Donor Relationship Management

Recently, I attended an activity for volunteers. The purpose of the event was for our volunteers to help stuff backpacks for needy children. The smiles and response following this hands-on event proved to me that this type of activity is vitally important. It is all about building relationships...

Someone has come to your site. He or she has downloaded your eight-point plan or a white paper, taken an advocacy alert and looked at your infographic. Now what? When we think about donors, it’s often with our fundraising glasses on, thinking, "how do I get this person to donate?" One of the underrated aspects…

Donor loyalty. Sometimes it seems as if it has gone the way of the dinosaurs. We talk about it, write about it, hold meetings about it and strategize for it, but it’s still missing from many nonprofit supporter lists. Donors are acquired and then they attrite. It’s just the reality we live with...

Donor-centered fundraising has been a constant all my fundraising life. Over time, it’s become a nebulous sort of construct, and that might be where some of the confusion comes from. But to me, donor-centricity always has meant embracing your donors like the valuable friends and partners that they are...

When people give to causes that are deeply meaningful to them, they feel like a million bucks. Understanding this—truly, deeply understanding this—is so important I’m going to repeat it in bold and italics. When people give to causes that are deeply meaningful to them, they feel like a million bucks. This is the key to…

A home base is important in life. Family and friends that you trust, feel safe and grow with. This home base can give you confidence to take risks, learn new things, set higher goals and grow like you otherwise never would...

We all know the sorry state of donor retention: 96 donors lost for every 100 gained. Join us to learn how to hold onto donors.

"What do you mean you lost the check?" the manager almost yelled. "How could you do it? It was $75,000, for goodness sake! $75,000 of someone’s life!" It was not a pretty situation. I wasn’t there, but I heard about it in great detail just a week after it happened. Someone had lost a donor check for $75,000! It was gone. Vanished. Vaporized...

Every so often, I'll read a blog post titled something like, "9 Ways to Write Better Fundraising." I love pieces like that, because I'm fascinated by what people consider "short-list" critical elements for success. And, as often as not, I learn something from those lists. The thing that dismays me is how often one of those…

Starting a successful charitable organization relies on the success of one simple action: raising money to support that cause. Whether your charity only needs startup funding or your group will rely on contributions in the long-run, raising money toward a cause is a top priority. Thanks to the prominence of corporations in the media, it…