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Friction costs Let’s consider ways to reduce or eliminate donor friction costs.  ‘Friction costs’ are a common consideration in business transactions. Basically, ‘friction costs’ is a term used to describe the machinations or steps someone has to go through in order to complete a purchase. Businesses of all types think a lot about how to […]

Tech wearables are ubiquitous. More and more, they are even fashionable and used as status indicators. Many people wear eyeglasses. When we see someone wearing eyeglasses, the reason ‘why’ this person wears eyeglasses hardly registers. Granted, if you saw someone wearing Google’s AR glasses, which are currently in development, you may pause for a closer […]

Program Officers are responsible for identifying the best possible projects through a process involving fielding and analyzing requests. Inputs for this process are numerous and vary by foundation. The process is more art than science. And given the inexact science and room for subjectivity on behalf of the program officers, there is certainly room for […]

Simple phrases that instantly obliterate your chances of receiving grant funding and how to rephrase them to actually be helpful. As someone who has been working in philanthropy and managed ‘the funding side’ of the conversation for over 15 years, I’m often asked ‘what’s your favorite project?’ I never answer that question, even though I […]

After the global circumstances of the last two years, many foundations may just be trying to wrestle the steering wheel back into the old roadway grooves.  Mohamed El-Erian has always stood out to me as one of the most objective financial analysts out there. According to his latest article in Foreign Affairs, we are ‘on […]

Interest in the issue from donors and philanthropists is high, but the amount of giving toward this area is low.  According to the recent March 2023 Aspen Institute\’s report entitled ‘Funding Climate Action: Pathways for Philanthropy:’ ‘85 percent of all U.S. foundation funders stated that climate change was a top three issue, but only about […]

Randy: Identifier/Disclaimer: the following grant proposal was written by CHAT GPT using the prompt listed below. The content has not been edited in any way. Total time to write: About 45 seconds. Total cost to write: Free. Myself and a colleague of mine spent the better part of Spring Break going back and forth on […]

A long-time colleague reached out and asked for advice about starting a consulting business. This got me thinking about a few things to offer outside of the results of a youtube or an AI generated article online.  Five pieces of advice I give somebody when they ask me about starting a consulting business. They are […]

Fraud (or willful withholding of pertinent financial information) in the Nonprofit Sector and what a foundation should examine when considering a grant. In my time serving the board of trustees of a foundation, I’ve come across a few types of outright fraud. After reading an article in today’s Wall Street Journal involving a leader of a […]

2024 started off pretty quickly here, what with a few projects continuing through the holidays and the launch of a new initiative on behalf of our client Allegany Franciscan Ministries. 2023 was our first year. Here is what we did: Florida Philanthropic Network: Build engagement and connection among their more than 700 member leaders in […]