Come Helene or Highwater A year ago this month, our region faced a storm none of us were prepared for. Overnight, we found ourselves fundraising under unimaginable circumstances. Special events were canceled, urgent needs multiplied, and our carefully planned calendars were suddenly irrelevant. Helene disrupted everything. Yet looking back, we know how we moved forward: together. Donors stepped up. Volunteers showed up. And nonprofits bent over backwards to support the recovery. Here are some lessons we learned along the way: 1. Trust is the foundation The gifts that sustained us came because relationships had already been built. Donors knew our mission, [...]

At the heart of ethical and community-rooted fundraising lies a deep commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA). For the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), IDEA isn’t just a set of principles—it’s a call to action. It’s a recognition that to serve our communities well, we must actively dismantle barriers, confront inequities, and lead with intention. As fundraisers, we know that relationships are everything. Yet systemic barriers—rooted in race, gender, ability, class, and more—continue to shape who has access to opportunity, power, and capital. The IDEA initiative at AFP is a powerful response to these realities. Launched to elevate underrepresented [...]

Climbing the Manitou Incline – One Step at a Time Well, I got influenced. Last year, social media introduced me to the Manitou Incline, an “extreme” tourist attraction near Pikes Peak in Colorado. Originally built in 1907 as a cable car route, it was damaged by a rockslide in the ’90s and reinvented as a staircase made of the remaining wooden ties - 2,768 steps that climb over 2,000 feet in under a mile. So when I booked a trip to Denver this summer, I channeled Elle Woods energy and added the Incline to my itinerary (what, like it’s hard?). I’m [...]