Welcome to Selfish Giving.
I help businesses & nonprofits build win-win partnerships that raise money and change the world.
A Snapshot of Me
I'm a Massachusetts-based consultant who has a wicked Boston accent.
I help nonprofits and businesses raise money and make money with win-win partnerships that change lives.
I write the web's leading blog on cause marketing and sponsorship, Selfish Giving.
I'm an instructor in the New Strategies Program at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
I spent 20 years in the nonprofit sector and raised millions of dollars from local, regional and national corporate partners.
I'm a professional speaker who’s presented to 100+ organizations.
I'm the author of three books: Fundraising with Businesses, Cause Marketing for Dummies, and QR Codes for Dummies.
I've written for many publications, including Fast Company, Huffington Post, Forbes, Mediapost, Hubspot, Nonprofit Quarterly, QSR Magazine, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and Healthcare Philanthropy Journal.
I've been quoted in The New York Times, Reuters, INC.com, The Nonprofit Times, and many other publications.
My three books!
Selfish Isn’t Selfish When It’s ‘Wise.’
“We are naturally driven by self-interest; it’s necessary to survive. But we need wise self-interest that is generous and cooperative, taking others’ interests into account.”
Beginnings
I started Selfish Giving in December 2004 to share all the things I had previously shared via email. While people enjoyed the content, they got tired of me sending five emails a day with the subject line “Did you see this?”
Finally, someone suggested, “Why not put all these emails into a blog?” That’s how Selfish Giving was born!
My blog's mission is simple: To give nonprofits and businesses the tools and strategies they need to raise money, build stakeholder loyalty, and change the world.
People often ask me how I came up with the name Selfish Giving. My initial goal was to choose a clever name that would capture what I did and be attention-grabbing.
My colleague at the time, Joanna MacDonald, with whom I co-wrote Cause Marketing for Dummies, helped me narrow down my choices. I chose Selfish Giving because it plainly described that cause marketing is a partnership between a business and a nonprofit from which both partners profit. The intentions of both partners are altruistic and self-serving.
An early version of the Selfish Giving logo!
What I've Done, and What I Do Now
Before starting my own business, I was the director of corporate partnerships for a Boston hospital.
I started their corporate partnership program and oversaw a team of marketing, sales, and event professionals.
During my career, I’ve developed and executed campaigns with many local and national companies.
Today, my site is 100% focused on helping you achieve your goals.
Your success is my cause!
That’s me on the left…I think.
My Backstory
(If You Are Interested In That Kind Of Stuff)
I grew up in a working-class family in Brockton, Massachusetts. I’m a twin and the youngest of seven children.
Brockton during the 1970's was a great place to grow up. My childhood was full of adventures with my family and friends. But our neighbor-hood had its share of poverty, neglect, alcoholism, and abuse.
My first fundraising experience was going door-to-door on Labor Day Weekend collecting donations for the Jerry Lewis Telethon and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
After high school, I attended Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. After classes, I worked the graveyard shift at a local hospital. One of my first jobs was working in a hospital linen room, which was right across from the morgue. In time, I also mopped floors, made beds, and worked in an emergency room registering patients.
I've worked with many hospitals through the years. Thankfully, I've never spent a night in one!🤞
Me with team members of a Boston bagel store chain. They raised $25,000 for charity with donation boxes.
Post Grad Until Now
After graduating from Stonehill, I attended the Pennsylvania State University where I studied rhetorical criticism and early American public address. After completing my master’s, I considered staying for my doctorate, but I didn't. I returned to Boston and accepted a temporary fundraising job at MDA (Yep, the same charity I collected money for as a kid).
From MDA, I went to the Arthritis Foundation, The Boston Chamber of Commerce, spent a year in public television, and then worked for seven years at New England's largest safety-net hospital, Boston Medical Center.
This sounds like a steady work history, but it wasn't. There were detours, experiments, and dead ends along the way.
But two things stuck: An interest in working with businesses and nonprofits and a passion for new practices, technology, and anything that works efficiently and effectively.
