Fundraiser Education

Michelle, one of the regular readers of Today in Fundraising, recently asked me some questions that have been great thought-provokers for me.

Fundraisers and campaigns from around the world are honored in the Global Awards for Fundraising.

The International Fundraising Congress team greets attendees at the airport and gears up for a rousing day of master classes.

Fundraising as a single word doesn’t reflect our role in sharing, translating, bridging, motivating and facilitating giving in all its manifestations. We need to be careful about this word in the future; it will always be at the heart of my thinking and activities, but it needs a much wider frame of names and words to help other people truly understand what we do.

Here are some simple steps to ensure your fundraising has more treats than tricks.

What would happen if you called a fundraising campaign and nobody showed up? It could happen.

Whatever your career level, I encourage you to promote the profession through involvement within the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Whatever your program, whatever your plans, build in benchmarks, checklists and deadlines. Build in systems to check and double-check that you are on target, on task and on deadline.

A passion for a cause makes the nonprofit sector special and unique. Try never to lose it, and if you do, there is always the business or government sector for you!            

In October 2006, I attended my first International Fundraising Congress, hosted each year in the Netherlands by The Resource Alliance. I'm not even a fundraiser, and the experience changed me.