Shoe Shine guy gives $200,000

Image of Shoe Shine man Albert Lexie has donated $200,000 to charity care fund at Children?s Hospital of Pittsburgh

This man, Albert Lexie, shines shoes at a hospital in Pittsburgh. Over the last 30 years, he’s given all his tips to the charity care fund at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. That’s added up to $200,000 so far! From a shoe shine guy! All that glitters… I love stories like this! It forces us [...]

Is your nonprofit board socializing enough?

In the last 24 hours, I’ve heard 6 different commentators talk about the polarization of our US government being exacerbated by the fact that no one socializes anymore. Ok. I was one of the people. And I was talking to my aunt and uncle in a restaurant in Hanover, NH. But then on NHPR, I [...]

Goofy video fun poll: Which promo do you prefer?

I’ll be speaking at the Social Media FTW conference on September 22 in Portland, Maine. The organizers have asked each of the presenters to do a quick video promoting why people should come to their session. Would you help me decide which video to send to the conference organizers? It would be great if you [...]

Two $4 million surprise gifts

Harvest happens, not always where we expect

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported of a couple of $4 million gifts give to surprised nonprofits. According to the story, a Pasadena couple gave $4 million to each of their alma maters. As is typical in stories like this (and Richard Walters [$4 mill] and Jean Preston [$8 mill] and Helene Alley [$7.3 mill]), people [...]

The Force and Fundraising

Star Wars Day - THe Force & Fundraising

Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th has become an unofficial Star Wars holiday, given the pun on “May the Force be with you.” (Back in Catholic school, my friends and I would respond, “And also with you.” Being extra witty–in my own mind–I replied “This is a reading from the Gospel of Luke.”) So [...]

Career Change Without Felony Charges

Last week Good Day New York invited me to talk about career stress in light of Steven Slater’s quitting his job by jumping out of a JetBlue plane. The interview is below. But there was so much more that I sent to Good Day New York. The entire 5-page article is available here: Changing Careers [...]

Fundraising oddity: Bet you’ve never seen THIS before!

Earlier this week, I walked into an office here at Inland Hospital and saw this. After being a bit grossed out, I read that it was one way this office was collecting for our hospital’s United Way drive. Being the geek I am, I decided to run a photo caption contest by posting this picture [...]