The Challenge of Being a Donor

  I recently got an email from a reader frustrasted by how little he has learned after 30 years of being a donor to international developement causes. With his permission, … more Blood & Milk…

Why don’t we do better?

I have mentioned two or three or thirty times that I am not the only person in the development world who obsesses about how we could do our work better. … more Blood & Milk…

Why donor coordination is so difficult

Donors don’t fail to coordinate out of stupidity or greed. Donors fail to coordinate because coordination is really hard. First of all, donors give for a lot of reasons. Certainly … more Blood & Milk…

Field and headquarters relationships

Your field offices always think that everyone in DC is out-of-touch, bureaucratic, and totally unaware of how things really work. Obsessively fixated on unimportant details, lazy, and overpaid. Evil parasitic … more Blood & Milk…

Jargon of the day: Burn Rate

Jargon: Burn Rate Meaning: How much a development project spends each month, or each year. You need to keep an eye on your burn rate to make sure that you’re … more Blood & Milk…

Jargon of the Day: Leverage

Jargon: Leverage Translation: Officially, it means to use one kind of funding as a way to inspire other donors. So you could leverage a $500 donation by getting a foundation … more Blood & Milk…

Things I believe in #13: Giving your team hats and t-shirts

When I sat down to expand on this, I realized what I really meant was – make your staff into a team. Treat them as competent professionals working together for … more Blood & Milk…