Accountability

You’ve probably known someone in your life with the special gift of making you feel like you matter. Like you’re his or her “favorite.” That’s what donor-centered fundraising is all about. Your donors know that you couldn’t do it without them, that their support matters. Because you speak to them in that way that reminds them, each and every time, that they count...

Pop quiz: Who should receive a "thank you"? A recurring donor who gives $15 a month A major donor who gives a $10,000 gift A first-time donor who gives a $50 gift A regular donor who gives a gift to a special campaign like #GivingTuesday A new donor acquired through a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign All…

Advances in technology and the emergence of social media tools make it more possible than ever for social movements and causes to quickly spread far and wide (to go "viral" in the parlance of the moment). But how do you take a cause and transform it from an idea into something with universal appeal? In…

All of us have to start the process of establishing a relationship with someone at ground zero. And yet, the essence of fundraising and development is engagement. Meeting people and prospects is truly an art. With prospects, you must take excellent notes after each personal visit. Create a strategy for each session, and show you remember the prospect and the meetings at a deeper level...

An NFL team is a massive philanthropic boost to its surrounding communities, providing grants, fundraising partnerships and support for critical community outreach programs. But what happens when an NFL team leaves town? With the Rams set to relocate to Los Angeles, charities in and around St. Louis will soon find out...

GuideStar has given its 2.4 million nonprofit profiles a refresh. Starting today, gone are the static pie charts and other design elements that often served as preliminary snapshots for grant makers and others seeking information. They have been replaced with interactive data visualizations that illustrate charities’ revenue and expenses over many years and others that…

Over the last couple weeks, I've listened to major gift officers on why they haven’t done what they said they were going to do with their caseloads. All of their reasons have to do with losing focus on what their primary jobs are: creating and building meaningful relationships with donors...

Today we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The man embodied many things, but perhaps among his most notable identifiers was that he was a man of remarkable vision. Vision is crucial to inspiring others to give, volunteer and participate. However, many nonprofit leaders spend countless hours writing a compelling vision statement,…

A New Hampshire nonprofit is making the unusual decision to turn down tens of thousands of dollars in federal aid. Keith Howard, the executive director of the Liberty House in Manchester, N.H., a transitional house that helps homeless veterans, said he is choosing not to seek a nearly $40,000 grant from HUD (Housing and Urban Development)…

A few years back, I was facilitating a board retreat, where it quickly became clear to me that the majority of the board members were unwilling to participate in fundraising or even open to the idea of fundraising. The First Question Is Key In all my years of working with boards, I had never encountered…