David Brown

New in Contrarian Boston: -Return volley: Beloved former Minuteman High School principal fires back in lawsuit against old employer and boss, saying he was wrongfully terminated -Waiting game: Developers with stalled plans for tens of thousands of new housing units are seeking State House help as the clock ticks -Warning for Mass.? Tough times in Chicago, where the teachers union is calling the shots and potentially bankrupting the city -Story or real estate sales pitch? Globe pieces gushes over $35 million penthouse hitting the market at Boston’s most expensive tower -One town builds while another town seethes: Housing for All celebrates wins, seeks affordable units in Watertown Square/shout out to Mark Pickering for a great story. #mapoli #massachusetts #bospoli #Boston Maggie Mulvihill Cosmo Macero Jr. #developers #development #schools #Minuteman #teachersunion #lawsuit #LOCALNEWS #MBTA #HousingCrisis Mark Pickering Tamara Small #Construction Michael Monahan

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What does it take to ensure that community engagement isn't transactional, reduced to a buzzword or checkbox, in building partnerships between healthcare and people with lived experience? Our Power session with the team from INSPIRE is up on the website, you can learn from their research process, best practices, and action recommendations what it looks like to make community engagement more authentic and transformational.

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Today's donors are different. They desire and expect more choices about how to direct their giving, more transparency and specificity about the impact of their giving, and more opportunities to connect beyond their giving. That's why BWF believes strong, modern donor relations programs are the key to building and maintaining an engaged core of supporters. Looking for some tips on how to improve your donors' experiences with your organization? Check out Angela Altamore's (free!) whitepaper! https://lnkd.in/g7PUfmCr

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The Far Side of Fundraising Tip of the Week Transactional fundraising leads to high rates of donor loss. Most organizations lose 4 out of 5 first-time donors. The more rapidly and impersonally we secure support, the more we sub-optimize giving potential and the more rapidly donors depart. High rates of donor attrition, coupled with the continue contraction of giving households, spell long-term disaster for most nonprofits. Don't follow the transactional lemmings as they plunged into the sea. Adopt sustainable practices. You may be in the minority but you will help your organization survive and eventually thrive. This one requires that you closely to see who stands out in adopting sustainable practices.

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Whether thinking about your next role or your next hiring process, this promises to be an informative and impactful session!

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Election Day is right around the corner. Massachusetts voters, do you know how you're voting on the five ballot questions? With help from Boston Globe Media reporters, I put together a series of videos on the ballot questions voters will need to decide on. Let's start with Question 1. Here's a breakdown. (For more information, check out the Globe's voter guide! https://trib.al/hGoKtuq)

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On our cover!

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Excellent tips for parents of school-age kids.

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Some thought provoking questions for #YomHaZikaron #YomHaAtzmaut.

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Today’s column

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Very interesting information on cultural audiences from Egnyte. This data is from Boston and SF but a deep dive on cultural consumer segments and engagement post Covid. Questions we all ponder in the museum and cultural world! Boston report https://lnkd.in/gGP-DzpT Download here, using password: iwVUiJ2Hy San Francisco report https://lnkd.in/gGP-DzpT Download here, using password: cKPzK3Vp3

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An important read!

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If you need more resources for living with paralysis or being a caregiver, check out the National Paralysis Resource Center! #SCIAwarenessMonth #SCISurvivor

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My latest column in Governing is about how city leaders like Boston's Michelle Wu are stepping up to fill the many gaps that exist in how we do early childhood education in the U.S. Please give it a read! https://lnkd.in/edeaEYpp

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Tailor Your Funding Requests to Donors' Level of Receptivity The most receptive: ⏺ Living donors who have made estate commitments ⏺ Multiple major gift givers ⏺ Loyal annual givers of 15 years or more ⏺ Volunteers long-engaged in substantive activities (e.g. board membership) ⏺ Highly engaged in events and actives Moderately receptive: ⏺ Single major gift givers ⏺ Annual donors who have given 6 to 10 years, sometimes intermittently ⏺ Volunteers engaged for 3-5 years in occasional activities ⏺ Occasionally engaged in events in activities Lightly receptive: ⏺ Two recent and modest commitments ⏺ Attended a few events Where you would be wrong to assume receptivity to another funding request: ⏺ First time donors given little or nothing after their first commitment ⏺ Major donors who have not be contacted personally in a year or more ⏺ Someone who volunteered once or twice but never gave ⏺ Someone who attended one event Where you would be crazy to assume receptivity: ⏺ "Prospects" who have done none of the above Strategies that work best with each of these cohorts The highly receptive: ⏹ You can speak to the building blocks of organization because they are so much a part of it and trust in its ability to convert investment into impact The moderately receptive: ⏹ Conduct donor satisfaction interviews or survey's first The lightly receptive: ⏹ Interview or conduct survey to see how strongly they believe in your purpose, direction and leadership; the degree to which they feel they belong and if they see how their giving has bettered the lives of those you serve. Unsure of receptivity: ⏹ Interview or conduct survey asking to which cause or purpose they have been the most pleased and why, what has been their most and least satisfying giving experience, and their receptivity to volunteering. No indication of receptivity ⏹ Stop calling them prospects ⏹ Don't put them in portfolios ⏹ Look for other giving experiences as evidence of what they might be receptive to ⏹ Invite them to a substantive event that tracks with previous philanthropic interests Is this perfect? Hardly, but any effort to segment, experiment, and learn is much better than the spray-and-pray or assuming a "one size appeal fits all." Segmentation and customization are the beginnings of strategic philanthropic facilitation. Defaulting to the usual unimaginative tactical grind is wasteful and depleting for the organization and those engage in doing of that work, and good way to continue squandering your philanthropic potential.

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Today’s column

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I LOVE the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Epi Data Briefs that breakdown mental health prevalence by various social, economic, and environmental factors. Headlines below, but I strongly encourage you to take a deeper look at the brief. As a whole, about 1 in 10 NYC adults have depression (13%). This jumps to: 1 in 5 for NYC adults - aged 18-24 (20%) - experiencing food insecurity (20%) - who have asthma (20%) - who have two or more chronic health conditions (21%) 1 in 4 for NYC adults who - have above average financial stress (25%) - identify as bisexual (26%) - identify as multiracial (27%) - have ever experienced intimate partner violence (28%) Almost 2 in 5 for NYC adults who - identify as a gender other than cisgender (38%) - rate their overall health as fair or poor (39%) How do you or will you use this data? One way I use it: to demonstrate how the social drivers of health and access initiatives at United Way of New York City and the Department of Community Based Programs at Family Health Centers @ NYU Langone Health help address mental health. Kudos to Kinjia Hinterland and her team for presenting a wealth of data in an approachable, digestible format.

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