Fundraising Nerd

WVDO Seeking Speakers

2009-11-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

Wanna share your knowledge with the Portland-area development community, while practicing your presentation skills?

Fill out a speaker application for the Willamette Valley Development Officers, available here.

I highly recommend this experience to budding speakers, as well as seasoned professionals. WVDO offers programming appropriate to all skill levels, so all kinds of speakers are needed. I'm pleased to have had a couple of opportunities to speak to national audiences, and it all started with a prospect management presentation at WVDO a few years ago. That's where I began honing my presentation skills.

Now! Hiring!

2009-11-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

As promised, I (finally!) have a data nerd job description to share. (Chalk up another point for the glacial pace of higher ed bureaucracy.)

And... for some reason our HR department still doesn't have the posting on their website, but Willamette Valley Development Officers does. So, I'll just post it all right here.

Maybe if I hire this person, I'll magically have more time to keep this blog updated. Okay, that doesn't really compute, but it's a nice idea. I promise more soon -- I just did a survey of our database end users, and will post a bit about how I put it together.

Here's the job description. Tell your friends.

Development Data Specialist

The Development Data Specialist is responsible for coordinating Portland State’s prospect management efforts and conducting special projects related to Advancement Services. The Specialist reports to the Development Research & Prospect Manager. Portland State is currently enhancing its Advancement Services infrastructure, and seeks a data-savvy and people-oriented individual to be a key player in this effort. The Specialist will work closely with central and school- and program-based Development staff, the PSU Foundation, and the Alumni Relations staff.

This is a temporary position, currently expected to last at least six to eight months.

Portland State University is a comprehensive public university with an enrollment of more than 27,000 students. Portland State’s mission is to enhance the intellectual, social, cultural and economic qualities of urban life by providing access throughout the life span to a quality liberal education for undergraduates and an appropriate array of professional and graduate programs especially relevant to metropolitan areas.

Responsibilities:
Prospect Management (50%)
• Oversee prospect data in constituent database including audits, coding, and documentation.
• Conduct regular portfolio review with donor managers.
• Create regular prospect management reports.
• Oversee portfolio adds/drops/reassigns.
• Schedule donor strategy meetings and facilitate clearance as needed.
• Design and document prospect management processes and procedures.
• Conduct prospect management trainings.
• Conduct prospect rating projects.
• Provide backup to Development Research Analyst as needed.

Advancement Services (50%)
• Special projects as assigned (examples may include conducting a reporting inventory, implementing a document management system, or developing customized reports for end users).
• Conduct database audits and cleanup.
• Coordinate routine demographic data acquisition and uploads.
• Work with Advancement Services staff to design and document demographic, gift entry and reporting processes and procedures.

Minimum Qualifications
• Experience working with data and databases.
• Strong analytical abilities.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work with diverse individuals and groups.
• Organized, flexible, and self-directed with ability to work as part of a team.
• Successful completion of background check.

Preferred Qualifications
• Experience working in a fundraising operation, particularly experience with advancement services, data management or prospect research/management.
• Knowledge of SQL.
• Bachelor’s degree.
• Deep appreciation for the mission of Portland State University.

Compensation

Salary range: $30,000-$36,000 depending on experience, with an excellent benefits package including fully paid health care.

To Apply

Email cover letter , resume, and three references to:
Search Committee – DEV (Data Specialist)
Office of University Development
devjobs@pdx.edu

Review of applications will begin immediately.

For more information visit the PSU website, www.pdx.edu, or contact the Office of Development at 503-725-4478.

Portland State University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity institution and welcomes applications from diverse candidates and candidates who support diversity. Our university community values campus diversity and we particularly encourage members of historically under-represented groups to apply.

Job Titles Suck

2009-10-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

Faithful readers in the Portland area -- I am soon to hire a data nerd. (Check back here for a link to the job posting once I am able to push it through the layers of H.R. paperwork.)

