6 May 2024 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Several years ago, I worked with a land trust whose Board met monthly and whose Executive Committee also met monthly in between Board meetings. One of the problems they had was recruitment (go figure) and that the Chair...
8 April 2024 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’ve been thinking about Board Development Committees a lot lately. The word “development” in the fundraising context is short for “donor development,” meaning building relationships with organizational donors. It’s one of the core functions of non-profit governance work...
18 March 2025 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Dear Board Director: Does your organization have a Conflict-of-Interest Policy? Do you – specifically you – know what it says and how and when to use it? Is it signed by every Board Director every year? Have you seen evidence that...
17 December 2024 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Many land trusts have Board Development Committees that either focus on planning outreach events or serve as oversight committees for the Development staff. Neither is particularly helpful in raising money. Development Committees could address their work in a...
16 July 2024 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I just got back from an engaging land trust conference hosted by the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts and the Washington Association of Land Trusts called Land Camp. I go to conferences as a presenter, to see and...
21 May 2024 By David Allen, Development for Conservation “The systems you have in place right now either were created or evolved on their own to support the current status quo. If you want to change the status quo, you need to change the systems that support...
15 August 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’ve got Board directors on my mind this morning. I’m working with several groups experiencing cultural issues related to Board versus staff roles. This is tough stuff, and it bears dragging it out in the open. Organizations do not...
16 May 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation There’s a spot in Nebraska on top of a little rise where you can see grass all the way to the horizon in every direction. What you can’t see is any sign of human life. No roads. No...
4 April 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Just about every organization I am working with is dealing with the DEI question. Conservation is too white, too male, too educated, too elite. How can we get our boards to look more like our communities? For nearly...
3 May 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Note: Most of this post was originally published in 2017. My workshop was about major gift fundraising (of course), and I had come to the part where Board members need to give themselves first. How can we ask...