The Little Words Mean the Most

They're called "The Dinos" (my visit to Calgary)

It was meteorological dodgeball. I left Boston a few hours post-blzzard. Every jet I rode on had to be de-iced. And coming home to RI from Calgary? A cliffhanger; I made my connection with minutes to spare. L-r: Calgary looks like this. Cattle. Oil. The Rockies right next door. World-class fossil deposits (hence, "The Dinos"). -- State-of-the-art de-icying in Toronto, where I cleared customs. -- My hotel, Best Western Village Inn, a 2-minute walk (with 3 locally-brewed beers, a 3-minute walk) from Big T's BBQ and Smokehouse, which is worth the 5-hour flight (yes, I'm saying that). Curling competition stays here; spelling competition sweeps up the week after. -- Where I spoke before the deans of UCalgary; that's my hyper-gracious host looking down (she picked me up bearing a cup of gourmet coffee and a muffin), Colleen Donahue, Director, Donor Communications and Case Development. -- Introduced by the truly amazing president of UCalgary, Elizabeth Cannon. -- What university deans look like, as interpreted by Dutch Masters.

In Baltimore, with Catholic Relief Services

[L-r: two custom slides from the show] Yesterday, I spent the day in Baltimore working with the entire communications crew at Catholic Relief Services, a global aid charity with something like a $.5 billion annual budget. I was brought in by the major gifts folks. But CRS is a well-integrated effort without silos, so everyone from the web team to the direct mail honchos were there. And we had a lovely, productive time. We started by creating an "emotional profile" for a major donor, beginning with an actual $100,000/annual person, then expanding out to look at all the various emotional reasons that people might give, including faith. We talked about what the research tells us about major donors and their special preferences. We talked in depth about the critical distinction between corporate communications and donor communications. We talked about "donor-centricity" and what it looks like (almost no charities do it well). We analyzed a donor newsletter that improved giving 1,000% (not a mistype) by switching from corporate communications to donor-centered communications. We analyzed the key communications that CRS sends to major donors, and I gave them my report card. I also showed them how to "self-audit" their own communications materials; that way they can spot and fix weaknesses before the stuff leaves the building. We dipped into eye-motion studies. We had a headline-writing exercise and goofy prizes; lots of fun there. We ate a nice little lunch and chatted about social media. Etc. It was a 9-4 day.

Blood pressure update

It turns out that my blood pressure falls into the normal, pedestrian, un-anxious zone when I have a cocktail ... and while listening to the 1989 stupid-ish movie, Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze. You had me at Ghost and Dirty Dancing, Patrick. RIP: September 14, 2009.

Today, I lost a dear friend.

Potato chips. My blood pressure is too high, for the first time in my long life. Salt is one of the chief suspects. I crave salt. Now: NO salt. No more "roasted pigeon-flavored chips," like in the UK. And a little pill which may have the weird side effect of making me calmer in front of intimidating audiences. So that's good. Not "potato-chip good." Still.

...the self-control of a squirrel in a nut storm.

Wine review: Layer Cake 2009 (Shiraz)

From South Australia. Incredibly soft mouthfeel, like a scarf. Exquisitely balanced across the palate. For US$15, a good value for an ambitious wine.

My New Year's resolution fulfilled early

I made one professional resolve for 2011: that I could convince at least one of my clients to undertake the basic first step toward fundraising glory and conduct a "donor satisfaction" survey ala Dr. Adrian Sargeant.

And it appears I may well have a taker!:!: the [I'll tell you someday, a big city] Opera.

Fundraisers are marketers. At least, they should be marketers, if they profess to know their business. And marketers have learned, from the utter and contemptuous brutality of the marketplace, to live and die by customer satisfaction surveys.

And yet ... it would be my 99.9% safe guess ... that hardly ANY U.S. nonprofit in existence (I've worked for and met hundreds) has ever even considered conducting such a survey.

Even though such surveys are fundamental to success. Even though they are as simple as door handles and can be managed by anyone; Dr. Sargeant's model survey asks just 9 brief questions. Yet maybe 1 in 10,000 nonprofits (and I believe that guess is optimistic) ever attempt such a thing.

Final thing to write on a frosted windshield with your warm finger: You cannot win if you don't even try.

"Thought leader" -- moi?

Today is the day that a credible professional from a distant part of America who does not know me personally, who is not in any way related to me, and who has just the teensiest reason for flattering me, called me something braggadocio: I am, in his words, "a thought leader." Which means, of course, "thought followers." Which means people were headed in one direction ... and now they're following me in another direction. My preference? Let's go hiking in the desert. Bring hats, thick skin, and extra water.

Well, I wish...

Tonight: Sarah Palin adds a footnote to her comment about "blood libel." The term "blood libel" refers to slurs that are racial, as opposed to factual. Accusations by the Nazis against German Jews, for instance, count as "blood libels." Ms. Palin's "blood libel" comment attempts to chastize those who link the Tea Party's blood-thirsty rhetoric to the shooting of US Congresswoman Gabrille Giffords. "Let's be real," Ms. Palin wants to say. "This is a madman." True ... but. You and your kind swung open the door. "Madmen, enter here. We will denounce you, finally. Ultimately, you only deliver one vote. But secretly we applaud you. Because you have removed an enemy." The lesson from Nazi Germany is not that "Obama is Hitler." The lesson from Nazi Germany is this: (1) words matter; and (2) control of the media matters. The lesson from Nazi Germany is this: murderers have crowns, murderers have followings, murderers have TV shows.

Day one

Day 14, really. Of Tom's Body Reshaping 2011. We have the gear. I'm using it daily. Mostly, I ache and whine. But we'll see. Also in the news today: blizzard. Walked outside to move a wheelbarrow before the plow guy turns it into sheet metal. Snow is two feet deep, like wading through fruitcake batter. Good day for work: open onscreen at the moment, the Save the Children enews; the New York Community Trust ads; the University of Calgary dean's presentation (tough crowd); my new book; the stuff for Catholic Relief Services; two private schools with capital campaigns, one in British Columbia, one in Silicon Valley; and the new-business trip Simone and I will take in February to Richmond, VA, to meet with an international charity.