And though I would prefer to just go ahead and call the position Data Nerd, I had to dream up a title. Bereft of inspiration, I googled "job title," and found Bullshit Job's Job Title Generator. Though I did not go with "Global Assurance Executive," it was embarrassingly helpful to look at a list of possible job suffixes.

Hence: Development Data Specialist. Aw yeah.

Oh, and I also took the "Is your job bullshit?" quiz. My score: 88, interpreted as "Chances are you irritate people."

Business Process Modeling on My Mind; OMG!

2009-10-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, lately all I can think about is business process modeling. Oh, yet another exciting new thing to learn!

I am going to start here, with the OMG! (No, I'm not kidding: Object Management Group, with the most stunningly un-sexy website I have seen in quite some time.)

Despite the OMG site's austere appearance, "Introduction to BPMN," an article by Stephen A. White of the IBM Corporation, gave me some fantastic diagramming ideas.

(You will have to ignore explanatory text such as "The OMG is a likely candidate to eventually take in the BPMN standards and there have been discussions between BPMI and the OMG to facilitate this transfer in the future. Considering that the OMG is currently developing UML, which includes Activity Diagrams, it is possible that a consolidation of BPMN Business Process Diagrams and UML Activity Diagrams will take place." I am certain this makes sense to certain members of the OMG, if you know what I mean.)

AASP: Nerd Heaven

2009-10-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

During my presentation at the Association of Advancement Services Professionals Summit, I asked the 35 or so people in the room to raise their hands if they would ever want to be a major gift officer. Not a single hand went up!

This was a room, and a conference, full of people who love data. I would certainly recommend this organization and conference to other Advancement Services professionals.

One of AASP's first major initiatives is collecting best practices in the field -- the first coordinated effort to do so. Maybe this will end the perennial arguments over the proper length of time between receiving a donation and receipting it, and other such advancement services controversies.

Slideshow! Fields of Dreams

2009-10-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the slideshow I put together for my presentation at the Association of Advancement Services Professionals conference. Warning: it has very few bullet points! Also, it was lovelier in the PowerPoint version, but is serviceable as a Google slideshow.

A few other notes: the first part of the presentation relied heavily on my commentary and group discussion, so may not be ultra-useful. The second part is all charts and graphs -- if it looks like a cross-tab, it's an Excel pivot table. That means that any of the numbers can be double-clicked to view the data behind the number.

If you haven't explored the world of pivot tables yet, I highly recommend getting yourself a list full of data, and playing.

AASP: Tips and Traps in Tracking Planned Gifts

2009-10-01T12:46:00.001-07:00

Presenter: John Elbare, Forida Philanthropic Advisors

*"Dealing with what the planned giving officer dragged in" -- hilarious!

*90 - 95% of all planned gifts are revocable.

*Proper tracking is a key to good stewardship, which is very important to maintaining revocable gifts.

*Marketability is the primary issue around accepting a piece of real estate. Do a marketability review. Consider liability as well, e.g. pollution. Don't try to handle these issues in-house. It's accepted practice for the donor to pay for the appraisal and environmental survey.

*New community foundations are being set up to accept real estate on behalf of charities, sell it and then give the proceeds to the charity.

*Bequests: Good practice is keeping a copy of the will, in case you are the only surviving beneficiary. It's a donor stewardship issue, not a "prove you left us the money" issue.

*You don't have to accept a bequest, e.g. bad real estate.

*John suggests updating the present value of planned gifts on a quarterly basis.

*Average bequest is $50K. You can conservatively estimate the future value of a planned gift of unknown amount based on this (use $25K). Or, average your organization's bequests, and use that.

*Ask donors to discuss their bequest intentions with their families, to avoid perceptions of undue influence. And stay clear of elders with mental capacity issues.

*Actively monitor probates. Ask the executor for a copy of the will, an inventory of assets, and to be notified of all actions pertaining to the estate. You can also ask for an early distribution of your share, i.e. before all estate taxes are paid.

