The Art of the Campaign (Fundraising)
Persevere fundraising colleagues, these moments (large and small) are worth years of learning, doing, success and failure. Worth every moment. Every time.
Continue Reading 23/05/2017 at 10:27 Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment
Macarons – It’s a Zen Thing
So my friend Maria wanted to learn to make macarons – like me she had tried on and off. Honestly, it takes one good macaron class, the right recipe and learn one teach one and off you go to success. Like many French recipes, the macaron is few ingredients and lots of technique. Hints to my success in no particular order:
Continue Reading 22/05/2017 at 10:18 Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment
Home
As a reformed road warrior and now Australia based traveler, what I know for sure is…home is wherever you happen to be. Having recently returned from my first trip back to the US since leaving in January 2016 – home is wherever your heart and people are.
Continue Reading 19/05/2017 at 16:20 Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment
Hello USA
You know they say you can never go home again? Well that is true and false depending on how to define “home”.
Continue Reading 17/05/2017 at 10:05 Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment
#Fundraising Best of the Best #AFPFC
In this post – an overview of what I thought (IMHO) were the best of the best sessions at the Association of Fundraising International Conference. My selections were based on presenter, content and information I can use. For handouts links are provided in the post.
Continue Reading 15/05/2017 at 10:04 Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment
Jack Ma – The Alibaba of Philanthropy
I do believe in serendipity. I am about halfway through a biography of Jack Ma called Alibaba. As a philanthropic advisor and now living in the Asia Pacific – I have been curious about him and his work for some time.
The Jack Ma Foundation just made a $AUD26m gift to University of Newcastle. While in Australia he also opened Alibaba offices in Melbourne.
Ken Morley and Jack Ma
This gift is a classic story of fundraising cultivation, engagement, remembrance and giving. In his words,
“The scholarship will honour the special relationship I formed with the Morley family. I am very thankful for Australia and the time I spent there in my youth. The culture, the landscape and, most importantly, its people had a profound impact on my view of the world at that time.”
After meeting the Morley family in 1980 on their trip to Hangzhou and helping them on subsequent trips back – a
David Morley and Jack Ma
This gift places Jack Ma in the upper echelon of philanthropy in Australia. The scholarship is large enough to impact individual students and generous to support many students. The impact of the scholarship will be felt for many generations. And it was given in the true spirit of philanthropy – to help others and remember a special time, place and people who had a tremendous impact on Jack’s life.
Before he left Newcastle to open the Alibaba offices in Melbourne, he thought about how else he might remember his time with the Morleys, Newcastle and Australia.
“Twenty-six million Australian dollars, it’s big. I think I should do more in the future.”
Spoken like a true philanthropist investor – looking toward the future.
Expat Voters
DoD Info Graphic 2014 Survey
Then there was another conversation which I have not personally experienced, but been told by others and read on social media. The gist is,
“If you’re concerned about the US why are you living here?”
Wherever that “here” may be and the tone is judgemental or caring depending…….
Expats are living overseas for many reasons – none of anyone’s business. The reason I am writing this post is to share – no matter where you live – if you are an American citizen – you have a voice and opinion you can share. Social media and online tools make it easier than ever.
There are actions US citizens overseas are taking to support immigrants, tell Congress what we think, forming groups of people (expats and not) to create a collective voice, signing petitions, posting on social media and more.
In my case, I have formed a group of people interested in voter registration and get out the vote. It is the place I come from in my political experience and believe it makes a difference even more so overseas. After a couple weeks of FB postings, comments and way too long Messenger threads – on Saturday expats and dual citizens gathered in my home and via Skype from Melbourne, Sydney and Los Angeles to discuss our options. We all agreed every election between now and 2018 is vital – local, state and federal elections. And we read about how US voters overseas can make the difference in any national election. And in 2018 the census and redistricting will begin. We will go where the potential voters are – first voter registration drive – Super Bowl party at Crown Casino Melbourne!
In 2014 there were 5.7M US citizens living overseas – 2.7M were 18+ and eligible to vote. In the 2016 elections 600,000 US citizens abroad voted.
The last 2-4 weeks before the November election was a challenge with expats trying to register or vote before it was too late – not all succeeded as there are different requirements in every state or county to voting or registering to vote from overseas.
We agreed this is a problem and all had personal or social media stories of absentee ballots not received, websites not working, voting age children unable to register. There is also the same apathy in the overseas folks as at home – “It’s too hard. I always forget to ask for an absentee ballot. Oh, I can vote when I’m living overseas?”
This dedicated group of people agreed to act and do. While we’re many thousands of miles away from our native homes, we know we can make a difference and have chosen to do so. We’re in it for the long haul. Watch this space and FaceBook as our work starts and begins to build.
