Mike Bussey

Many times, I find myself working with nonprofits who are facing a time of transition. Perhaps their organization is undergoing a change in leadership. Perhaps their community is changing. Perhaps new needs and challenges are calling for a change in programs or ministries.

It’s now been five months since Prince passed away at his home in the Twin Cities. The local, national and international response to his passing has transitioned from expressions of loss and grief to controversies and court ruling about the disposition of his estate.

In this series, the DBD Team will take a deeper look at some of the axioms we use when working with our clients. In today’s blog, Mike expands on our axiom: “Earning the Right to Ask.” To read other axiom blogs, click here.

Thank you for asking, but we’ve already made an endowment commitment to your organization.

If you’re visiting with your best endowment prospects, invitations to become members of your legacy society quite often produce this response. And it is gratifying to hear! The challenge is to identify your best endowment prospects – your organization’s “best friends.”

A lifetime of personal and professional goal setting has taught me that it is critically important to properly define success before setting goals or making resolutions.

Years ago, I attended one of my first YMCA training events, held at the Calhoun Beach Hotel in Minneapolis. The day’s featured presentation on board development was of very little interest to me.

Many thanks for the good wishes. My situation has deteriorated dramatically, and I’m currently in home hospice. For now all is stable. But the long-term prospects are clear and not good. And long-term for me is actually very short-term.

Many nonprofit leaders want to begin an endowment development program, but are unsure of where to start. They don’t know who might be a good prospect in their community or among their past donors. How can you tell if someone has the resources and the desire to leave a legacy gift to your organization?

‘Thank you for getting us to the starting line and for the confidence that we are going to have a successful campaign.”

A volunteer was reflecting on the long, complex and (at times) frustrating process his organization had undertaken to determine how best to respond to community issues and opportunities.

Recently, we were asked to share a presentation on endowment for NAYDO – the North American YMCA Development Organization. We published this blog on their site as a companion to that presentation, and are sharing it here with our readers. Even if you’re not a YMCA, we think you might benefit from dispelling a few of these myths in your nonprofit, school or church.