Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Three Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face

There are 43 'realities' about big-gifts fundraising described by David Landsdowne in his book, 'Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face: A 1-Hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations'. He goes into some detail on each of them.

Three of those 'realities' are:
  1. Wealth Alone Doesn't Determine
  2. A Few Contribute the Most
  3. The Secret to Success
Read the full GuideStar article to learn more from the author about these three fundraising tips.
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Saturday, January 11, 2014

Hard Truths Your Board Members Must Face If They Want to Raise Big Money

Excerpted from the second edition of Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face: A 1-Hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations

"You can't handle the truth!" is Jack Nicholson's memorable line in A Few Good Men.

Fortunately, your board members are a hardier lot than Tom Cruise's character. They can in fact accept the truth - in this case, three fundraising truths - if you carefully explain the validity of each.   Those truths are:
  1. Go Figure
  2. Each According to His or Her Means
  3. Those Who Ask Must Give First
Click here to read the full GuideStar article.
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Sunday, October 27, 2013

7 Success Principles of Steve Jobs

Soulclap to Donald White for sharing these seven principles with us. I thought that our blog readers would enjoy these insights from the late Steve Jobs.
Principle One: Do what you love. Steve Jobs once told a group of employees, “People with passion can change the world for the better.” Jobs has followed his heart his entire life and that passion, he says, has made all the difference. It’s very difficult to come up with new, creative, and novel ideas unless you are passionate about moving society forward.

Principle Two: Put a dent in the universe. Passion fuels the rocket, but vision directs the rocket to its ultimate destination. In 1976, when Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple, Jobs’ vision was to put a computer in the hands of everyday people. In 1979, Jobs saw an early and crude graphical user interface being demonstrated at the Xerox research facility in Palo Alto, California.

He knew immediately that the technology would make computers appealing to “everyday people.” That technology eventually became The Macintosh, which changed everything about the way we interact with computers. Xerox scientists didn’t realize its potential because their “vision” was limited to making new copiers. Two people can see the exactly the same thing, but perceive it differently based on their vision.

Principle Three: Kick start your brain. Steve Jobs once said “Creativity is connecting things.” Connecting things means seeking inspiration from other industries. At various times, Jobs has found inspiration in a phone book, Zen meditation, visiting India, a food processor at Macy’s, or The Four Seasons hotel chain. Jobs doesn’t “steal” ideas as much as he uses ideas from other industries to inspire his own creativity.

Principle Four: Sell dreams, not products. To Steve Jobs, people who buy Apple products are not “consumers.” They are people with hopes, dreams and ambitions. He builds products to help people achieve their dreams. He once said, “some people think you’ve got to be crazy to buy a Mac, but in that craziness we see genius.” How do you see your customers? Help them unleash their inner genius and you’ll win over their hearts and minds.

Principle Five: Say no to 1,000 things. Steve Jobs once said, “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.” He is committed to building products with simple, uncluttered design. And that commitment extends beyond products. From the design of the iPod to the iPad, from the packaging of Apple’s products, to the functionality of the Web site, in Apple’s world, innovation means eliminating the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

Principle Six: Create insanely great experiences. The Apple store has become the world’s best retailer by introducing simple innovations any business can adopt to create deeper, more emotional connections with their customers. For example, there are no cashiers in an Apple store. There are experts, consultants, even geniuses, but no cashiers. Why? Because Apple is not in the business of moving boxes; they are in the business of enriching lives. Big difference.

Principle Seven: Master the message. Steve Jobs is the world’s greatest corporate storyteller, turning product launches into an art form. You can have the most innovative idea in the world, but if you can’t get people excited about it, it doesn’t matter.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

'The Business Landscape of Cloud Computing' by Daryl Plummer

Daryl Plummer is a past member of the National BDPA Board of Directors. He served as our outside director for a couple of years. Daryl is a Gartner Fellow responsible for that companies research into Cloud Computing and Emerging Technologies. He is one of the highest-ranking African Americans in the consulting realm of the IT industry.

One of the things I always appreciated about Daryl was his ability to break down high-powered technology and leadership concepts into practical language and images that everyone could understand. He continues to demonstrate that skill with the publication of a new eBook, The Business Landscape of Cloud Computing.

He breaks down the concept of 'Cloud Computing' in the following way:
"Cloud computing means someone else runs your computers and software while you use what they deliver and focus on delivering value."
All of the most important cloud computing topics are covered including security, ROI, Cloud Services Brokerage (third party intermediaries), and the ever present question of private vs. public. Mr. Plummer even ventures into macro economic territory in looking at the impact of cloud computing, job creation, and as more companies move into the cloud, the question of whether or not some cloud infrastructure providers become Too Big to Fail?

If you are new to cloud, this is a must read. If you have been working with the cloud for a while now, it is a great reminder that the real value of the cloud is what is possible because of the cloud, or to use Daryl’s words the cloud allows you to focus on value [rather than technology].

I encourage all BDPA members to check out this eBook.