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Giving Is Bad? NOT!!!

I was somewhat taken aback last month by a Washington Post book review of David Callahan’s THE GIVERS: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy In a New Gilded Age. (Callahan recently gave an interview on 1A with the AVP of the Rockefeller Foundation and the CEO of the Casey Foundation. You can hear the interview/discussion HERE.) TheRead More Giving Is Bad? NOT!!!

A Modest Proposal

By David Shufflebarger, Senior Partner ‘If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less’  – Eric Shinseki, military leader The pace of change seems to be increasing dramatically, possibly because of remarkable advances in technology. How to keep up and adapt are challenges we all face, and this is especially soRead More A Modest Proposal

Minding Millenials

By: David Shufflebarger MINDING MILLENIALS I have the impression that a lot of folks over 35 are dismissive of millennials, putting them out of their mind because of some preconceived notions such as ‘entitled, unreliable, or glued to their screens.’ Thus I was struck by this confluence of headlines over a couple of weeks inRead More Minding Millenials

Leave A Legacy

“I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love…I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…” I was reminded of those lines from a 1971 Coca-Cola ad as I read an article in Planned Giving Today  about ‘Leave A Legacy.’  Now, I know I’m showing my age withRead More Leave A Legacy

How To Engage Your Volunteers

Among the joys of what development folks do is the opportunity to work with some extraordinarily good and generous people. We get to help them make a difference with their gifts and see their joy in having an impact on lives. I am persuaded that many of them would give more than just their moneyRead More How To Engage Your Volunteers

Donor Contact: Make It Personal

A recent conversation with an alumna of a public university in the east illustrated to me how a variety of contact methods can be used effectively. She is an international businesswoman in the Los Angeles area being courted by one of the leading private universities there as a potential trustee and eight-figure donor. A deanRead More Donor Contact: Make It Personal

The Case For Planned Giving

Research can be a powerful tool to help us work smarter. It’s a shame that we have so little of it in the world of philanthropy. Thus, it was a delight to see the work of Dr. Russell James III that provides a much-needed longitudinal perspective on planned giving in his book American Charitable BequestRead More The Case For Planned Giving

Learning Leadership

At Butler, a Corporate Way to Manage Change and Groom New Leaders, an article in the August 1 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, made for a fascinating read, and not just because Butler University is a former client. These are challenging times for the not for profit sector as we emerge from theRead More Learning Leadership

The Golden Age of Philanthropy?

It would be hard to argue that the 1870’s to the 1890’s were not the golden age of philanthropy in America. In a little over two decades, the number of millionaires in the United States grew from 100 to 4,047. Mega gifts from philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie, Ezra Cornell, Johns Hopkins, John Rockefeller, and JaneRead More The Golden Age of Philanthropy?

Watch Out For The Motive Police

I love New York: the people, the arts, and all the other things that make it a great city. But right now, I am not very fond of the 26 City Council members who recently demanded that Wal-Mart and The Walton Family Foundation stop making generous gifts to charities in the city. Sounds ludicrous, doesn’tRead More Watch Out For The Motive Police