Donor Relationship Management

The talk at last month's Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference was all about donor engagement — the making of personal, finely cultivated relationships that are as satisfying for donors as they are for the organizations they support.

There are many ways to justify having a social presence as a nonprofit (and not too many good reasons not to have one by now). But how do you measure its value to your nonprofit?

Donors to a charity feeding children in Africa have different motivations than donors wanting to rescue sea turtles or support a local museum. But people are much the same and have certain wants. Responding to those wants consistently improves fundraising income.

The Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and Idealware announce the release of an updated guide, A Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems.

Three fundraising professionals shared 30 ideas for fundraising success at Fund Raising Day in New York. Here are ideas 1-10.

Of course, fundraisers can't risk making promises they can't keep. But if you take the religion out of it … do you think this whole Rapture thing has anything to teach fundraisers about getting out their messages and engaging supporters?

For many nonprofits, acquisition budgets have been cut to the bone, and attrition continues to eat away at the donor file. Here are 10 mostly low-cost suggestions to build your donor and prospect list, despite the ever-shrinking budget.

Following are 10 ways to engage your community — as donors, volunteers and “evangelists” for your cause.

These 12 strategies aren't the only things I'd do to transform my donor-development office. They may not even be the most urgent things I'd do, or even the most important. But they are the things I'd do that I think would have the most lasting impact. They would make the most difference to converting my imaginary donor-development department from the under-funded, misunderstood appendage to the fundraising function that I found on joining the organization into the finely honed, high-
earning core activity that I'd like to leave behind when, in the fullness of time, I move on to pastures new (you have to indulge me a little here, in this fantasy). Anyway, here we go.

Talisma Fundraising's Dan Germain offers five steps for effective donor cultivation on the heels of a poll revealing optimism in the fundraising sector.