Fundraiser Education

Fundraising employment transition becomes a pothole in a sense that it causes disruption, loss of revenue, loss of relationships and many other negative implications. Think about your job experiences. Do you mandate a complete debrief of information when your employees leave employment? Do you ask board members to help bridge significant relationships to keep engagement and donor momentum in place? Do you provide new fundraising professional hires with solid prospect and donor information gleaned from former employees? How can this issue be dealt with in a positive way, especially when some departures are negative in scope?  

For whatever reason you became a fundraiser, if you want to grow in the field you're going to end up doing more and learning more than you ever thought you wanted to do and learn. You may not have signed up for these things, but they can help make you a better fundraiser. For example …

Shoe drive fundraising events are a fast, easy and innovative way to raise money for your organization and make a greater impact than you thought possible.

Among the ever-evolving buzzwords and old debates in the nonprofit sector, a new concept has entered the fray: running your nonprofit like a for-profit.

Knowledge matters in fundraising, but that's not all. What each of us brings to the job matters, and I am convinced that a daily commitment to these six habits is critical to be excellent fundraisers.

As a major gifts fundraising professional, you need people in your life to help guide you personally and professionally. I'm saddened when I see good fundraisers think they can do it on their own, that they don't need advice or they can't listen to good criticism of their work.

Two years ago I decided to launch my blog. I never promised it would be pretty, but I did promise some tough nonprofit fundraising and marketing issues would be discussed.

When we chose this field, we knew it might take 10 jobs to get us from career beginning to end. Even if you feel "secure" in your current position, always prepare for your next job. It will be here before you know it!

While even the best-laid plans can still fail from time to time, when you are evaluating any fundraising option — or something else that will consume time that could be spent building relationships with donors — there are some steps you can take to minimize the risk that the project ends up being a case history for fundraising disaster.

Ted Hart speaks with ACFRE Linda Lysakowski and CFRE Lynne Dean, director of institutional advancement at Northwest Vista College, about nonprofit strategic planning on his Nonprofit Coach radio show.