First, I wish to introduce myself.  My name is Carol Belair, and I am a senior consultant located here in the lovely Minneapolis-St. Paul area.  Well maybe this winter…not so lovely.  I work with our Target Analytics clients providing consulting and training on the various solutions that they purchased from us.  Some of you may [...]

An important bill that could mean additional current revenue to your organization has been introduced by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The Public Good IRA Rollover Act of 2011 (S. 557) would extend the IRA charitable rollover beyond 2011, lift the $100,000 cap on distributions, and allow planned gifts beginning at age [...]

Well I talked about the easy thing first and that was professional development and now comes the hard one – budgets and goals.  Having spent a large number of years in non-profit, these are never easy items to talk about but obviously so necessary in your day to day work.  As I mentioned in Part [...]

I just read an attention-grabbing article extolling a new print service called Read Smart by Production Solutions and it piqued my interest – maybe it really piqued my brain.  Read on to find out how that might have happened.  ReadSmart, they say, is the result of over 20 years of research examining how messages are [...]

Recently, I had the privilege and honor of participating in the pomp and circumstance of inaugurating Brandeis University’s, my alma mater, new president Frederick Lawrence.  As I sat in the audience, I was impressed by many threads of President Lawrence’s inaugural address.  His comments to the students in the audience, “you are a student here [...]

Frequently, when meeting with organizations interested in prospect screening, I ask them what other research strategies they currently employ.  All too often the answer I hear is, “Nothing”.  That is usually followed by, “We can’t afford to do anything,” or “We don’t have the staff to do anything.”  OK, admittedly those limitations can be, well, [...]

It’s blog round-up time! I have compiled a few blog posts that caught my eye in March and I wanted to share them with you. Read on! Emotion Not Enough, from The Agitator Blog, discusses emotional fundraising appeals versus a more straight-forward ask. Read the two letters and share your thoughts! Why Charities Need to Pay Attention [...]