Fundraiser Education

Courting Young Donors, Experts Urge Focus on Tangibles
November 24, 2015 at 10:16 am

University at Albany advancement administrators conduct one-on-one meetings with young alumni, individually connecting with potential donors to convince them to give back to the institution. The goal, assistant director of young alumni programs Brian Rudolph said, is to instill giving habits in the recent graduates. Though the tactic is expensive, it is effective, he said. Philanthropy…

Look Who Just Moved Into the Neighborhood: How Not to Approach Fundraising
November 24, 2015 at 9:48 am

Ask yourself this: Do you have a specific plan for how much money you’ll be raising this year? Have you established a reasonable dollar goal for individual giving, for online giving, for grants, for corporate support, for any earned income? Or, are you operating like the senior center and just treading water? Be honest. Do any of these bright ideas sound anything like yours?...

Retail Ready: Enhance Your Branding, Fundraising With Nonprofit Merchandising
November 23, 2015 at 10:17 am

No matter the mission, size or location of the organization, nonprofit professionals always are looking for ways to increase their fundraising numbers and invest more dollars into making the world a better, safer place. One way to do that is through nonprofit merchandising. With the technologies at every organization’s disposal these days, there’s no shortage of ways nonprofits can incorporate merchandising into their plans...

Fundraisers, You’re in the ‘Yes’ Profession!
November 23, 2015 at 9:12 am

As fundraisers, our jobs are to say, “yes,” and get others to say, “yes,” as much as possible. Think about it. Your whole job is to get others (colleagues, bosses, administration, program people, vendors, support staff) to say, “yes,” to donors. And that “yes” is so you can have your donor say, “yes.” Do you have the greatest job in the world or what?...

RIP Millennials: Marketing Will Be 'Age Agnostic' Next Year
November 20, 2015 at 10:37 am

In 2016, marketing and communications professionals will stop targeting millennials as one demographic and focus on reaching the younger consumers based on their passions, according to a study released this week by Hotwire PR. The agency's seventh annual "Communications Trends Report," which was based on crowd-sourced data from 400 communicators across 22 countries, revealed that…

Inside 3 'Big Bets' for Social Change
November 20, 2015 at 10:31 am

John Paulson’s $400 million gift to Harvard earlier this year touched off a new chorus of an old complaint: Why don’t the rich make mega-gifts to charities that help the truly needy? That, in simple terms, is the question at the heart of new research by Bridgespan, the nonprofit consultant that works with both philanthropists…

Donor-Advised Funds Growing Ever Faster: How Should Nonprofits Access the Wealth?
November 20, 2015 at 10:19 am

The National Philanthropic Trust released its 2015 Donor-Advised Fund Report last week, revealing that 2014 marked a year of growth in all of its key indicators, including the number of donor-advised funds, total contributions to them, total combined assets and total grant dollars distributed. Of the estimated $358 billion in charitable contributions in the U.S.…

Learning How to Adopt a Retail Mindset in a Nonprofit World
November 19, 2015 at 9:38 am

Fifteen years ago, public school teacher Charles Best started DonorsChoose.org out of his classroom in Bronx, N.Y. He set out with a simple idea: Invite teachers to request supplies they need and allow citizen-donors to make direct connections with specific classrooms. The mission of DonorsChoose.org isn't unique. On the contrary, there are many organizations that…

Put the ‘Integrate’ in Integrated Fundraising
November 18, 2015 at 10:13 am

As the use of digital marketing continues to evolve and expand within the nonprofit industry, fundraising executives are demanding more integration within their marketing, communication and fundraising solutions. The key point of distinction is nonprofits that wish to implement integrated fundraising strategies must first think of their constituents rather than the communication tactic itself...

How Technology Trends Will Impact P2P in 2016
November 17, 2015 at 10:44 am

In the early 2000s, we didn’t call it “P2P.” We called it “online event management solutions” or “online solutions for pledge-based special events.” Some of us had noticed that nonprofits gained a lot of their annual support through these pledge-based special events, and many were still using paper pledge forms to walk around and ask for donations. The world has changed significantly since then, particularly when it comes to communications technology...