all that's past is prologue...

Day One continued apace. I went to a break-out on corporate fundraising and had a bit of session envy when I saw the tweets from the audience engagement session. I suppose I picked up a few tips, but the session was more like a commercial for how great the two companies presenting were than general truths about corporate fundraising. Good to be reminded, though, that only 4% of giving, on average, comes from corporations, and that it is the personal connection that really causes them to give. One person, though, said "Remember, everyone in your audience works for someone," but I no longer think that's true. Probably 25% of the audience for my clients are students, retirees, or otherwise don't work. Another high percentage, maybe 25%, are self-employed (and we seem to have a lot of self-employed board members). So that leaves 50% working for corporations, and I have to think about how to best tap that. The general consensus, in talking to people, is that the brea...

#NAMPC10. The hashtags are flowing heavy. But are we perhaps to involved in our own tweeting cleverness to pay attention? I am. I got distracted during the "Future Arts Managers" break-out session by the cold room and the blister on my feet, so ducked out and went on a short walk in the San Jose sunshine for some band-aids. I'm in a warm room, reflecting, and feel much better, thank you. I have to say it is an ENORMOUS treat to be surrounded by smart people, thinking about the work I do. But this conference, so far, is raising a lot more questions than answers, and I suppose that's ok. The keynote this morning was incredible. Chip Heath (author of SWITCH and MAKE IT STICK) is my new personal hero. He was bright, he was personable, he presented some really interesting ideas and "a-ha" moments in ways that made you actually think you could go home and do something with them. My favorite points were the ideas of the "curiosity gap" — where you...

On Friday, I went to a forum by the Arts Learning Xchange and I've been thinking about it all weekend. The basic premise was "How to Stand Out In a Crowded Consumer Climate." General Mills' Vice President of Marketing Mark Addicks discussed their brand-building and promotion, and Fred Haberman, CEO of his own marketing firm , discussed cause-related promotion; this was followed by a brief Q&A and an interactive exercise. As unprofessional as it is, I have to admit to ignoring the final interactive exercise and discussing with some colleagues how the topics discussed applied to their organization instead. And, though I am certainly thinking a lot more about CSR marketing, that presentation was a little more diffuse, though I do think the trends Mr. Haberman discussed (ranging from "I'm overwhelmed!" to "I'm in control!") bear further reflection, and the firm seems to be tops at what they do. (Also, a tip for Mr. Haberman — it took ...

Many of you may not know that I did not just inherit one house — I inherited two. My father built me a dollhouse for my 4th (?) birthday. It was incredibly deluxe, solid wood in a white colonial style with green trim, decorated in the hippest of early 1970s wallpaper and carpet. There were built-in bookcases, windowboxes, even my initials on the shutters. I was in heaven, and played with it, in many incarnations, for over ten years. Recently, Beatrix has been especially interested in dollhouses. Every time we go to a toy store she wants to play with them. In particular, we have spent hours in Creative Kidstuff playing with the Calico Critters animal families and their homes. But have you priced out dollhouses lately? They are ridiculous, either incredible expensive ($100 to $200 and up) for wooden ones (and I don't like any of the designs much anyway), or tacky plastic, or both. So we decided to renovate my old dollhouse and "flip" it for a picky new owner... Here ...

Though Beatrix even went trick-or-treating as a baby (she was a banana, it was adorable), this is the first year that she has really gotten into it. And there was certainly a lot to get in to: - 2 parties with her daycare - the annual pumpkin carving at Roering Auto Body — at her request, I carved a cat - Boo Bash on Grand Avenue with Harry and Kelsey last weekend - Trick-or-Treating at Kowalski's on Tuesday — it was great, they gave you a bag as you walked in, and then there were different stations et up throughout the store with chips, apples, candy, etc. - music class in costume at MacPhail - Trick-or-Treating in Highland yesterday; I have to say this was better than Boo Bash, with a lot more places participating and a variety of things, from candy to wooden train cars to stickers After all that I thought that tonight's REAL Trick-or-Treating might be anticlimactic, but she had a blast going around our block and getting candy. I love our neighborhood, and she was th...

I'm volunteering with the group that is planning this and it should be a great event! Here's a request for volunteers from their volunteer coordinator: Are you interested in maximizing your time and volunteer effort for hundreds of great causes all at once? Then get involved with GiveMN's "Give to the Max Day 2010" on Tuesday, November 16th from 8 a.m. to midnight! http://givemn.razoo.com/p/gtmd Last year, more than 38,000 donors raised $14 million for 3,434 nonprofit organizations throughout Minnesota in just one day! These organizations provide critical services for our state, including feeding our hungry, sheltering our homeless, assisting our elderly, nurturing our youth, improving our welfare, maintaining our heritage, and protecting our environment. This year GiveMN has teamed up with The UpTake http://theuptake.org/ to promote nonprofit and individual giving LIVE online! Representatives from more than 80 organizations from all over the state will educate v...

Uh-huh, Halloween already this weekend (as Beatrix has reminded us several times). If you are looking for something different to do, I highly recommend A SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN by Theater of Fools. The company is a "Vaudeville for the 21st Century" group that I have been working with, and this piece, written by co-founder Lloyd Brant, is deliciously spooky. He originally conceived the piece as an opening act for a concert tour by The Doors, and the one-man show, based on a shaman-clown that resurrects Jim Morrison's spirit, is spookily quirky. Go to their website for tickets, and if you select the promotional rate because I told you to you can get a 25% groupon-like discount. But hurry, it only runs this weekend, Thursday through Sunday at the Jewel Theater (above Twin Cities Magic, 250 E. 7th Street in Saint Paul.)