The Little Words Mean the Most

If you enjoy photography, WHY you should consider dahlias despite their unsuitability to northern climes

You can teach this stuff

I've been doing what I call "Kivinars" for a couple of lucrative years now. Kivi Leroux Miller created the model and produces a busy schedule of trainings. We always sell out, because the class size is strictly limited; and it has to be. The personal attention in a Kivinar is lavish. First, students get 2 hours of intense lecturing online: 2 sessions, one hour each, of best practices. Students look at successful examples of fundraising direct mail or donor newsletters, depending on the Kivinar topic. They're walked through a deep analysis of all examples. The hidden structures and techniques that guarantee success are explained. Then the students go away for a few days. They come back with stuff they write fresh, and send it to me for critiques. My critiques are public, held in front of everyone on a GoToMeeting conference call. These critiques are frank; not brutally, but frank. And very fussy. Everyone is strongly encouraged to attend all the critiques, to wring the full value from the training. And they do.

So here's what happened.

A few months go by. Past students start sharing via an exclusive Facebook group the real work they've done since for their charities, post-Kivinar-training: appeal letters and donor newsletters. And their stuff is FREAKING amazing! All lessons learned! Anyway, just saying: you can teach this stuff.

The wisdom of URG

You travel where need takes you to discover powerful trade secrets like this: URG = Unique Reason to Give. Found in the Golden Horseshoe of Toronto, originated by the legendary Gwen Chapman as a fundraising-appropriate equivalent of marketing's omnipotent USP (Unique Selling Proposition), conveyed to me via the remarkable Agents of Good, John Lepp, Jen Love, and paterfamilias David Love. L-r: the hotels are pro-choice, where we ate (special, swerving side trip), what we ate (brisket is the standard by which BBQ should be judged, and this brisket was tender, juicy, flavorful, well-smoked), and with whom I ate (Agent John).

Lunch with the Wonderful Family; Libby with Nutcrackers

we are so lucky

One of the scars of the traveler is

the things you leave behind. For me, the power supplies for my MacBook.

A perfect pair in deadline season

500-word stories

All you need

Her car tires (one of my little gifts instead of jewelry: new front tires) ground up our long, wooded driveway like a cruise missile fired from a friendly nation. No threat this time. You knew it was full of tame delights. ~ I braced myself with another ballgag of big-bodied, competently-made red wine. ~ Her approaching heels were light hammer blows. Up our pine stairs and into her office. ~ It overlooks our land like a ministry of nature. Honest: she rarely knows what the season is. She has two: (1) hot enough to sun-bathe, (2) the rest. Most of the year #2. ~ Her particular "nature" [I defame] does not include migrating hummingbirds making a two-continent journey, migrating Monarch butterflies ditto, Italian bees raiding our bounteous chive beds from hives miles away, the annual resurgence of the hibiscus, bigger than the Cuban Revolution, or the close calls faced by dahlias (Mexico's national flower) and figs (Mediterranean) facing fate and frost, planted outside their national borders with more greed and nostalgia than sense. There is no frost-hardy fig. ~ She adores nature. ~ She wants it on her like a hairnet and body lotion.

Radishes

"Root pretzels." Cut off the tail. Stamp them into Mediterranean sea salt: big, crunchy, micro-nutrient rich.