If you work for a small nonprofit, you quite likely spend a portion of your week frustrated. You have great ideas, but they are often stymied by (1) a lack of budget, (2) a lack of time or (3) a lack of staff to put them into action. I confess I used to suffer from Big Organization Envy (BOE)....
If you’re an animal lover, you know that pets are part of the family, and these little furry lovebugs have personalities all their own. We’re tri-petual at my house—we have dogs, cats and horses! It’s a regular zoo some days. Of our three cats, Ginger is mine and she makes that known. We’ve had her…
It’s easy to understand the popularity of year-end giving, but it’s important to remember that many of the tactics that fundraisers use to make end-of-year fundraising so effective can easily be translated to other times of the year. Let these eight prospect research lessons help you fall into fundraising this year...
I used to think Mop & Glo was the greatest product known to man. Once a week, I’d mindlessly squirt Mop & Glo on my tile flooring, run a damp mop over my tile and step back to admire the shine. Until the day came when there was no shine left to admire. So, are you using what I call "Mop & Glo fundraising"?...
Newsletters can and should be a great way to stay in touch with your donors and keep them updated on how they are helping you make a difference. Unfortunately, most donor newsletters can be used as a cure for insomnia. They’re too long and filled with articles that brag about how wonderful the organization is.…
Total giving by the top 50 philanthropists in America, totaling $7 billion, dropped 30 percent last year, and marked the lowest amount since 2010, according to a new report. The Philanthropy 50 list, compiled by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the drop was partly due to massive one-time donations in 2014, including a $1.9 billion…
Last year was big across the fundraising landscape. While the industry continues to struggle with reduced performance (efficiency) of direct mail, leading groups were tackling the hard questions. By now, the book on 2015 should be closed for most organizations, and it won’t be long before we get the scorecard on our industry’s performance last year. In the meantime, I’ve highlighted some important observations on charitable giving in 2015 and their impact on 2016...
While Valentine's Day is very symbolic for us, I will never forget what I was told decades ago: to show affection every day of the year and not just one special, designated day. I always have carried that premise over to donors in my career. We need to love them all of the time. Unfortunately, many professionals have not developed a proper method or process to do this over time...
There is nothing more dangerous than a boring story. Don’t believe me? Think about a time when you watched a bad movie or tried to read a slow book. Maybe you fell asleep in the theater. Perhaps that book sat and gathered dust on your bedside table, but try…
A new study found that 2015’s charitable giving increased 1.6 percent over the previous year while online donations grew 9.2 percent in the same time frame. And don’t forget about mobile giving—14 percent of online donors are utilizing their smartphones and tablets....
