Thread Journal
Patience, My Dear Hiring Supervisor, Patience.
When you’re working with a lean budget and you FINALLY have the funding/approval to hire development support, it is incredibly tempting to just get “somebody” in the role. You are eager to free yourself up for more strategic development work by adding to your team,
Loree Lipstein
July 24, 2019Knowing Your Impact: A Strategic Plan as Your North Star
Strategic plans and development plans *have* to be linked. They need to have a lot of overlapping DNA, embody the same values, and be in constant communication with one another.
Thread: How does Third Plateau help nonprofits become more strategic in their work?
Loree Lipstein
April 30, 2019Riding Submarines into Outer Space
Successful fundraising is often described as part-art, part-science. For most fundraisers I know (myself included), the art-part of fundraising is the more familiar and natural of this balance. It’s second-nature to read in between the lines of a text, to listen for what a donor leaves unsaid as much as what is directly stated,
Loree Lipstein
April 19, 2019Multiplying Impact Through a Connected Community
Being a member of the Thread Strategies team is one of my proudest accomplishments. The experience of defining our core values as a firm was one example of how working with Thread has been so fulfilling. Our final set of core values are meaningful to each of us individually and they express what’s at the heart of our work with our partners.
Loree Lipstein
February 18, 2019Stretch and Strength: How Values Guide The Greater DC Diaper Bank
Hire well! No, really, hire well! Create a team of people who all think very differently about the process to accomplish the goal but believe in the goal.
Thread: What process did Greater DC Diaper Bank use to define its values?
Loree Lipstein
February 16, 2019True Life: I’m the Victim of Bad Stewardship
One of the core components of good fundraising and development for any nonprofit is stewardship. It is the key to not just retention, but growth – something all nonprofits aspire to.
According to the 2018 Fundraising Effectiveness Project,
Loree Lipstein
October 29, 2018Start Your Day Thanking a Donor
“I see myself as a matchmaker – connecting passionate and justice-seeking Person A with impactful, world-changing Organization B”
Thread: Why did you choose development/fundraising as your profession?
Emily: Even while completing my degrees in social work,
Loree Lipstein
October 25, 2018The Recurring Giving Renaissance
This spring, I had the pleasure of joining a few of my colleagues and representing the Thread team at two conferences: The Nonprofit Technology Conference and the Classy Collaborative. Even though I’ve been going to fundraising conferences for years,
Loree Lipstein
July 10, 2018Everyone Deserves a Chance to Connect and to Learn
“When you mentor someone, you take their story home with you. It becomes part of your story. It changes you and the way you see the world around you.”
Thread: Your role at MentorPrize is your first in the nonprofit sector – why did you choose to make the transition from the corporate world at this point in your career?
Loree Lipstein
July 6, 2018The Future Is Bright
It’s Valentine’s Day 2018 and my heart is breaking. I’m at my computer, it’s the early afternoon and my social media feeds begins to flood with the horrible news: another school shooting and mass murder, this time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) in Parkland,