Beware of the major gift guru who says he has the secret black book with the list of his major donor friends who will fund your charity.
The Biggest Mistake in Fundraising
"For clinking money, you can shake the can. For folding money, you should go ask for it. "
Can a Capital Campaign Hurt Your Non-profit?
Most nonprofits, like Sweet Briar, do not consider the fact that capital campaigns can hurt your annual fund and general operating budget, especially if annual fund donors are being targeted for a large percentage of the capital gifts. With nearly $200 million raised in Sweet Briar's case, they learned the...
A Few Reasons Why Small Charities Stay Small….
Bottom line, there is a cost to acquire a new donor and, as importantly every new donor has lifetime donor value to the charity. Charities must be willing to invest in growth.
RFM Plus… The HOT New Way To Create MORE GIFTS!
Overlaying RFM with events at the charity is key. If you had a choice to mail an appeal to a donor who gave six months ago versus a donor who gave a year ago, but who had just volunteered, went on your website and just attended the fundraising banquet. Who...
The Shinny New Thing in Fundraising… INTEGRATION
Integration is the shinny new thing in fundraising. Integration builds upon the advertising technology pioneered in the 70’s and 80’s we called direct response marketing (DRM). Direct advertising is based upon creating a process to communicate directly with the customer (or donor) and, most importantly, capturing the customer’s contact information...
Development Is a TEAM SPORT!
It has been a unique week. Meeting with development professionals is always filled with surprises, but I have to tell you I was floored with the number of development pros trying to do it on their own. I met not one, not two, but three development directors who were one person...
This Old Dog Has Learned A Few New Tricks….. Multi-channel Giving!
The colorful Lee Atwater was right about one thing that applies to our era today, “listen to your donors”. Donors today are telling you they want more options for giving. We call it integration, but it is critical to give your supporters multiple options for driving them to make their...
Don’t Let “Buddy The Elf” Fix Your Website in December
Successful marketing, even with websites, is about minimizing risk to increase opportunity. Remember, if you are like most charities, half of your annual income is at risk. So even if Buddy The Elf has a great idea to make your website more Christmassy… put Buddy in the mail room and...
Are You Ready for the Golden Week? 8 Steps To Safeguard Your Year-end Fundraising
The best development leaders bear down during the months of November and December to insure that the last week of the year is the most profitable 7-days of the calendar year.