Funding Guides
We publish funding nuggets to provide ongoing support, new ideas and inspiration to past clients and boot camp alumni. We've archived each nugget according to the categories and collections below.
Impact Drives Income: The For Impact Message & Approach
Vision and Entrepreneurial Strategy
Leadership and Boards
Funding Model and Funding Plans
On Story, Message and Case for Support
Sales (Major Gifts) Process
Making the ASK
On Prospects
Visual Engagement Tools
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On Social Entrepreneurship and Change
Personal Development
Impact Drives Income: The For Impact Message & Approach back to top
Vision and Entrepreneurial Strategy back to top
“Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time”
9 ACTIONS to Change Your Organization
9 Ideas To Start-Up or Scale Up Your Funding Operation.
A Budget is Never an Excuse for Inaction
Altitude: For visits, business and board meetings
Culture for a High Performance Sales Team
Drucker: 5 Most Important Questions
End Game: Sustainability or Solution?
FACT: Change Organizations are Designed to Not Change
How to Be a Social Entrepreneur
Making Business Decisions about Relationships
No More Meetings (Hat tip: James Carville)
Quantum Leap Framework (updated)
Reallocation of Resources Around Opportunities
Simplicity Allows People to Act
The Power Of Opposite Thinking
The Three Big (Business) Questions
Thinking Bigger with your Vision, your Board and your Funding
To Be In A Campaign Or Not To Be In A Campaign – That Is NOT The Question
What Would It Mean To Maximize This Relationship?
“Everybody Has A Plan Until First Contact With The Enemy”
Leadership and Boards back to top
:: Guidebook: How to Create Powerful Board Engagement
Board Roles and Responsibilities
Board… Not… Responsible… Fundraising
Funding Framework for your Board Retreat
Killing off campaign committees (the message and meetings, not the people)
No More Peer-to-Peer Solicitations
Simple Progression at a Board Retreat
Strong Fundraising Boards Don’t Exist
Your Board is not Responsible for Fundraising
Funding Model and Funding Plans back to top
A simple measure: How many one-on-one asks at $1,000+
A Thought on Major Gifts Officers
Archived Seminar: Build Your Funding Strategy/Plan
Archived Seminar: How to Build a Development Plan and Clarify Your Funding Strategy
Casting and Funding a Vision (intro)
Create an Action Forcing Event
The Return on Investment, Energy and Relationships
On Story, Message and Case for Support back to top
Archived Seminar: Think BIG With Your Vision… Then Build Simple With Your Message
Cause and Case. Get those that already get your CAUSE, then sell your CASE.
Do the math to simplify your funding story.
Elevator Pitch vs. Elevator Engagement
How to Answer the Most Important Question of Every Investor
If Effective Then Plenty of Money Available
Is your story awesome? If not, make it awesome.
Nobody wants to fund ‘case management’
Not-for-profits: Do-gooders always looking for money
Put A Wrapper Around It And Sell As An ‘Initiative’
Selling at the Highest Level – Cause Hierarchy
Simple Message(s) – Powered By Group – Powerful Visual
Stop Cultivating and Start Communicating
Storytelling & The Power of Story
Your Funding Plan Supports Your Case
Sales (Major Gifts) Process back to top
9 Guiding Principles for Sales Success
Find And Visit With Your Best Prospects
How to ask funders to follow a deadline
How to Get the Visit: Teleseminar & Online Discussion
Only 9.1% of Sales Meetings Result in a Sale!
Selling as a team – 3 important tips.
The ‘OPEN’ vs. ‘CLOSE’ Paradox
Turn A Presentation Into A Conversation
Making the ASK back to top
9 Tips to Help You Get to the Ask
Altitude Awareness: Stay at 30,000′
Ask for a project instead of guessing a number
Confidently Answer Any Curveball Question with the Rule of 3
Follow-Up Is 90% Of The Effort
How to be an Immediate Sales Expert
Making Things Happen After the Visit (How to Follow-Up)
Reminder: Get Numbers On-The-Table Early
Sales Nugget 1: Ask Everyone for $1Million
Sales Nugget 2: The 5 Steps on the “Critical Path to Sales Success”
Sales Nugget 3: The Importance of Personal Goals
Sales Nugget 4: Selling Yourself
Teleseminar: How To Get The Visit
The Controlling Insight – Just Ask
There can only be ONE leader on a visit.
What Does ‘An Ask’ Look Like? A Checklist.
What You Say is Driven by Your Goal
You Cannot Screw Up, If You Show Up
On Prospects back to top
97% of the funds come from 3% of the prospects
Be In A Position To Advance The Ball
Don’t Make Assumptions for your Best Prospects
Find And Visit With Your Best Prospects
Help People Get What They Want!!!
Lions, Mice, Antelopes & Women
Master Prospect List – QPI Rating System
Raising Money With Martial Arts Wisdom
The Simple Idea that Changes Everything
Thought for the Day, Month, Year
What Would It Mean To Maximize This Relationship?
Where Do We Find New Prospects?
Visual Engagement Tools back to top
Bankers Do Not Have Any Imagination, None At All
Showing Napkin Messages and Nuggets
The Only Presentation Tool You Need
Turn A Presentation Into A Conversation
On Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change back to top
Where Are the (Social) Entrepreneurs When You Need Them?
Trends v. Fundamentals in Nonprofit Funding
Too Many Nonprofits Exist to Exist
The Gen Y Social Entrepreneur Wave: Part III
The Gen Y Social Entrepreneur Wave: Part II
The Gen Y Social Entrepreneur Wave: Part I
The Definition of Social Entrepreneurism
The Big Old (Nonprofit) Dinosaurs Are Dying
Social Entrepreneurship Revisited
My Social Entrepreneur Identity Crisis… And, Philanthropy is Sustainable
Imagining a day in which “Not-for-profits” don’t exist
FACT: Change Organizations are Designed to Not Change
Personal Development back to top
“We Become What We Think About”
Create and Own Your Own Reality
Neither Wilbur or Orville Wright Had a Pilot’s License
New Sources of Ideas and Inspiration
Three (daily) self-coaching questions for fundraisers
Turn ‘Dog Days’ Into Great Thinking and Planning Time
We Learn By Going Where We Have To Go
‘Focus On Your Strengths’ Reinforced
