Want the full guide?

Comment “PLANNED” and I’ll send it your way. used to think planned giving conversations had to be deep, emotional, maybe even tearful.

#fundraising #npsky

Here’s one of the scripts:

🟢 “You’ve done so much for this organization already. If you ever want to talk about ways to make your impact last, even after your lifetime, I’d love to be part of that conversation.”

At their request, I pulled together the most common questions they asked – and built a language guide to make planned giving feel human, doable, and not weird.

Which is ironic – because planned giving is one of the most exciting areas in fundraising:

✅ It’s mission-driven
✅ It comes from loyal donors (not just wealthy ones)
✅ It’s full of opportunity, if you know how to start the conversation

They weren’t afraid to ask for gifts. They were afraid to bring up… mortality.

I wrote about all of this in a recent blog post—what it meant then, what it means now, and what I’ve learned after years of working in fundraising myself.

💬 Drop a comment or emoji if you’d like the link. I’d love to share it with you.

#fundraising #npsky

That kind of education doesn’t show up on a diploma. But it shows up in the life you build after.
It shows up in how you lead, how you write, how you make decisions.
It shows up in how you raise funds so others can access the same.

Because donors I never met believed in students they would never know.

It wasn’t just about travel.
It was about sitting in lectures in London with people like Dr. Stanley Hauer—learning how to see the world with nuance, how to connect ideas across time, and how to ask better questions.

So, this Thanksgiving, I wrote about my gratitude for Stan Hauer, education, and for philanthropy that helps to make it possible. If you’d like to read it, let me know in the comments and I’ll drop the link.

#fundraising #npsky

It was about becoming someone who could see things differently—and carry that forward.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your support as a donor really matters, I can tell you with my whole heart: it does.

But here’s what’s been sitting with me this Thanksgiving:
I wouldn’t have been there—at Bodiam Castle, or in those classrooms—without donor support.

Scholarships made that trip possible.
Gifts to my university funded the programs that opened my world.

It wasn’t just about studying abroad.

He passed away recently, and I’ve found myself pulling out old notebooks, reading lecture outlines, and remembering what it felt like to sit in his class.

He taught me how to think critically, how to care about language, and how to make connections across centuries.

🧡 If this resonates with you, I wrote a reflection about it. It’s a story about gratitude, yes—but also about what giving really makes possible.

Drop a “link please” in the comments and I’ll send you the full post.

#fundraising #npsky

And the people—both professors and donors—who made that kind of education possible for me.

You can’t see the trips to conferences, the study abroad program in London, the books and ideas I wouldn’t have encountered without support.

This Thanksgiving, I’ve been thinking a lot about the kind of learning that stays with you—not on paper, not in grades, but in how you live and think and work

You can’t see the donors who funded my scholarships.

You can’t see the hours spent in classrooms taught by faculty like Dr. Stanley Hauer, who passed away recently but whose voice I still hear every time I write a clear sentence.

You fix it by receiving.
Graciously. Daily.

That’s how you lead with generosity instead of scarcity.

Comment “Worthy” for the post.

#fundraising #npsky

The fix?

Practice gracious receivership.
Let good things land.

That’s the shift that leads to better asks – and better lives.

Comment “Shift” for the post.

#fundraising #npsky