'm sure there are more, but those are two.) These aren't necessarily good or bad instincts, they're just how we've evolved to evaluate the world and figure out how to move about in it. We always want to improve our … Continue reading The question that makes me less judgmental
For me, one of the hardest things in life is learning how to navigate and set boundaries in relationships. Sometimes I wonder how two people can EVER be on the same page about what they want out of a relationship, or to really agree about what a relationship should be. I can't believe I found … Continue reading You don’t have to accept all love offered to you
You may have heard Hawaii called the Rainbow State. It certainly lives up to its name. I'd say that I see rainbows like this at least once a week. The other day there was a rainbow amidst a bunch of fluffy white clouds, and I wished that I could see that rainbow on a day … Continue reading Happiness with a side of sadness
