Powerful New Development Tools

The 6/28/2008 edition of HuffingtonPost.com featured an article by Julia Moulden which focused on BringLight.com, an online service that makes it easy for donors to contribute to 501(c)3 charitable organizations. I’ve been meaning to write a series of articles about Bring Light for half a year now and there simply isn’t a good excuse as to why that series isn’t done. Regardless, publishing something the wake of Julia’s excellent article will only serve to reinforce Bring Light’s worth. In short, the services offered by Bring Light are poised to revolutionize how performing arts organizations, volunteer groups, and player’s associations of all budget sizes can leverage the efficiently of online giving. So until I finish up the series, give Julia’s article a read for an excellent overview of the philosophy behind the organization and a sketch of their founders; just don’t get confused over the fact that one of Bring Light’s principals is named Drew McManus, he and I just share the same name (more on that later).

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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