*Gift annuities: Be on time with payments and 1099-R forms. Watch out for varying state laws. There's an increasing risk of donors outliving their life expectancy, and having the annuity go under water. Beware of restricted annuities: what if the fund doesn't have enough money remaining to fulfill the donor's wishes?

*Charitable remainder trusts: Know whether the trust is revocable. Trusts with the donor as trustee are a red flag -- they are often incorrectly established. Beware of trusts with a payout rate that is too high: 5% is good.

*Life insurance: New policies are most likely to be problematic, since they don't yet have any value. Monitor the cash value on an annual basis. If the cash value is going down, get rid of it. Stay out of monitoring premium payments -- ask the donor to set up an automatic payment. Life insurance is very tricky!

Funky Formatting

2009-10-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hi dear readers, I apologize for the funky formatting from my AASP liveblogging posts. I promise to fix it up and append some poor-quality iPhone photos as well, but probably not until I am back in Portland.

I hope in the meantime that you can squeeze some meaning out of the strange line breaks.

AASP: Advancement 2.0

2009-10-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

Speaker: David Lotz of Convio

*Generational shift is trending toward online engagement. Baby boomers prefer to give online. Gen X pretty much only wants to give online. Millenials rarely check personal email.

*In 2008, 27% of new giving was online, compared to 6% in 2004.

*Approximately 5% of total giving is online.

*86% of major donors visit a nonprofit's website before giving, but only 8% were very inspired by it. They don't return very frequently.

*75% want to control their experience, such as frequency and content of email.

*The current email model must change from a program-centric (e.g. separate email strategies from each program) to a donor-centric model.

*Top 8 online success factors:

1) "Collapse your silos" -- Coordinate communication strategies to provide relevant, personalized content

2) "Provide Control to Constituents" -- Give subscription options. Allow specific unsubscribes rather than just a global unsubscribe. Two primary reasons for unsubscribe: frequency and relevance.

3) "Optimize Your Web Presence for 'Conversion'" -- Offer substantial engagement opportunities.

4) "Rethink Your Email Communications" -- Segment content according to constituent interests. Communicate when you have something to say; don't be a slave to your schedule. Pay attention to metrics. Test with two segments of 5% of pool each.

5) "Make Giving Tangible" -- Show the impact of the gift. Example: the Fill America's Fridge campaign. Once again, make it relevant. For example, the ASPCA segments by dog person or cat person.

6) "Multi-Part Appeals" -- Even if you don't have time to craft multiple messages, simply resend the original message with a note that it is a reminder.

7) "Online Moves Management Strategy" -- Collect profile data: interests, preferences. Engage as donor or volunteer. Create segmented relationship pathways. The major donor pathway must be highly personalized and donor-controlled. Needs a high ratio of cultivation to appeals. Provide opportunities for two-way communication. Use data acquired online to inform offline engagement. (Put it in your donor profile!)

8) "Leverage Social Networks" -- Must be committed, needs frequent attention. Caltech decided to use Facebook rather than developing their own social network. Consider replacing the class agent model with a natural network-based viral campaign.

AASP: Increasing Your Email Open Rates

2009-10-01T09:13:00.001-07:00

Presenter: Wayne Combs, Occidental College

*Segmentation is key.

*When purchasing social networking software, integration with your fundraising database is key.

*Facebook = don't just rely on Facebook, as it doesn't allow for transactions, such as event registry and giving. But make sure that your social networking software interfaces with Facebook.

*Your social networking software should be integrated with your email tool.

*Email must direct folks to website or action. Consider destination that will increase connection to your institution, e.g. a webcam to see progress on the new building.

*Make sure your social networking software tracks stats like email open rates and other behavior.

*Survey responders are great volunteer prospects.

*Follow up survey response with email -- you have opened up a communication stream. Continue the conversation.

*Bribing people to do a survey doesn't necessarily increase response rates.

*Engage volunteers in managing social network.

