New Strategies for Increasing Corporate Support
Curt Weeden (shown above) is a corporate giving expert, speaker, author and founder of the New Strategies Forum.
I first shared this post with my email newsletter subscribers last week. But I got such great feedback I want to share it with everyone. Subscribers to my email newsletter receive unique content from me twice a month. Sign up for my Wicked Good Newsletter today!
I just came back from a business trip to Charleston, South Carolina.
It was both good and bad.
The bad part was that the temperature in Charleston was the same as Boston so I didn't get any relief from this cold spring!
The good part was that I was involved in a wonderful conference called the New Strategies Forum (NSF) that teaches nonprofits how to work more effectively with the business community and to raise more money.
The founder of NSF is a leader in corporate giving. For many years, Curt Weeden was that guy at Johnson & Johnson who handed out $150 million dollars annually to needy organizations. Curt is also the founder of the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals (ACCP).
As if that's not enough, Curt spends his free time writing books that feature nonprofit executives as characters. He also donates the proceeds of his books to great organizations, such as the National Parkinson Foundation.
Curt is also the author of Smart Giving is Good Business, which I've dog-eared to the point that I've bookmarked the whole book!
Curt knows a lot about corporate giving, but cause marketing is relatively new to him. That's how I got involved in the forum. He and I are a good team. Besides being like Abbott and Costello in the classroom, our skill sets and experiences dovetail nicely.
The March forum wrapped up last week, but already we've gotten some great feedback.
"It is not often that I come away from a "professional development" experience this energized, encouraged, and sporting a good mood the next morning at work. Thank you, indeed, for being so generous, smart, and gracious about sharing your knowledge and expertise. I gained knowledge, received astute advice and, most importantly for me, learned new ways to think about old issues."
Another attendee wrote:
"Thank you for providing such a valuable learning experience. It was indeed an experience. From the kind, approachable, accessible way Curt and Joe teach and coach to ensure what we saw, heard, thought, and felt was meaningful and enjoyable."
All of the nonprofit attendees of NSF are sponsored by companies that are as committed to supporting nonprofits as they are to helping them to find new and better areas of funding.
That's what the New Strategies Forum is all about: teaching nonprofits how to be better fishermen of corporate support. However, what these participants realize at the end of the forum is that they are better at fishing for ALL types of fundraising.
If you're a company that has a nonprofit partner that you want to further empower, or you're a nonprofit that is determined to adapt and grow when others are circling the wagons, you should check out the New Strategies Forum.
We're sold out for May, but we have some spots left for October's Forum. Curt and I would love to see you in Charleston.
