Providing quality services. Raising funds. Promoting public awareness. Regardless of your nonprofit’s core mission, tasks like these are never far from your ever-growing list of things to do. But there’s one more thing you need to add to your list if you haven’t already, and that’s obtaining federal trademark registration for your name...
Recently, we were preparing a collection of stories to share with a campaign steering committee—profound stories of mission impact that moved the heart, and stressed the importance and urgency of the fundraising campaign’s end results...
You don’t have to be a baseball fan to love Yogi Berra. Originator of many popular "Yogisms," including “When you come to a fork in the road, take it” and "It's déjà vu all over again,” Berra was known as much for his malapropisms as his MLB career. One of my newsletter subscribers reminded me of my favorite "Yogism" just the other day. Her organization has considered enrolling in a big-ticket, sustainable fundraising coaching program...
What donors really want to see is hope. You see, this world can feel pretty hopeless at times. There is media surrounding us that is extremely negative. Social media always is pouncing on someone’s mistakes—it can get pretty depressing. So, to be able to provide a message of hope to donors who have been supporting you is not only closing the loop on their gifts, but it’s giving them a bit of fresh air. I wonder how you are doing giving your donors hope...
Every day, your organization has numerous interactions with people across all channels. The experience of that interaction determines at least 50 percent of your supporter’s decision whether to interact with you again. So what is your organization doing to monitor and act on those experiences and ensure supporters actually support?...
We’ve been running research with children and young people for years at nfpSynergy, but in the last few months we launched "Families Insight," expanding this research to include parents. This allows us to examine how exactly families interact and engage with charities. Our findings have revealed some interesting dynamics within the family unit, underscoring why…
All too often in fundraising, there’s the dream, and then there’s reality. For example, every fundraiser dreams of a high-functioning board development committee with enthusiastic co-chairs who make your job not just a breeze, but a pleasure. You fantasize about a board development committee that “gets it,” acts as a collaborator, brings fundraising success to…
I am excited to be going to Boston in a few weeks for the AFP International Fundraising Conference. While my first conference was more than 25 years ago, I still look forward to this event because of its size and scope....
Whether your 2015 fundraising strategy was a success or a total bust, there are likely a few hidden gems to uncover in the data. Before you finalize your 2016 fundraising calendar, go through the information that you gathered from last year’s campaigns and look for trends or unusual activity that you can leverage for better…
The most recent “Health and Well-Being Survey” conducted by Gallup provides alarming insight about the effectiveness of nonprofit donor-recognition efforts. Among those surveyed, 81 percent said they have donated money to a charity within the past year. In addition, 52 percent of survey respondents said they have volunteered their time during that same period. Given the high-level…