*Timing -- think about whether you are sending to home or business address. Think about behavioral patterns, holidays, etc.

*Send non-fundraising emails, both good and bad news. As an example, Kansas State had a tornado on campus, and sent an immediate email to alums letting them know about damage to the buildings. They raised a bunch of money.

*Frequency -- mail every 3 - 4 weeks.

*Sender -- maximize recognition. To whom will constituents respond? Be consistent -- use only one or two aliases. Ideally, build segmentation to the point where you can identify different influencers for small segments.

*Subject lines -- impact, urgency, intent are key. Use a short statement to arouse curiosity.

*Test formats. Don't be scared of tiny percentage of people who can't view HTML.

*Put simple clear directions within first two or three lines.

*Twitter ROI is not high. It's more effective for admissions. Hesitate before allocating resources to it.

*Reaching young alums -- strategize with young volunteers. Make sure their efforts lead to something impactual.

*Events -- announce 3 weeks in advance, and do frequent reminders after registration.

AASP: Lean Thinking

2009-10-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Presenter: Dr. Shannon Flumerfelt

*Shannon teaches lean thinking in higher ed administration at the Pawley Institute at Oakland University. Their website has resources for lean thinking.

*Lean thinking = sustaining improvement.

*Collective understanding is key to lean.

*"Lean is about respect for the individual."

*"Create mind maps to find the heart of the matter."

*"Lean" coined in 1988 based on a 5 year MIT study of 37 automotive plants in 17 countries.

*Continuous improvement cycle -- plan, do, check, act (revise plan).

*History of lean started in 1850 with the creation of interchangeable parts, the decline of craft production, and the rise of mass production. This reached its apex with Toyota.

*Use visual management tools (one sheet of paper) to tell the story.

*Create value, eliminate waste. Value is defined by customer/stakeholder.

*Waste causes slower production, decreases efficiency, and consumes resources without creating value.

*Lean = produce only what the customer needs (pull vs. push).

AASP: Campaign Reporting

2009-09-30T15:31:00.001-07:00

Phone battery dying... May not be able to live blog this one. Also,
it's on reporting, which is usually pretty chart-heavy and diificult
to summarize. That said...

Presenters: Caroline Chang (Stanford) and Kai Kamrath (Columbia)

*Stanford doesn't do soft credit! This shocks the crowd.

*Both Stanford and Columbia do campaign counting based on
"commitments" (outright gifts and pledges). Columbia does count pledge
payments on pledges made before the campaign began.

*Columbia has a code that allows them to include or exclude gifts that
are exceptions to their counting rules. For example, they received a
gift from the Sultanate of Brunei. This would generally be excluded
from counting, as a gift from a government. However, since the Sultan
basically "owns" the country, it was counted as a personal gift would
be.

*Both Columbia and Stanford treat gifts from family foundations as
individual, rather than foundation, gifts.

Now, off to enjoy a glass of overpriced wine at the no-host reception
while my phone sips electricity.

AASP: Gifts and Record Management Best Practices

2009-09-30T14:27:00.001-07:00

Presenters: Debbie Anglin of GG&A and Caroline Chang of Stanford

GG&A looked at Stanford's gifts and record management business processes and made some recommendations. Here are some gleanings:

*Advancement Services often considered a cost center, not a revenue generator. Consider how operations contribute to positive donor experience.

*Use benchmarking to convince leadership to change processes to match best practices. GG&A did a huge benchmarking study with a dozen top fundraising institutions.

*Look at gift processing workload by month, and use to plan staffing needs and workflow. Most organizations studied were over-staffed, maintaining enough staff to address highest-volume months. Cross-training is key.

*Focus on reducing processing time for major gifts.

*Track gift receipt date and processing date so business process can be better examined.

*Cost per gift processing transaction ranged from $2.26 to $18.21. Most were around $3 to $5.

*Most processed gifts within 3 to 5 days. Per Debbie, 48 - 72 hours is best practice.

