Rockstar Entrepreneur: Nathan J. Reis, Entrust Bankcard

February 24, 2012 By in Arizona, Arizona Commerce Authority, Arizona Economy, Branding, business, Business Relations, capital for good, Capitalism, career advice for the young, cause marketing, Consumer Society, Consumers, Corporate America, Corporate and Foundation Relations, corporate citizenship, Corporate Control, corporate social responsibility, Creativity, employee benefits, employee empowerment, Employee Loyalty, employee well being, entrust bankcard, growing businesses, human capital management, human connections at work, Human Resources, knowledge management, Leadership, learning by understanding, Marketing, moving ahead, nathan j reis, venture capitalists, work culture Leave a comment

At first sight, Nathan J. Reis is not your typical CEO type. Wearing a black Steve Job’s T-Shirt (Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish), you wouldn’t think that this small-town boy from Wisconsin would hit it big in dry, arid Arizona.

But Reis is a wildly successful “big growth” Arizona entrepreneur. He candidly told his story at a business seminar jointly organized by the Mesa Chamber of Commerce and Mesa Community Colleges. He began with three failures and then talked about starting Entrust Bankcard as a bootstrap initiative. Entrust provides merchant processing products and services and  is now Inc. 500′s 18th fastest growing company in the nation. As the company grew, Nate realized he “didn’t have the vocabulary to explain to employees about this fast growth in business.”

The supersized growth came with trade-offs. “If you wait to grow your business, put all the NO’s up on the wall.”Entrepreneurs must decide “what you don’t do.”

He credits the growth of his company to the work culture that he has created. Well, what is culture in a business? Is it reverence ? Is it conformity? To Nate, culture is being as “loud and noisy as possible.” “People will tell you to keep your head down.”

According to Nate,  extreme success happens when we  create a for-profit approach to a social problem. And, he is aiming for the sky. He wants to grow Entrust 50% year on year and increase his customer base to 250,000 small businesses. He believes in CRM software and the future of cloud technology. At the same time, he has started preparing for where he will be in two years.

A smart donor is a focused donor

February 24, 2012 By in Uncategorized, Fundraising, Leadership, Phoenix, Philanthropy, Giving, Charitable Giving, Art of Giving, Society, Non-profits, Cultivation, Donor Engagement, Social Entrepreneurship, Capitalism, Consumers, Contributions, Circle of Giving, Business Relations, Charities, Corporate America, Data, Creativity, corporate social responsibility, Foundations, Non profit funding resources, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Foundation Pitches, business, corporate citizenship, donor centered, stewardship, ethical fundraising, donor retention, donor centric fundraising, focused donor, philanthrocapitalism, cause marketing, capital for good Leave a comment

Who is a smart donor?

The rich one, the venture capitalist with an aching altruistic feeling or the one who wants to leave a legacy? There is no specific answer to what motivates one to give. However, money alone will not bring  real impact.

In a recent discussion,  three foundation leaders, Sheila Leddy of the NewYork- based Fledgling Fund, Dick Donaldson, of the Ohio-based Donaldson Charitable Gift Fund and  Janis Reischmann, of the Hawaii-based  Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation, came to a very clear conclusion: A smart donor is a focused donor. According to Sara Beggs at the Association of Small Foundations, organizers of a Webinar on this topic, ”focusing your giving leads to greater fulfillment.”

 Donors start focusing their giving when:

  1.  They ask if their funds have had an impact
  2.  They want to know how they could involve their children
  3. And, when they decide to say NO to the large number of requests they get

Focused donors look at common passion, shared values or immediate linkages to a personal issue. For instance, a donor who saw  a family member die of cancer might look at giving to health-related causes. Others would like to invest in real people and see transformative changes on a first-hand basis.  Smart donors want to be catalysts for real, measurable change.

Smart donors conduct a through scan of their environment. They talk to people running non-profit entities, try to get involved and understand what they are doing before deciding to invest. Some others opt for extensive  data mining before they decide to invest. They like to personalize where their funding goes, they want to be realistic about impact, would love to listen and are willing to make mid-course changes if things don’t work out.

In conclusion, a focused donor is a smart donor. The donor builds expertise in an area of philanthropic investment, becomes an effective partner and nurtures long-term relationships.

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