>> I got my MBA from Harvard about 5 years after college because, you know,
with a studio of art degree I really had no real foundation in the way business works
or even any industry works except for the art industry, so I don't think everybody who wants
to go to the nonprofit or to go into development or fundraising needs to get an MBA,
but that was really helpful to have more of a perspective of everything from marketing
to finance to just management skills in general.
I think that what's really important for fundraising is understanding how
to create win-win scenarios between the donor and the recipient
because most times I think a lot of nonprofits make the mistake of seeing a donation
as a handout and just taking a donation, saying thank you, and that's it and I think
for really effective fundraising or even effective sales you have to figure
out what you can give back to the company and in our case we are actually able to prove,
you know, actual business metrics like increasing sales or increasing brand loyalty
and once you have those skills and you can understand the mindset
of the donor you can be more effective in fundraising.