*Adjustments should be less than 5% of gift transactions.

*Debbie encourages empowering end users to update biographical data. This increases ownership. Caroline doesn't agree.

*Records per FTE records staff ranged from 44K to 200K. Debbie recommends somewhere in the middle.

*Lost alums ranged from 4.9% to 34.6%. Should be less than 7%.

*Data management plans and goals are key to decreased lost alum rates, as well as decreased manual entry.

*Evaluate processing staff on accuracy and productivity.

*Implementing change: prioritize based on cost savings, importance, quick wins, "doability."

*Stanford reorganizing: instead of gifts, records, central files -- Automated Services, General Processing, Specialized Processing (high-value gifts, encourage independent thinking), Customer Service.

AASP: Blue State Keynote

2009-09-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

Rich Mintz from Blue State Digital (Obama's online strategists) is the keynote speaker. Some gleanings:

*Internet 10 years ago -- "used by geeks & specialists (crazy uncle with an AOL account)"

*In 2003, online organizing was "like ham radio" -- fringey

*Blue State -- less than 25% of revenue is from political campaign, most is now non-profit. Will not work for "merchants of evil," or highly dysfunctional organizations (per Rich, the majority of those they turn down for this reason are higher ed)

*Points out that desire for online programs is decoupled from ROI

*Institutional messaging often "all wrong for small donors"

*Social networking treated as an infrastructure problem, not a messaging issue

*3 keys: engagement (most important -- don't just talk, listen); transparency; authenticity

*Obama: 2/3 of money raised was online, $560M. Average donor gave total of $100, more than 2 donations. Average age was mid-40s.

*Obama: 2 billion emails sent, more than 300 segmentation channels (!)

*New media must be on even footing with traditional communications staff

*Create and maintain a narrative -- plan 5 or 6 emails and segmentation branches rather than one email at a time

*Goal: lower barrier to entry while raising expectations

*Email: why am I on this list, what do you want me to do right now, what comes next? You have 4 or 5 seconds to get this across

*Be ready for surprises -- act quickly.

*Six lessons:
1) "Online" is a whole-enterprise project. About 1/2 of investment in online ends up funding organizational change management, rather than program.

Don't fear interactivity harming your brand -- they are saying it anyway! May as well make sure you are part of the conversation.

2) Message matters -- authenticity, timing, don't just ask for money.

Small donors: immediacy, imploring, group-oriented, concrete, collaborative.

3) "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." Small donors may not even realize they are small donors.

4) "Relationships matter more than ever." Rich says newsletters are not that useful. They tend to serve internal political purposes more. Communicate more often, in shorter bursts. Make it relevant to the recipient -- segment, segment, segment.

5) "Everybody wants to be an insider." "Ask me to do something easy and meaningful today."

6) "Everybody is different." Rich loves segmentation! (So do I.)

Chicago!

2009-09-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

I just arrived in Chicago for the AASP Summit.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's keynote address by Rich Mintz from Blue State Digital. Blue State was responsible for Obama's online strategies during the presidential election.

Stay tuned here for the highlights.

What are your favorite prospect management fields?

2009-09-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm making my gorgeous PowerPoint presentation titled "Fields of Dreams"* for the Association of Advancement Services Professionals Summit in Chicago next week.

It's about prospect management data fields from collection to reporting. Let me know some of your must-haves in the comments below, and I'll include them in my presentation -- with attribution of course.

I'll be talking about my favorite data fields, how to partner with development officers to collect the data, and how to report that data in a meaningful fashion.

And, I'm going to try to liveblog from the conference, but I won't make any promises.

*I was on painkillers when I thought of the title and concept. When I read the description, I couldn't remember whether I had written it. That said, I am enthusiastic about the topic!

Arty Data Mining Critique

2009-09-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

Check out Personas, an art project hosted by MIT. It's a visually interesting critique of data mining. The project invites users to see "how the Internet sees them." The site "attempts to characterize the person - to fit them to a predetermined set of categories that an algorithmic process created from a massive corpus of data."

