Fundraiser Education

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?...

I was walking down stairs, thinking of a project and carrying three different large items. Then, I slipped and tumbled. Stupidly, I still flew to a board retreat the next day, then drove 10 hours to present a campaign study report a few days later. All of that walking did not help what was diagnosed as a broken ankle. Then there was surgery to install a plate, and now I’m paying for not addressing a situation by having a slower and more painful recovery. Here are my five big lessons learned...

When steel magnate Andrew Carnegie tried to get Pennsylvania towns to build public libraries in the 1890s by offering them matching funds, 20 of the 46 local governments he approached turned him down. When John D. Rockefeller Sr. asked Congress to grant a federal charter for his proposed Rockefeller Foundation in 1910, then Attorney General…

In this episode of “What’s the Big Idea?” Richard Levy of Give2gether discusses the science of year-end giving and what organizations can do to increase donations. Levy said nonprofits should streamline the transaction process by requiring less information on a donation form and show off the nonprofit’s mission to convert online visitors to donors. A…

You can easily think of a long career in the fundraising profession in terms of time, growth and opportunity. To have a career in this field you must have an interest in attributes that point you in a career direction. A long career may consist of 10 positions or more. My four-quarter career theory focuses on four major career stages...

Otis Fulton, my husband and Turnkey’s psychologist, leapt from his chair with a shocked expression on his face and social science book-of-the-day in hand. “The Ice Bucket Challenge was not peer-to-peer fundraising!” he said. “Don’t you see? Peer-to-peer is a closed loop. The Ice Bucket Challenge was an open loop...”

One of the first things a fundraiser learns is that he or she doesn’t have all the answers. We rely on testing, experience, data and, sometimes, our guts to help us make decisions about how and when to invest our fundraising dollars. However, I’ve found that in the busyness of our work, we don’t always ask the right questions...