Reflections on Generosity

Mar 30 2025 94 ep. 4 mins 6
Reflections on Generosity Podcast artwork

Kick off your week with a 5-minute reflection on generosity to ground yourself as you go about your fund development tasks.  Each reflection includes a question to ponder throughout the week to aid your work.

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94: Strive for a Good Cause

Mar 30 2025 5 mins  
"...There's only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive for a good cause." This week, I’m reflecting on his words from Summer Meditations by Vacslav Havel, published in 1993. Reflection question: What is the internal battle within yourself that you are facing related to the external threats to the cause you serve? And, how will you stand for principl

93: Sincere Charity without Delay

Mar 16 2025 4 mins  
"...Give charity without delay, for it stands in the way of calamity..." This week, I’m reflecting on several sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and the Quran and along with the definition of Sadaqah. Reflection questions: How are framing our messaging around giving to include this meaning of charity as speaking truth? How do we give our donors the opportunity to speak truth, to spe

92: Execise of Virtue in the Face of Indecision

Mar 09 2025 4 mins  
“...Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself...” This week, I’m reflected on the words of Cicero as weaved through several of his works, published between 89 BC and 43 BC. Reflection questions: Is there an area where you are stuck in indecision and procrastination? How can you bring confidence, ho

91: (Nonprofits Have) A Power Conspicuous

Mar 02 2025 3 mins  
"Thenceforth they are no longer isolated individuals, but a power conspicuous from the distance whose actions serve as an example; when it speaks, people listen...." This week, I’m reading selected quotes from Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville. Published in 1835. Note: his use of the word association is our current word for nonprofit. Reflection questions: How are we

90: When All We Can Do Is Laugh

Feb 24 2025 4 mins  
"....The Stage which was not for low Farce design'd, But to divert, instruct, and mend Mankind." This week, I’m reading from the play The Modern Husband by Henry Fielding, published in 1732. Reflection Question: There are times when stress is only relieved with a bit of dark humor. How will you gather with your community of friends and colleagues to laugh in the face of the absur

89: Generosity with Discernment

Feb 17 2025 4 mins  
"...Where there is quiet and meditation, there is neither worry nor dissipation...." This week, I’m reflecting on Of the Virtues putting Vices to Flight by Francis of Assisi, first published in English in 1906. Reflection questions: Which virtue do you want to cultivate this week? Complete this sentence, This week, I want our donors to know and feel... Reflection on quote: As I r

88: Generosity in Ordinary Acts

Feb 10 2025 4 mins  
"...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts;..." This week, I am reflecting a quote from George Eliot’s Middlemarch, published in 1871. Reflection questions: When you feel caught up in the uncertainty of this time, what are a few acts of love and kindness that you can do? When was the last time you brainstormed small ways that donors can be involv

87: Generosity in These Times

Feb 03 2025 4 mins  
"...God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children!..." This week, I am reading the words of Jesus and His approach to opponents from Matthew 5 and 6. View the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon about Enmity and Fundraising Letters from July 7, 1995. Reflection questions: If you were to give your fundraising appeal to an opponent to read, how would they respond? W

86: Never Wasted

Jan 27 2025 3 mins  
"..No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” This week, I’m reading a story from Aesop’s Fables, titled the Lion and the Mouse as told sometime between 620 and 564 BC. Reflection question: What kindness can you give to a donor this week? Reflection on quote: It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the relationship with donors is only about asking or

85: Contributions to Justice

Jan 20 2025 4 mins  
"...How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straight away!..." This week, I’m reading from Give, an essay from Anne Frank, published in 1959. Reflection questions: Pick a task on your to-do list this week and imagine your colleagues in other nonprofits doing the same task. What impact does your combined efforts have on you