News/Blog

There’s a lot going on in our sector right now.  We’re debating the ethics of fundraising in the wake of the college admission and Epstein scandals.  We continue to worry about fundraiser retention as yet another study illustrates many of us are unhappy in our jobs and planning to make job or career changes.

AFP-NYC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
September 19, 2019, Scandinavia House, New York City

Much has been said and written about a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy survey that found that 51% of fundraisers plan to leave their jobs within the next two years, and 30% plan to leave the fundraising profession altogether. 

For some of you, the phrase "Say It Ain’t So" might harken you back to the mid-90's when rock band Weezer released a song on their first album by that name. For others, it might have the literal meaning of disbelief and the hope that someone will assure you that what you just heard isn’t real. 

So before I head out for vacation I thought I would share with you the values that our Development team created to guide our work.  We adapted them from the set of values we follow at Phelps Hospital—which are centered on providing the best patient care.  We use the acronym Phelps Pride. 

There has been a great deal of hype and discussion surrounding Ray Dalio’s book, Principles: Life and Work. It’s a New York Times bestseller and I encourage you to pick it up if you’re looking for a career-energizing summer read. As I was reading it made me think that as philanthropy professionals, we could start our own book of guiding principles and start to gather our collective wisdom.  

AFP-NYC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
July 18, 2019, Scandinavia House, New York City

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the chapter’s summer Happy Hour organized by our Emerging Leaders Committee.  It was an inspiring event; not a word that typically comes to mind when describing a Happy Hour!

This past Wednesday, I had lunch with two colleagues whom I’ve each known for more than 20 years.  We get together once or twice a year to talk about everything and nothing (yes, all three of us are Seinfeld fans).  Sometimes, we forget that we haven’t met up recently.  After all, we have jobs and families and we just get busy.  This year, we ran into one another at Fundraising Day, which, by the way, had the highest attendance since the pre-Great Recession year of 2008.  So, we promised each other that we would set a date and meet.  And so we did.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

- Albert Schweitzer