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Slow is Smooth. Smooth is Fast. 

By Elisa Shoenberger

The mantra “Slow is smooth. Smooth is Fast.” is used in Special Forces training and is a perfect phrase to act as a guardrail for your New Year planning. Essentially, it means that if you slow down and take the time to plan how to achieve your project or goal, then your execution of those plans will go fast and well. 

As we look forward to 2025, it’s easy to rush headlong into the year and forget to look back on successes and mistakes from the year past. Reflection can provide a deeper understanding of what works well and why – how to make things go smoothly. 

In our first post of 2025, we decided to look back on the five blog posts that attracted the most readers. Enjoy! 

  1. 5 Reasons Why You Can’t Find a Prospect’s Giving 
  1. In Translation: 4 Common Misunderstandings Between Major Gift Officers and Prospect Researchers 
  1. Top 5 Misconceptions of Prospect Identification 
  1. Review of 2024 Reports on Donor Advised Funds 
  1. Will a Wealth Screening Really Help Me? 

Wishing you and your organization a Smooth Start to the New Year! 

About the Author Elisa Shoenberger has written about philanthropy for Inside Philanthropy, Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Daily Dot, Brainfacts.org and others. She has spoken at several fundraising conferences for both international and local chapters of APRA and others. She has published with the Boston Globe, Wired, Slate, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and many others. She has written In Good Company: A Guide to Corporate Fundraising (2021); Disruptive Philanthropy: A Guide to Donor Advised Funds (2022); Volatile Opportunity: A Guide to Cryptocurrency and Fundraising (2023).