The Color Commentary

Philanthropic Intelligence 00 Nonprofit Strategy 00
The Occasional, Football and Ocean Metaphor.

Every football game has a commentator that understands the game and shares insights about why the play was called, how it was executed, and if it achieved the desired results. Commentators like the late Merlin Olsen and Howie Long speak from years of not just watching the game but from playing it and can provide insights that others miss. They know how to read the field, name the patterns, and translate what can appear to be chaos into clear descriptions of how the ball moved or did not move closer to the goal post.

The Color Commentary interprets the noise and confusion that often plague the nonprofit sector into clear strategies and action steps that will move your aspirations closer to that end zone. Like Merlin Olsen and Howie Long, Catherine Chapman, CFRE is a fundraising strategist, philanthropic disrupter, and someone who has been in the huddle with organizations across the country for more than 25 years.

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Browse by CLAIM Your Legacy™ Pillar

Every post is tagged with one or more elements from the CLAIM Your Legacy™ framework — the 11 pillars that determine whether a nonprofit is truly sustainable and positioned for its Miracle Moment™. Browse by what matters most to your organization.

Community

Leadership

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Mindset

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Connection

Communication

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Innovation

Leverage

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Administration

Impact

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Money

Mission

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About the Author

Catherine Chapman, CFRE holds a Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and a Bachelor of Arts in German and European Studies from Vanderbilt University. She has spent more than 25 years working with nonprofit organizations and raising more than $30 million. She founded Fullanthropy on a principle articulated by Henry "Hank" Rosso, founder of The Fundraising School: fundraising is not about money. It is the gentle art of teaching others the joy of giving. She believes every organization has a Miracle Moment waiting. Her role is to assist them in building the foundation that makes it inevitable.