Blog

Fundraising, Professional

A Donor Bill of Rights

by michellesoverino
A Donor Bill of Rights

Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good.

My entire professional career (five years in the field and two collegiate internships) has been shaped in the glorious arena of fundraising. From the start of my first internship, I was hooked. I adore working with donors, supporting missions, and strategically planning fundraising initiatives. My first boss recognized this—she was a great, dynamic mentor—and sent me to an AFP’s Fundamentals of Fundraising Course (Boston, October 2009), which provided me with a solid platform to build my practice. The first topic we discussed was the Donor Bill of Rights. Five years later I’ve a laminated copy next to my phone (with all other documents I like to keep on-hand and coffee-stained free). It has become a great reminder of the basics: donors come first. Continue reading “A Donor Bill of Rights” →

Inspiration, Philosophy, Professional

Cultivate Your Expertise

by michellesoverino
Cultivate Your Expertise

“If you want to be really good at something, it’s going to involve relentlessly pushing past your comfort zone, along with frustration, struggle, setbacks and failures.”

After another great read thanks to LinkedIn, I happily spent a few moments of my morning contemplating professional expertise, baptisms by fire (the theme of all my jobs), and the pleasant fact that I’m one of those in the office who seems to be tackling more than humanly possible. Continue reading “Cultivate Your Expertise” →

Fundraising, Inspiration, Professional

Authentic Relations

by michellesoverino
Authentic Relations

I highly recommend setting aside a professional development hour for LinkedIn content pursuing. Their contributors are the heavy-hitters of business discourse, and I never suffer “readers remorse.” On the contrary, I’m inspired and spend a few minutes after each read jotting down notes and brainstorming.

One of today’s reads was from business journalist George Anders, “What Low-Key People Can Teach Us.” Pungent excerpts: Continue reading “Authentic Relations” →

Creative, Inspiration, Professional

It’s gonna take a while.

by michellesoverino
It’s gonna take a while.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just gotta fight your way through.

– Ira Glass

Creative, Inspiration

Other People’s Work

by michellesoverino
Other People’s Work

My sister, Maybeth, fell in love with an abstract nude while gallery perusing. To her dismay, the piece was not destined to hang on her walls as it was betrothed to another. To my delight, she asked me to recreate this painting for her on an 8×10 canvas to join her “small works” collection. The finish piece is above. I adore it, and am still amazed that it came from my own pushing of oil paint. Continue reading “Other People’s Work” →