The 2014 NC Philanthropy Conference gathered hundreds of development professionals last week at the Durham Convention Center. moss+ross co-founders Mary Moss and Susan Ross, and senior associate Chuck Fyfe gave a presentation that promised to make everyone’s life more organized – and who doesn’t need that?!
Susan said she and Mary were happy to be part of the conference and have a chance to welcome the rest of the state to our part of the world. “We have benefited from career-long associations with AFP and were proud to present on a topic we consider essential to good fundraising: good planning.”
One feature of the session was adaptation of the Critical Path Method (CPM), used frequently in the mainstream business world, to the demands and nuances of nonprofit work. “These methodologies can be scaled and customized to greatly benefit nonprofit work, but rarely do nonprofits have the resources or background to try this. I hope our discussion gave people the encouragement to consider it,” shared Chuck after the session.
Photo courtesy of AFP Triangle Chapter
Mary has long been a strong proponent of using written development plans to guide the work of busy development shops, both as a consultant and in her previous career. “Chuck brings a wonderful perspective to the moss+ross team,” she says. “His first career in corporate planning and performance management allowed him to gain an understanding of the details of large-scale operations. Now, moss+ross clients benefit from his ability to adjust proven and appropriate corporate concepts to meet the specific needs of nonprofits.”
We hope attendees were exposed to something a little outside the box, not too far, but enough to encourage innovative approaches to their work. Our goal was to help everyone think about how they can do things a little differently, with a little less stress.
