I want to make a point about the significance of a culture of philanthropy. About treating our internal stakeholders as kindly as we treat our external ones. About being grateful to those who support us and work with us, donors and staff alike. About being able to fully enjoy and [...]
The most under-acknowledged major gift fundraising truism: It’s about the relationship, not the “ask.” If you want your donor to dig deep, they must be inspired. Your success depends less on how well you ask for gifts and more on how well you’ve taken your major gift prospects on a [...]
You’ve got questions about nonprofit SWOT analyses; we’ve got answers! Specifically, these are questions we didn’t have time to answer in a webinar I recently presented for Bloomerang: “SWOT’s Up? How to Do a Strategic Self-Audit of Nonprofit Strengths & Weaknesses." In the webinar, we covered What a SWOT accomplishes [...]
What’s in a nonprofit brand? Everything. Think about the most popular and well-known charities. What comes to mind? I’ll bet you’re able to envision who they are, why they do what they do, and what they do in an instant. For example, Charity: water. The ASPCA. The ACLU. Red Cross. [...]
It’s long been a time-honored custom to publish nonprofit annual reports, showcasing your organization’s mission, programs, accomplishments and financials, for supporters and the general public. Yet it’s a resource-intensive endeavor that bears examination if you want to maximize your return on investment. Begin by asking: Why are we doing this? [...]
Divide and conquer may be a good strategy on the battlefield. For nonprofit fundraising, not so much. If you want to succeed with donor-centered communications you need to stop fighting and start inviting. I mean this in two important ways: Stop fighting donors by trying to ‘hit them up’ and [...]
When fundraisers get together to talk about donor-centric fundraising strategy they tend to focus a lot on giving gratitude and engaging in cultivation. Rightfully so. However, if that’s all you do, you’re missing something HUGELY important. There’s something more donor-centric than wooing. Asking! In fact, I run a fundraising training [...]
What’s on your integrated development (marketing + fundraising) plan for the coming year? Major individual gift fundraising? Annual fundraising direct mail? Recurring gift fundraising and/or memberships? E-appeals? Telemarketing? Foundation grant research, writing and reporting? Government grant research, writing and reporting? Business sponsorships? Legacy/planned giving fundraising? Capital/endowment campaign? Special events? A [...]
Shining a light on the future of your nonprofit, and how you can shape it, requires looking at big picture strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) from many perspectives. When was the last time you did a simple SWOT analysis? Charities tend to have a lot invested in doing what [...]
Each of us has different issues that subconsciously drive our behaviors at work (and in our lives generally). Some behaviors are useful; others, not so much. If you find certain behaviors stressing you out, diminishing your performance, making you unhappy or otherwise holding you back, it’s time to STOP these [...]
Hopefully by now you know there’s no point in simply “doing” an event for the sake of the event itself. It’s a waste of precious time and resources unless everyone – your organization, your staff, your volunteers and your donors – feel they got their money’s worth. Of course, ‘worth’ [...]
My overarching philosophy of all nonprofit fundraising events, Galas and otherwise, is this: Make folks think they got more than their money’s worth! This holds true for everything they take away: Food, Beverage, Gifts, Treats, Fun, Friends, and, especially, Feel Good! When folks leave on a high, you’ll be well-situated [...]