January 14

Today I spent some time on the website for the school I will be visiting tomorrow. I was looking for themes or phrases that recurred throughout the site - sort of like their lingo. Even though I hate sales, I learned many things in sales workshops. Since I can't personalize a mall for them, I can focus on familiar lingo. For this school, planned giving was big. Jacki confirmed on the morning call that the malls can be willed to future generations, or even schools and NPOs- another nice detail.

On the news today in Maine, the state economist gave his forecast for the coming year. Layoffs were projected in both government and retail sectors, and giving was going to be way down. Maine usually ranks pretty high nationally in the giving category, so this will hurt. I really like the concept in the NPO video of NPOs shoring each other up to weather tough times. Instead of fighting for every last dollar, that same dollar, spent on a World Changer Mall, will multiply.