This BLOG is intended to help conservation organizations and land trusts pursue excellence in all aspects of their conservation endeavors. I welcome your comments and feedback to these posts.
14 July 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Among the many hats I wore for a time at The Nature Conservancy was that of Volunteer Coordinator. And frankly, I wasn’t very good at it. It always seemed that it took more time to teach and supervise...
7 July 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Planning 101: Take a close and honest look at where you are right now. Visualize where you want to be. Brainstorm the various possible ways of getting there. Prioritize and choose a course of action. Suggest metrics and...
30 June 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Vitaliy Katsenelson is a philosopher-investor who writes an interesting blog on life, classical music, and the fundamentals of investing. He recently offered a metaphor for what’s going on that is based on the game of chess. (The Fischer...
23 June 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation The late Jerry Panas was quoted as having said that “No organization will rise above the strength and commitment of its Board,” though the quote may not be originally attributable to him. I keep coming back to that quote...
16 June 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation This topic comes from a Reader Question, which in turn came from a discussion thread on the Alliance’s Learning Center: The discussion regarded using a "membership" framework in direct mail, etc. I hesitate to get rid of it because...
9 June 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I can't write about fundraising this week - I - Just - Can't. Fundraising will be back next week. I have been interested in recent days and weeks to see all the companies and nonprofits – overwhelmingly white –...
2 June 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I am not a gardener. We live in an urban home on just shy of an acre, and we are busily converting anything that is now grass into something else – trees, flowers, vegetables, and so on – that...
26 May 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Happy Memorial Day! – Sort of. The flags were out in my neighborhood, the grills were active, and the mail didn’t come – all that was normal. But the parade was cancelled. The community pool still sits empty (and the...
19 May 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Matching grants have been used forever to stimulate giving. It seems like today, they are most closely associated with public broadcasting campaigns and state giving days, but nearly every nonprofit has at least some experience with them. Thirty...
12 May 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation At a macro-scale, land trust mission statements and core strategies shouldn’t change much. Acquire land or rights to it. Manage land. Monitor easements. All in perpetuity. Acquire more land or rights to it. And so on. So, what changes...