The project is not a wholesale indictment of data mining -- though it's not very friendly toward data miners either -- but rather highlights the importance of smart and ethical design, and the vital role of the human brain in designing and implementing the results of data mining projects.

Netflix recommendation system = good; weaponized drone that makes autonomous decisions about targets = bad. (Or for that matter, a data mining project that uses name as the unique identifier = bad.)

The Rich Get... Poorer?

2009-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

"The rich get richer, the poor get poorer."

In the United States, this has become an axiom. Well, the poor are still getting poorer -- but so are the rich!

After 30 consecutive years of growing wealthier, the rich have become poorer in the last two years. What's more, they may not regain their previous levels of wealth any time soon according to economists.

The egalitarian in me smiles at this news. And then I wonder what it means for development researchers -- and fundraisers in general.

It is no accident that the huge growth in the field of prospect research has coincided with the huge growth in the population of millionaires. That and the rise of data and technology have been the primary trends underlying the proliferation of researchers.

If indeed we are headed for a financial sea change of this sort, we must re-imagine the business of fundraising. The recent New York Times article on this raised some interesting questions about the future. Here are a few more, specific to fundraising:

How will a wealth shift affect major gift fundraising? Will major gift officers need to spend more time with fewer prospects? Or less time with more prospects? Which strategy is likely to yield the greatest number of dollars?
What will take the place of the "90-10" rule of campaigns (90 percent of the money is given by 10 percent of the donors)? Will we return to "80-20" or are we looking at "70-30"?
How can annual fundraisers innovate to raise revenue that might formerly have been raised by their major gift colleagues?
With less appreciated assets to go around, how will planned giving officers change their strategies?
How will development researchers remain relevant and vital without so many millionaires and billionaires to identify and qualify? Hint: the answers to the other questions on this list point the way.

Here's a few predictions for the future:

Annual, major and planned giving will become much more integrated.
Development researchers will spend more time on data mining and modeling and segmentation than on creating biographical profiles.
Development shops will include both traditional major gift officers who work with small groups of very wealthy donors, and hybridized annual/"special" gift officers who will manage large portfolios of prospects and will use a combination of mass market/individualized cultivation and solicitation efforts to reach their assigned prospects.
Smart development shops will create more opportunities for prospective donors to deepen their engagement and self-identify their interests via personalized, interactive technologies and events.

Two Embarrassing Event Mistakes

2009-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

The front page of the Oregonian has recently highlighted two fundraising event mistakes, one much more consequential than the other.

On the lighter side, check out the above t-shirt for the Hood to Coast Relay. The event's organizers have been good sports about their spelling mishap, suggesting that perhaps the shirts will one day be collector's items.

Another race hit the news with a more serious error: Race for the Cure was scheduled for Rosh Hashana. This is a good reminder to event organizers to check for religious or cultural holidays when scheduling, though this event was knowingly scheduled in conflict with Rosh Hashana. Apparently the organizers were constrained by "city policies on the use of Waterfront Park, street closures and security."

However, I still count this in the category of "error." In the words of JewFAQ.org:

Most American Jews expect gentiles to be aware of Rosh Hashanah. It is, after all, listed on most calendars you buy in the store, but remember: the holiday starts at sunset the night before the day shown on your calendar! Many will be offended if you schedule important events, meetings or tests on Rosh Hashanah. Even those who do not go to synagogue and do not observe the holiday may be offended. Imagine how you would feel if someone scheduled such activities on Christmas or Easter, even if you didn't have anything special planned for the day, and you will understand how Jews feel about this holiday.

It's hard to imagine what the race organizers at Komen Oregon were thinking when they chose to proceed with scheduling the race for September 20. I believe it is better to disrupt the traditional scheduling of one's event than to alienate a swathe of your constituency and invite the appearance of disrespect toward a significant religious holiday. Would an early October weekend really have been out of the question?

