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Denise McMahan Denise McMahan
Denise McMahan is founder and publisher of CausePlanet, a thriving one-of-a-kind professional development website for busy nonprofit leaders who want to stay informed about essential reading through Page to Practice™ book summaries, author interviews and relevant discussion by peer contributors.  Denise dedicated much of her early career to fundraising in academia and experiential education where she was twice recognized for innovation and model account, raising millions of dollars and surpassing client goals. McMahan equally enjoyed working on client side, coaching major gift volunteers and mobilizing unrestricted giving to reach unprecedented participation. In addition to overseeing CausePlanet, McMahan is a writer for nonprofit and corporate clients. Read her blog at www.PagetoPractice.org or email her at Mail@CausePlanet.org.
Social marketing strategies explored by those fighting poverty
Feb 1st, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
The best way to describe Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee’s "Up and Out of Poverty" is that it’s a nonprofit lesson in how to use social marketing by illustrating the steps through the very real and pervasive issue of poverty. This terrific social marketing case study of ...
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Ready, set, influence: A nonprofit leader’s guide for influencing boards, prospects and peers
Feb 23rd, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
No matter where you are in the organizational food chain, you probably have to exert influence to get your job done. In the book, Influencer, authors Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan and Switzler explore how to master six sources of influence. These sources of influence are based on the premise that almost ...
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Raise more money and visibility with smart communications
May 3rd, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
Despite the fact that a sound communications plan is the foundation of effective fundraising, advocacy and community relations, many nonprofits often leave little in their budget to pay for research, planning and execution, let alone a ...
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Reality show takes a page out of "Brandraising"
May 18th, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
It hit me last night when I saw a commercial for American Idol. The cast must have read Sarah Durham's new book called Brandraising. I knew Durham and her New York agency colleagues at Big Duck were hip, but her guidelines for success ...
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Seven steps for building your best LinkedIn profile with the Brandraising approach
Jun 9th, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
LinkedIn is all about connecting with others who share commonality. This, of course, can be said of all social networks, but if you want to maximize your professional network, building a personal brand is essential. Most nonprofit leaders make the mistake of ...
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Surprising discoveries about change from "Switch"
Jul 19th, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
In the last two weeks, we have explored highlights from our July Page to Practice feature: Switch:How to change things when change is hard. Join us for another excerpt from a conversation with authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath with ......
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Shape up your social media strategy with Kanter's "spreadsheet aerobics"
Sep 7th, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
In light of our Page to Practice feature, "The Networked Nonprofit" by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, we’re pleased to cross-post one of Beth Kanter’s recent blogs to give you a sample of what you can find in this terrific book. I had the pleasure of attending a conference where Beth was ...
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Fixing the broken formula: Success equals happiness
Dec 3rd, 2010 | By: Denise McMahan
During this time of year, it feels appropriate to be talking about happiness. In fact, this month’s book feature, The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor, ...
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Are you fired up or burned out? A case for connection
Jan 11th, 2011 | By: Denise McMahan
Connected organizations are more productive, more innovative and more profitable; conversely, a lack of connection will gradually burn employees out. Author Michael Lee Stallard makes the case for increasing connection at work and shows you how to ...
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Do your confrontations pass the safety test?
Jan 25th, 2011 | By: Denise McMahan
Regardless of whether a confrontation is board member to executive director or director to staff member, it’s essential to arrive at the conversation prepared. Unfortunately, most of us wing it and address issues without much thought ...
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Don’t get caught in the deep end: Become a Liquid Leader
Feb 8th, 2011 | By: Denise McMahan
Having launched and successfully led the first dot-com agency to go public, Liquid Leadership author, Brad Szollose, experienced a working world remarkably changed by...
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Protecting your great ideas from naysayers
Mar 22nd, 2011 | By: Denise McMahan
The nonprofit organization is no stranger to the necessity of buy-in. Be it building a case for support or engaging a board of directors to make a change, buy-in can make or break an organization on a small and large scale. Without understanding how potential attacks can disrupt consensus around important change, ...
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Collaboration Series Part 1: Today’s complex issues require a new breed of community leaders
Apr 13th, 2011 | By: Denise McMahan
Much attention has been given to the merits of legitimate collaboration. It’s no wonder that we aspire to develop a replicable methodology because the results we have witnessed from these collective efforts range from wonderful to wildly ...
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What influences your workplace culture?
Jun 6th, 2011 | By: Denise McMahan
These situations are familiar to all of us. After less than a year, the board decides to make a change and concludes the executive director is not the right fit for the organization; or two executives from the community are recruited for the board ...
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There’s no “I” in TEAM
Jan 3rd, 2012 | By: Denise McMahan
Unlike business partnerships, which are usually grounded in equal shares or investments, the partnership of a nonprofit board and the executive is much more ambiguous. Although one is a governing entity (the board) and the other is a ...
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In session: Advocacy for the nonprofit leader
Mar 7th, 2012 | By: Denise McMahan
As many state legislatures are about to convene or already have for 2012, it’s a good reminder for those of us who work in the social sector to roll up our advocacy sleeves and engage in the process. My friends at The Bell Policy Center tell me ...
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Go from mediocre to maximum board performance
Apr 25th, 2012 | By: Denise McMahan
Because so much of what board members do as a group is behind the scenes, we often forget the supremely important role they play in governing our nonprofits. Boards are a tricky aspect of leadership when you’re the executive director or CEO. When your board is ineffective, you have to succeed in spite of its mediocre ...
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