I love fundraising events and have been lucky enough to do hundreds of them over the last ten years. 

Most of them I remember for the right reasons. And then there's the other kind.

Years ago I was a guest…

Fundraising is a lot like building a house. Nobody gets excited about the foundation. It doesn't make anyone's vision board. But rush it or worse, skip it altogether and everything built on top of it is on borrowed time. That's…

Is Your Live Auction Strategy Built on Assumption or Action?

Are you planning to include a live auction in your next fundraising event? If so, strategy—not assumption—should be your guiding principle from day one.

Too often, organizations include a live…

If you've ever been to a fundraising event and watched someone walk to the front of the room with a microphone, announce a series of dollar amounts, and then watched as guests raise numbered paddles in the air, you've witnessed…

Have you ever attended a fundraising gala that felt longer than your kid's third grade recorder recital? Nobody was having fun. Nobody asked for an encore. And by the time the paddle raise/fund a need came around half the room…

Most organizations treat the paddle raise like a transaction. It's not. It's the most connective and community-based moment of your entire evening — and when it's done right, it feels like one.

Here's what actually makes a paddle raise work.

The Power of Storytelling: Why Your Donor's Brain Craves Connection Over Statistics

Your donor's brain doesn't care about your statistics. At least, not in the way you think it does.

After more than a decade as a professional emcee and…

Life's too short for bad emcees and your event is too important to leave it to chance.

Let's be honest: hiring an emcee can feel like online dating, but with your event budget on the line. You find someone whose…

Here's something I've learned after raising millions of dollars for nonprofits: the most powerful fundraising tool at your gala isn't the live auction, the entertainment, or the four foot tall centerpiece that required a ladder to assemble — yes, I've…

Here's a question worth sitting with: Who isn't in your room?

Not because they didn't want to be there. Not because they don't care about your mission. But because something about your event, the venue, the seating, the food, the…