Speaking of JewFAQ (aka Judaism 101), it's a great source for non-Jewish folks to learn more about Jewish holidays. Check out "A Gentile's Guide to the Jewish Holidays" to learn more about the significance and timing of Jewish holidays.

I Think It May Be Worse Than ME

2009-08-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

I was finally forced to convert to Windows Vista when I purchased a new laptop, and learned that "reverting" to XP would cost $150. I should have spent the money.

What a turd!

This the worst garbage Microsoft has released since Windows ME, with which I was unfortunately stuck for an unreasonably lengthy period of time during my broke days of the early 00's.

Vista is a clunky system hog that is designed as if users are utter dimwits. I hope that Windows 7 will be vastly improved. If not, it looks like it's time for me to learn Linux.

$125,000!?!

2009-08-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest disappointments this summer was taking an "incomplete" in my stats class. Now I'm just that much farther away from earning big bucks as a "sexy statistician," the millennial version of the sexy librarian.

Oh wait, I work in the non-profit sector. Never mind.

Check out this New York Times article on the new era of statistics. Thanks to hot tipper Debbie B. in Portland for this one.

Bad Databases Are Everywhere

2009-08-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

If you've ever worked with a bad database, whether the problem is the structure, the integrity, or the completion of the records (or all three), you know what a drag it can be. Check out this morning's Oregonian article on data woes at the Oregon Health Plan.

I hope it doesn't remind you of your donor database! (If it does, at least you can take comfort in knowing you didn't pay $80 million for it.)

Excuse Me, I Tweeted

2009-07-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

realized that 140 characters is all she can handle with brain damage, and wanted to share the joy of neurosurgery with the world. less than 5 seconds ago

That is what I tweeted. I don't want to clog up Fundraising Nerd with a bunch of neurosurgery blather, but if you want to follow my personal saga, it is available to you at http://twitter.com/amandajarman

This is no commentary on twitter users, but I doubt I would have started using my account without having been brain damaged. LOL. Srsly tho, im ntrig'd by tech.

Fundraising Nerd readers, I can't make any promises for the next six weeks. My brain surgery is Monday, and my head is going to hurt really really badly for a while. Then I will still have trouble with text. But, I will type at you as soon as I can, I promise!

The Lazy Researcher

2009-07-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

So, one of the side effects of my brain pain is that research is actually really freaking hard for me right now. But I also need to find a free legal form to create a will. (I am totally not planning to die, but I don't want to be one of those people who dies without having made provisions for my cat and favorite charities.)

What to do, what to do?

Online chat with a librarian, 24 hours a day!

Thanks Oregon libraries. You rock.

Aprilw, you are awesome. Thank you for finding me what I need, available to me as a member of the Multnomah County Library.

Local readers, if ya wanna make a will: legal forms.

I Can't Believe It Either

2009-07-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

I am going to have brain surgery.

Neurosurgeons believe that I have a cavernous malformation in my brain, which is a little cluster of abnormal blood vessels. It looks like a mulberry! That is what hemorrhaged about three weeks ago. It is likely to bleed again at some point in my life if it is not removed, and could potentially cause ~~death~~ [update: probably not death] or other really bad stuff, like seizures [update: or degenerative loss of my left field of vision, i.e. no more pleasurable reading]. So, the best thing to do is to remove it.

Between the hemorrhage and the impending brain surgery, it is like my brain is sprained, so I have to avoid stress and exertion, aka thinking hard. (Sort of funny -- I have been completely obsessed with "hemorrhage" since the the terror attacks of 2001 when "hemorrhagic fever" was bandied about the media so often.)

So, I am going to keep posting stuff about fundraising and nerdy stuff here, but I'm not going to beat myself up any more when I don't do it as often as I'd like.

Thanks to everyone who has been so amazingly supportive -- emotionally, spiritually, giving me rides and food, etc. I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and colleagues.