Fundraiser Education

I’ve just reviewed results from three middle/major donor integrated direct response fundraising campaigns that my teams managed for various social service organizations over the last year. The numbers are astonishing! We’ll get to those in a second. First, I want to share some of the negative myths we’ve dealt with around these campaigns, and why…

When I worked at the Canadian Cancer Society as a corporate fundraiser, I had a sign on my desk that read: “You are here to: No. 1, end cancer, or No. 2, raise money so we can end cancer.” It guided everything I did. Could I work with a corporate partner who wanted help changing…

If football coaches do not recruit well, their teams will not have winning seasons. In the nonprofit world, a losing fiscal year could mean a reduction in programs, services and staff. If you have too many losing fiscal years, you could end up looking for another position at another nonprofit...

Growing up, we didn’t talk about fundraising at our dinner table, but looking back, I have learned that my parents prepared me for my career by teaching me important lessons. I recently jotted down a few of these lessons to share with you in this and the next few posts...

Understanding our audience members and their motivations is important to successfully recruiting them to support our causes. Born in 1980 or later, Millennials are the first generation of digital natives; at about the time they entered high school, the internet became a public space. Half of this group, age 26 and younger, entered high school with social media, first Myspace and then Facebook...

Another year, another International Fundraising Congress. Another round of presentations ranging from the transformative (none more so than this masterclass, "Reinventing the Donor Experience" by Kevin Schulman and Adrian Sargeant) to the tawdry (tempting but unfair to name, but, like any conference, always plenty of choices). And of course another jaunty slogan. So what is…

Why would the answer to, “Does it matter why people give?” ever be "no"? Because from a nonprofit professional’s perspective, it is not our job to judge people’s motivations for giving. It is our job to be the vehicle that enables a donor’s or volunteer’s gift of time or money to support the important work of our organization...

I've coached dozens of clients, helping them draft their cases for support. Quite frankly, it's always frustrating. Everyone finds it challenging to articulate clearly and in compelling terms what their campaigns will raise money for and why it matters...

Cultural organizations desperately need to get better at reaching Millennials in order to thrive in the future. But in order to have these conversations, we need to clear up some craziness. The aim of this week’s "Fast Facts" video is to set the record straight: Talking about the need to reach Millennials is responsible and…

I got a press release the other day. (Don't get me started on the blustery folly of emailing press releases to bloggers without knowing what they actually blog about!) It was from a flack who thought I'd be interested to know that a certain retail brand was doing some cause marketing for Children's Miracle Network.…