Fundraiser Education

Using online channels such as social media is a vital part of any year-end fundraising strategy, as online giving peaks at the end of the year, especially on Dec. 30 and 31. So how can you leverage your social media channels to make the most of your donors tendency to procrastinate until the end of…

Mia and spoke last week regarding her organization’s donor acquisition program for 2016. Mia is the development director for an environmental organization in the Northwest. As she reviewed her plans, two words kept ringing in my head: “advocacy” and “fundraising.” What struck me was how she seemed to be conflating the two...

Like many of your donors, I hope, I have been actively doing some year-end giving. That included mailing gifts to 19 organizations that had responded to my article earlier this year, offering to make a donation to the organizations of the first 10 people who responded. (I just couldn’t stop at 10.) ...

This has been my first ‘year-end’ with Shift and it’s been … fun. Nothing like starting your business in the busiest time of the year—when the pressure is highest to deliver results, on time. But with the majority of the craziness behind me, I’ve been able to catch up on some of my favorite blogs,…

Effective altruism is all about maximizing the impact of philanthropy. It supports the idea that one should give to the nonprofits that are able to statistically prove they are most effective. At first pass, it felt weird to me. Upon closer inspection, I recognize that effective altruism is a laudable concept, but a flawed one. Here's why...

Yesterday, Forbes released the 2015 edition of its annual "Largest U.S. Charities" report, which features the top 50 nonprofits by 2014 private donations (rather than government funding and other revenue sources) The full list is worth a look, but if you don't have time to poke around, don't worry. We did it for you! Here's a deeper look at the stats, trends and interesting tidbits on today's biggest charities...

Keith is a fundraiser for a nonprofit that focuses on rescuing at-risk youth. As an organization founded and led by Millennials, this organization is the future in many ways. Keith’s frustration wasn’t slow revenue growth. He’s tuned into the healthy revenue gains he’s achieving. What’s generating his frustration is the “uneven” response he’s getting from his donors...

You plan and strategize, check everything (at least) twice, and follow your schedule to the minute, but mistakes happen. There’s a typo; the mailer misses your drop date; the data is wrong; the insert is overlooked; the salutation says, “Dear [Name];” the link to the landing page is broken; or any number of other possible “oops!” moments. You can be sure that sometime in 2016, you will experience some problem in your fundraising program. So be prepared, and keep these things in mind...

As a nonprofit, the best gift you can give your cause this holiday season is keeping up with marketing trends for the upcoming year. An updated marketing strategy is an effective one that will benefit your organization for years to come. Here are five ways to make your nonprofit marketing more effective in 2016: 1.…

If reading your appeal seems like hard work to me, than why should I bother? I work all day! My brain needs a rest. Even more, my brain would enjoy a treat. Something that lights up my pleasure centers and makes me feel good. Does your appeal do that for your would-be donors? Or does it require them to put in great effort to get through it?...