FYI BLOG
Checking All of The Boxes
This summer, I’ve been taking my oldest son to look at colleges. Like me, he’s analytical, so we started by making a list of the critical things he requires: does College X have the business program he wants? Study abroad? The right club sports...
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Clients in the News – August 2019
REACH for the stars! The Kennedy Center is pulling out all the stops when it opens its much-anticipated expansion, the REACH, in September. For 16 days—September 7-22—the Kennedy Center will hold a free festival, including tours of the new REACH spaces, films, interactive events (like tai chi and virtual reality demonstrations), dance, comedy (Patton Oswalt!), opera (Renee Fleming!), symphony, rock, hip hop, and much, much more. Visit the Kennedy Center’s website now to...
What’s Next Beyond Email Fundraising?
We took in Digital Day at the DMAW and brought back a host of ideas and trends—here are some highlights that we might think about testing…knowing that none is one-size-fits-all: Lots of organizations shared ideas for designing successful fundraising emails and discussed website trends they are trying out with mixed success. But the most interesting takeaways came from panelists discussing, the idea of what’s next beyond email fundraising. For example: For The US Holocaust...
Clients in the News – July 2019
A must read: the open letter from Cynthia Pearson (executive director of the National Women’s Health Network) to Norman Sharpless, the new Food & Drug Administration commissioner. Pearson notes eight strategies for earning a high grade from NWHN, and implores the commissioner to prioritize science and public health over special interests. Read the entire letter on NWHN’s website. On a sad note, NWHN mourns the passing of Dr. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, and honors her critical...
Data Literacy is Key
I’ve been in Avalon leadership for more than 20 years, striving to grow personally and professionally as our company has grown and changed, and always looking for ways to improve. Right now, I’m reading a fascinating book: Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow by Don Clifton and Tom Rath. I took the quiz the authors designed to identify one’s dominant leadership traits—and among the five, my love of analytics and data came through loud and...
Clients in the News – June 2019
Lonnie Bunch to Lead the Smithsonian We are thrilled that Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, has been named the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian. He goes from overseeing one museum, to 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, nine research centers, and several education units and centers that make up the 173-year old Institution. After 40 years of working with museums, Bunch is singularly qualified as a leading...
Online Benchmarking 2019
M+R recently released its Online Benchmarks Study 2019, with lots to inform how we move forward with online fundraising. This year’s study consisted of 135 non-profits, including five Avalon clients (National Museum of the American Indian, National Air and Space Museum, Monterey Bay Aquarium, National Geographic Society, and the National Parks Conservation Association). M+R breaks the study participants and findings up across seven sectors (including cultural, environmental,...
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