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...
19 April 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been writing about communicating with donors. We’re Outreaching; Are We Succeeding? Communicating with “People Who Give Money” Four Common Communications Failures I See Too Frequently And as I explained last week, communication has been on...
22 March 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Somebody out there is going to laugh at this, but I just heard about Kaye Sprinkel Grace’s “AAA” Board a few weeks ago. And fell in love with it. Every Board I’ve ever met has been populated by a majority...
1 February 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation A: A donor continues to give when the event is cancelled. I’m noticing a number of Board members recently who have seriously curbed their giving in 2020 and 2021 or who have stopped giving at all. When I’ve asked...
10 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation If you are a Board member of a land trust or any other nonprofit, this post is directed at you. If you are on staff, please send it to your Board members. In my workshops and seminars and even...
2 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’ve been saving up ideas for a blog post about Board meetings for some time – like now. Short and sweet. BUT, I would really like it if you piled on here. Got an idea that works for you and...
25 May 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation An important concept in fundraising is that of “access” to current and potential donors. Access in fundraising implies that if you call, she will answer; that if you send an email or leave a voice message, it will...