I travel all over the country training nonprofit professionals and their boards to fundraise. It’s pretty amazing! I get to meet passionate, dedicated people just like you who are making their part of the world a better place. Unlike most people I meet, I absolutely love fundraising. What’s [...]
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 [...]
Are successful fundraisers born or made? I heartily take issue with the contention that fundraising is only for a special few of us. Too many people who are virtually fearless in everything else they need to face in their personal and professional lives are terrified at the notion of asking [...]
Welcome to the new year, fundraiser! Look at you all bright eyed and bushy tailed. You are awesome. Stay that way. Look at that clean slate in front of you! Congrats on your sparkling fresh start. And because no fundraiser ever started the year planning to raise LESS money than [...]
With all that it takes to run a successful nonprofit, it could seem easy to have someone already within your organization work to create copy for your website, emails, social media, etc. However, hiring a trained copywriter who has dedicated their time and energy into learning the nuances of language, [...]
You may not care one bit about professional football. Even if you do, you probably aren’t overly concerned about the off-season trades and signings of multi-millionaire players. This blog post isn’t going to convince you otherwise. However, I recently read a detailing of the lengths that the Minnesota Vikings leadership [...]
I would bet that your fundraising program is the same year-after-year and that its performance has flatlined. I also know that you can and want to do better. With 30+ years behind me in transforming fundraising programs, I suggest that you consider infusing imagination into your fundraising program to vastly [...]
“I’m all ears…” in other words, “You have my undivided attention.” Listening is one of the most important skills we have for building effective relationships, especially when we’re trying to attract supporters and donors. Relationships are also the key to achieving the mission of your organization. Bottom line — “all [...]
I used to hate networking events. And I couldn’t help but think that those people that love ‘em are kind of weird. The truth is, the introvert in me still doesn’t particularly look forward to them...but I’ve learned over time to manage and motivate myself. I’ve had to. Networking is [...]