I like this simple video from Marquette that features “Tuition Runs Out Day” and their program to inform students while thanking alumni. Low cost and effective – my favorite combo!

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Sorry about the scan quality!

Long story short, Garth made a gift to the hospital.  Garth wants a refund.  They don’t want to give it to him.  And soon, it looks like a judge will decide who wins.

Brooks claims his $500,000 gift to the hospital was in honor of his mother, Colleen Brooks, and in return the hospital agreed to name a women’s center after her.  He insists that the good folks at the hospital showed him renderings of the building with her name on it.  The hospital has stated that they made no such promises, and the gift was made with no strings attached.  Obviously somebody is either lying or there was a heck of a misunderstanding.

We may never know the full story behind this significant blunder, but I’d bet both parties are at fault.  Situations such as this can be avoided with careful documentation, contact reports, written proposals and careful cultivation and clear communication throughout the process.  I’m guessing some of all of this was lacking.  In the end, there should have been a detailed gift agreement that included key components of the gift structure, use of funds and any acknowledgement requirements.  If that doesn’t exist, shame on the hospital for not putting everything in writing.  And shame on Garth (or his representatives) for not requiring it.

Paperwork isn’t fun.  But situations like this help demonstrate the value of keeping good records and documenting everything throughout the fundraising cycle.  I bet the phrase ‘let’s get that in writing’ will be going through both parties’ heads during any future philanthropic transactions!

UPDATE:  The judge ruled that the hospital is to give Garth his money back.

Does this look familiar?

I’m often asked to do Annual Fund 101 presentations – to classes on campus or nonprofits looking to learn a little more. You can only use the same PowerPoint so many times without going insane, so I recently decided to change things up a bit. I identified a great illustrator (thanks Tom!!) and I think my new and improved Annual Fund 101 presentation puts a little more fun in fundraising!

Tom and I worked on a concept that ended up being exactly what I was looking for – a lighthearted representation of the annual fund that hits key topics without getting too detailed. He was able to put it all in a single graphic that I could pop into Prezi to set up the final presentation. He did such a nice job I’ve already commissioned another graphic for a talk about participation rates. I’ll share that one soon.

I’m really happy with the final product, especially the fact that I can hand out a nice ‘poster’ of the talk at the end rather than a bunch of bullet-point slides.

I’ll update the presentation early next year, so I’m open to any thoughts/suggestions on topics or areas that need to be added – would love your feedback via email or by using the comments function below. Enjoy!

NOTE: Click ‘more’ and ‘fullscreen’ to get the best view!

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Bowling Green State University – kudos to you.  Kudos for great lyrics, kudos for great production, and most of all kudos for taking a chance and thinking outside the box. I bet the donors who made the Stroh Center possible have watched this over and over and over!  How else can you make a gift, get something cool named after you, AND star in your very own rap video?

Thank you to ESPN for bringing this to the public’s attention!

And now. . . The Stroh Center Rap featuring the donors who made it possible.

While watching Game 7 of the World Series, I happened to see a commercial for createjobsforusa.org – a partnership of the Opportunity Finance Network and Starbucks. I’d never heard of OFN, but Starbucks I know. Too well.

The production concept reminded me of the girleffect.org video that has become quite popular since its launch a couple of years ago. I couldn’t decide if it was a tribute or a copycat, so I used my friends at Google to find the video online to allow me to compare the two. NOTE to OFN: You really need a YouTube Channel link on your website!!

The verdict? The concept is obviously similar, but it wasn’t a clear cut copycat as I originally thought. I did decide that even though the case for support isn’t as appealing (the girleffect.org vid still gets to me) I LOVE the fact that they did it in sixty seconds. TGE comes in at 2:23 and feels long to me, even with the better story to tell.

Like most, I have a short attention span. I’d love to see a one minute version of the original girleffect.org video. Don’t know if the whole story can be told in sixty seconds or not but I’d like to find out.

If you’re curious, here they are together:

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Thus, my mantra of “You are not your donor!”

If you need a reminder, following is a nice poster to put in your office – consider it my year-end gift to you!  Before you ask, that is NOT me holding the sign!

Control-Click the image and choose ‘Save As’ to save to your computer.  

Not a year goes by that I don’t hear horror stories from folks that their year-end appeals went out late. Or their website wasn’t tuned up to maximize year-end giving.  ”Late” means something different to everyone, but suffice it to say that with less than three months to go in the calendar year you should be working diligently to produce your year-end appeals. Web, mail, email, phone, text, whatever it is, now is the time to prepare!

The only person to blame when your snail mail appeal goes out on 12/30 is you. Your donors won’t wait, and Father Time has a funny habit of bringing the year-end to us regardless of our level of readiness!!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  Many happy returns!