On July 14, 2018, our field lost one of its true legends. Jerry Panas impacted fundraising for almost 70 years as a fundraiser, consultant, author, and thought leader.

How many organizations owe their success to the work of Jerry and his eponymous firm? How many of us have his books on our shelves and still return to them for inspiration and guidance? My favorite Jerry-ism is “no one ever listened themselves out of a gift”!

When I finally convinced Jerry to sit down in 2018 for a series of talks, I had no idea these talks would constitute the bulk of Jerry’s final thoughts on the field. While Jerry had been weakened by illness, he was still vibrant and engaged and had much to say on the topic of fundraising.

I spent five days at Jerry’s home between March and June 2018, covering topics from the evolution of boards to the art of listening, from how to make the strongest case to why you didn’t get the gift. One session was focused on Jerry’s top words of wisdom.

His wife Felicity and I are honored to share these conversations with the field. Please enjoy them and share them with your peers.

Rachel Muir: Get the Visit, Nail the Ask
August 13th, 1:00pm ET

Ready for some help getting the big gifts? Join my special guest Rachel Muir, CFRE for irresistible tools to help you get the visit, stand out, successfully get your foot in the door and know if your message is getting through.You’ll get actual scripts you can use with your donors plus life hacks and strategies to boost your fundraising self-confidence.

As a special bonus, Rachel is sharing her “best-of” discovery questions to make every second of discovery count. You’ll walk away ready to quickly build rapport and spark a meaningful conversation with your donor.

Larry Johnson: What's Holding You Back?
September 24th, 2:00pm ET

Join fundraising expert Larry Johnson as he helps you refocus your work to create a sustainable, scalable and permanently successful fundraising program.

Larry believes the number one dysfunction in the nonprofit sector is not knowing, understanding and acting upon the universal natural laws of philanthropy. Period. His goal is to help you put principles before methods. Principles anyone can learn and apply, to eye-popping results.

What are they? In this session, Larry, author of the award-winning book of the same name, will share The Eight Principles of Sustainable Fundraising, and put you on the road to that sustained, scalable, and permanent fundraising success!

This Fall, I’m re-launching my FREE online workshop, Don’t Ask, Don’t Get, to help fundraisers – development folks, executive directors, and anybody who asks one-on-one for donations. Last Spring almost 2,000 people registered and came away with a richer understanding of the art and science of asking.

It starts this September, and we'll invite you to register soon. The workshop consists of 4 live webinars and several live discussions (both the webinars and discussions will be recorded) that you can follow along with at your own pace.

It’ll help you get a whole lot more comfortable – and better – at asking for money. Stay tuned for more details!

Happy to report I was Off the Road in July… at least for work. That allowed me to travel for pleasure, including a trip with my son up to my client, Opera Saratoga, to see three wonderful operas. They presented Hansel and Gretel in the most innovative opera production I have ever seen, developed by Manual Cinema out of Chicago. They also premiered Ricky Ian Gordon's "Ellen West," based on a true account of a woman with body and food issues who traveled to Europe 100 years ago for analysis. For all you opera fans, it's coming to NYC this winter.

Now I'm off to Dallas to present at Planned Parenthood's fundraising conference and to Indianapolis to work with Alpha Chi Omega Foundation board and staff. Normally I'd question Dallas in August, but it's hotter here in South Orange, NJ today than it is down there!

Here's to another great month of fundraising,
 

Brian

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