Listen up, all you new-to-prospect-development folks (and anyone who has a brand-new researcher on staff)!
Great prospect development training sessions are coming up SOON (like, next week and next month!) and you really can’t afford to miss them. Why? [Read more…]
Have you ever found yourself sorting through mountains of prospects and thought, “There must be a better way to do this!” and at the same time, “but I don’t have a lot of time!”? We found ourselves saying and thinking the same things to each other as we embarked on a new project for our Reunion and Annual Campaigns team here at Harvard. [Read more…]
About $750,000 by my estimate.
You may think that’s an outrageous amount (and it is) but I’m saying it anyway. Let me explain why.
First of all, many professionals in the world have one main job. They repair things in a human body or in an automobile. They speak in front of cameras and explain what a company means to do, or what a politician did do. They deliver mail, or babies. They build houses or computer programs. [Read more…]
For the past two years, I’ve gotten more and more excited as March approaches. Here in New England, March is not a month that you tend to look forward to, weather-wise. There are no bank holiday weekends. And it’s a loooong month. But if you’re in prospect development, March is now a very special month.
Because March is prospect development pride month, and boy do we have a lot to be proud of. We are a professional community of really smart people who get the opportunity to make the world a better place every day we go to work. Who are actively motivated to learn something new every day. And who are generous in sharing tips, methods, and resources with each other. [Read more…]
There’s nothing quite like that feeling when your favorite frontline fundraiser calls you to say, “I got a meeting with the president and the prospective donor you identified!…” Boom!!
…or the feeling when they finish the sentence with “…and it’s TOMORROW!” Uh, boom.
You can just feel that rolling wave of adrenaline right now, can’t you? It’s awesome and terrifying at the same time. How on earth are you ever going to get them the information they need in time? [Read more…]
As hard as it is to believe, 2017 will be here in two weeks and three days, folks. There will be much you won’t have any control over in the year ahead, but there are lots of things you can do to help yourself, and your organization, be prepared for the challenges of 2017.
Protect Yourself Online
If you haven’t already, let this be the year that you finally subscribe to a password-generating software program. PC Magazine has compiled their list and side-by-side comparison of the Best Password Managers of 2017. They’re not expensive. Just do it. Also, check that your virus protection and anti-spyware software are auto-running. If you don’t have those two things, buy them. [Read more…]
BuzzFeed reports that, on Facebook, the top 20 click-bait-y fake news stories generated more engagement than the top 20 real news stories did in the past three months.
That’s okay if you know that what you’re looking at is fake and you’re just clicking or sharing something to get a good eye roll workout. But a new study by Stanford University says that the “digital natives” amongst us – kids from middle school through college – can’t tell the difference between sponsored content and real news.
And regarding their habits on social media, the Wall Street Journal reported that “[m]any students judged the credibility of newsy tweets based on how much detail they contained or whether a large photo was attached, rather than on the source.”
Think about that – credibility is judged on whether or not there’s a pretty picture.
That’s really worrying, especially because it’s not just kids that are making that mis-judgment. The Pew Research Center reports that 66% of Facebook users get their news there, and overall nearly 40% of us get our news online now.
Facebook is just a social networking site. It’s not a news site…right?
It’s inappropriate for anyone to like an article about someone getting shot. In the case of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, research shows that stories on his death went into a cone of silence on Facebook, partly because it was inappropriate to ‘Like’ (for which read: share) and harder still (for non-trolls) to comment on. So when it comes to what gets shared more, the algorithms favor the Pope endorsing Donald Trump over what’s happening in Ferguson or Flint because of Likes.
It makes sense logically. But if 66% of people on Facebook (and let’s face it, Facebook’s market penetration is colossal) – if 66% of Facebook users are getting their news there, it’s well on its way to becoming a media company. A news distributor. Far and away from simply a social networking site. [Read more…]
Collaboration ©opensource.com via Flickr CC BY-SA
The events of the recent past have inspired divisiveness and mistrust amongst the citizens of the United States and even the world. For the sake of my own wellbeing, I’ve been trying to focus on the things in my life that make me feel connected to something positive. Fortunately for me, not only am I connected to work that makes a real difference in the world, but I have an amazing group of colleagues who are always ready and willing to collaborate.
COLLABORATION’S MULTIPLE BENEFITS
According to Murali Krishna, HR Service Administrator at IBM, “Collaboration not only equals a happier workforce, it represents an educated one. This is because it naturally inspires a sense of community within an organization, meaning that employees feel almost like they are a part of a family. Additionally, collaboration allows employees to learn from each other and the bosses.” [Read more…]
There’s nothing quite like the allure of a piece of chocolate at around 3 o’clock on a Thursday afternoon. Getting up from your chair, stretching a bit, and walking down the hall (or from the 3rd floor to the ground floor) is totally worth it.
Especially if the candy is free, and there’s a friendly face to talk to for 5 or 10 minutes before you head back to your office. [Read more…]
At the mere mention of the term Return On Investment (ROI), some people start to shudder. You may ask yourself, Why would I want to create data driven parameters for myself that could potentially set me up for failure? What possible good could come from setting goals?
You may be afraid that if you do this, your organization could become so data driven, your manager will become obsessed with whether or not you’re meeting these new goals. But if you let fears like that get the best of you, you could be missing an opportunity to demonstrate your amazing value to your organization. [Read more…]