Have you ever been blown away by an off-the-wall question from a donor or board member? You know, the one that makes you wonder if they even know what your organization does? I hear this often. On the flip-side, one of my favorite things about my business is that I [...]
Ever wonder what your donors are thinking? Sometimes, we slip into a mindset of “them and us.” Where we’re the insiders who work and donors are the outsiders who give. And while both are important, they must be different, right? Maybe not so much. And your fundraising success may depend [...]
In our industry, we spend a lot of time telling. We do a great deal of storyTELLING. Heart-wrenching stories about the community we serve. We TELL about our mission. We TELL about our need for funds -- both why we need funds and how we plan to use them. As [...]
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 [...]
Non-profits are operating in a time that is increasingly noisy and fraught with competition for attention. Organizations have taken to using frequency and volume of communications to capture that attention. But as I tell my students and clients, trying to be the loudest megaphone is not a viable strategy for [...]
If you have some monthly donors now, congratulations. Please allow me to share some recent statistics with you on why these small recurring donors are so powerful: Average monthly gift between $24 and $36, that’s between $288 and $432 a year! Typical way monthly donors pay: 80% credit card, 10% [...]
One of the most classic episodes of the (superior, don't @ me) American version of The Office is "Christmas Party," in which Jim finally gets up the courage to profess his love for Pam. For the "Secret Santa" / "White Elephant" gift exchange, Jim prepares a teapot filled with some small [...]
At this point, it may be safe to say that we know the value of content for our organization’s fundraising program. Content – especially for annual giving donors – helps us build relationships by thanking, stewarding, and cultivating donors. It’s content that does the legwork when we can’t make personal [...]
It may be 2019 but in case you've been living under a rock, I'll take this opportunity to remind you that relationships are still essential for fundraising. Yes, even in this digital era of fundraising that many of us are operating in relationship building must be at the forefront of [...]
Through the introduction of text-to-give, social media fundraising, and online giving, combined with the chance to reach thousands of your targeted demographic with $20 in Facebook ads, people wonder if the time-consuming efforts of getting to “Know-thy-donor” and relationship building are still worth it. Can’t an organization raise more just [...]
The early months of the calendar year tend to be when nonprofit staff turn their minds towards donor cultivation. The year-end fundraising frenzy has abated and the time feels ripe for hosting house parties, behind-the-scenes tours, getting-to-know-you coffees, and cultivation events. Noble pursuits. But… don’t lose sight of why you’re [...]