Fundraiser Education

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.

Instead of fitting donors to your programs, focus upon creating a seamless path for donors to grow in your organization. Identify and reinforce those donor values that support your efforts. Help your investors to give as it is appropriate for them. Encourage them to invest as it fits their particular situations in life — whether that's general cash giving, higher cash giving, gifts of assets ("major gifts"), planned gifts (simply "major gifts" that have an additional external donor motive along with a deferred payment schedule) or even through a capital campaign.

To give it your best you must be on top of your game and give 100 percent. Our jobs are not easy, and we need to understand that a balance is required for success. If you do not know what the problem is, you will not have a solution for it. Think about what you need to do each day and how you can increase the quality of productivity over time. In reality, it is only a grind if you let it be a grind. Adjust your attitude, and you will look at each day in a positive way!

Here's your chance to chime in and help us paint a picture of trends and best practices across all aspects of the nonprofit world in the new year.

In this video, join Rich Dietz, senior product manager for digital fundraising at Abila, as he discusses the key nonprofit fundraising trends to watch in 2015.

But that's still not enough. You also have to be ready, willing and able to follow through in a timely manner.

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2015 (in a couple days). I was in the dental chair the other day, and between drill sounds, I thought of 15 ideas to share with you as you enter January.

Gifts in whatever form enable your charity to be a center link between your donor and recipient of good will. Never take your charity for granted, and always make your organization's existence meaningful.

As you look at your fundraising program, and priorities, always keep a focus on what you can do with excellence versus what has to get done — and when. Don't be afraid to make tough calls — it may even have you thinking of new and better ways to accomplish your goals.

But — wow! — it's the greatest job in the world, isn't it?