Clear, concise data entry policies and procedures are critical to keeping your database clean and usable. You can’t run a donor report by constituent type if information is not consistent. You can’t filter a report by a city, or a town if you’ve entered the full name of the city [...]
Imagine for a second that you could mow your yard with a mower that would learn how to mow your yard the next time without you. The mower would learn your speed and turns and thousands of nuances that lead to a great-looking, freshly mowed lawn. (I’m in -- automated [...]
Digital communications are essential for robust fundraising strategies today. Everything from your emails to your social media posts, blogs to live video streams, how you communicate with your donors and the community at large is becoming increasingly just as important as your message itself. Email is generally the most important [...]
I was watching the evening news the other night, and was taken with a story about a cute nine-year-old boy who went to the city council in his little town of Severance, Colorado. He was there to ask them to abolish the town’s 100-year-old ordinance that banned snowball fights. The [...]
As expectations increase for more sophisticated development strategies and tactics that win and keep donors engaged with organizations, donor data plays an increasingly influential role in the nonprofit landscape. The good news is that most nonprofits already have excellent record-keeping practices in place thanks to the integration of CRM and [...]
I often find myself getting called in to nonprofits where everybody is unhappy with the CRM. And I mean everybody. From the gift processors to the Executive Director, no one has a good thing to say about it. It’s not intuitive It’s hard to navigate It’s impossible to get data [...]
Everyone wants new donors, right? So how do you get them? Bottom line: gifts are the result of effective engagement. The fantasy of finding rich strangers we can lure into giving generously to our cause is seductive and tempting. In reality, paying to interrupt complete strangers with an uninvited ask [...]
Prospect research is difficult. Asking for upgrades, major gifts and bequests is something that every fundraiser wants to do. But identifying the best supporters in your lists for those types of asks can be an even bigger challenge than the ask itself. Oftentimes we look only to the wealthy. But [...]
There's little argument that long-term, loyal donors are your best prospects for things like major gifts and planned gifts. Monthly donors, active volunteers, current and former service recipients, and the securely retired (especially the childless and empty-nesters) are also great prospects. But who else might be lurking in your donor [...]
For the typical nonprofit, the majority of individual donors will send in their money during the fourth quarter of the year. That means we're quickly approaching the time when you need to have your database and procedures in place for the giving season. Use the slower period between June and [...]
Since I have the good fortune of working with and traveling to see thousands of fundraisers every year, I often get asked the question: “What's the best thing we can do to improve our fundraising results this year?” The answer I give is usually received with surprise. Perhaps they are [...]
Not too long ago, I helped a client assess the success of his year-end appeal. He had sent a letter – the same letter – to all 15,000 names in his database. […]