What the sessions teach, what the research confirms, and where the work is going. Each entry is a record from inside the project, honest about what we found and what we still don’t know.
Field Notes and Leadership Notes
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Field Note 101626 · EssayA bird that sounds like a car alarm and a siren with responders on the way. One story lands. The other one works.
Read the field note →Field Note 101126 · EssayA wind turbine does not make the wind. A good ask does not make the donor’s motivation either. It stands where that motivation already moves.
Read the field note →Field Note 100626 · EssayTwo blood draws, two hours apart, looked redundant. They were the only way to know nothing was happening, and someone made room to find out.
Read the field note →Field Note 100426 · DiagnosisA headline said connection beats trust. The donors who trusted charities least gave the most, and that tells us which trust matters.
Read the field note →Field Note 100426 · ParableA car show and an air show are poor fundraisers. Their real yield is the community they gather, a crowd of strangers who turn out to be a flock.
Read the field note →Field Note 070526 · ParableA backyard jay buries acorns to survive one winter and, without meaning to, plants the forest that outlives her.
Read the field note →Field Note 070326 · PracticeThe napkin asked what’s being planted now. This is the answer: a major gifts program that begins at the first gift.
Read the field note →Field Note 070226 · DiagnosisA record fundraising year is a harvest planted a decade ago. The question the napkin asks is what’s being planted now.
Read the field note →Field Note 061826 · EssayMarcus fixed the late card. He never fixed the system that produced it. A field note on single-loop learning, told through the salmon run.
Read the field note →Field Note 061426 · ResearchEvery experienced fundraiser can name a failed receipt in sixty seconds. Ask them to trace it to its cause, and the room goes quiet.
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