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At Donor By Design, we are guided by a series of axioms: Core concepts that shape our work and have proven their worth over and over again. In this series, we’re digging into these axioms and clarify how they can help you achieve your development goals. Read Part 1.

At Donor By Design, we are guided by a series of axioms: Core concepts that shape our work and have proven their worth over and over again. In this new series, we’ll dig into these axioms and clarify how they can help you achieve your development goals.

In July, a mentor in my life died: Senator Alan J. Dixon. A moderate Democrat from Southern Illinois, he would remind me that I never “worked for Senator Dixon.” Rather, I “worked with Senator Dixon and for the people of Illinois.”  His opponents dubbed him “Al the Pal” in an attempt to link him with typical Illinois political cronyism.

How many times have you thought, “Boy, he is so lucky?” Truth is, luck is never really the reason; it’s the offspring. A mentor of mine, a brilliant physician, said this about luck: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity… and I make my own luck by always preparing.”

I recently visited with the staff of a local nonprofit organization.
We were reviewing their 2014 campaign and discussing strategies for 2015. As usual, we talked about renewals and new prospects. We also talked about where executives’ and board members’ time is best spent. How do we cultivate our closer friends now to have the right to ask for an annual major gift in a few months? This question is critical to enhancing the major gifts portion of any annual campaign, and will also be a cultivation step for future capital giving for these annual donors.
But one executive put it perfectly when identifying what’s good use of her time right now. Simply put, she said “don’t water the rocks!”
What does it mean to “not water the rocks”?

A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting of non-profit leaders struggling through a slump in their capital campaign.

Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit with the rest of my Donor By Design colleagues.

How far will our leadership opportunities take us? Are we really role models and “billboards” for what our organizations stand for? Are we good at communicating why our organization is critical to the health and well-being of our community, especially in the face of opposition or skepticism?

Those of you who have followed my blogs or have attended a presentation I’ve given know that one of my favorite fundraising axioms is Leadership is Everything.

A 2013 documentary directed by Andrew Garrison is hands-down one of the best leadership films I have seen recently.  I doubt that was the director’s intent, but from my perspective he has done just that.