Fundraiser Education

I hear this all the time. “Where do we find rich people to give to us?” Ugh. No. No. No. No. If you’re looking for rich people, that tells me you care more about the money than the donor, and, my friend, that is backward! If you want to be wildly successful at fundraising and…

It’s been nine years since Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod first published "Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits." You may remember this groundbreaking book was the result of four years of research, studying thousands of high-impact nonprofit organizations with the goal of unpacking their successes...

Silos are death. The more we learn about what works in fundraising today, the more we’re encouraged to focus on the donor’s journey or experience. Customer service—something that has always been important—is suddenly getting more notice. That’s a really good thing. One thing guaranteed to hurt customer service is when internal staff and systems aren’t…

Recently I asked one of those bright young minds in our production department to write a blog. Really, I was looking to get a little sympathy for that unforgiving weekly deadline, hoping I’d get a whiny, “But that’s really hard.” Color me wrong. Kate Bullard, who identifies as the love child of Zooey Deschanel and Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory," helped me to understand the connection between biology and fundraising...

If you are a nonprofit board member, does this sound familiar? Your organization needs more financial resources. And, you are not sure which path to take. Should you: Help launch another fundraising event? Invite your friends over for coffee and ask them for support? Organize a campaign for major gifts? It can be confusing to…

Red flags often are used as a sign of warning or danger. Unfortunately, most red flags are not literal, but figurative, and often are missed by the people who need them most. Once you know the red flags of major gift fundraising, they might be easier to identify and tackle. Here are the top red…

What are the nonprofit fundraising and communications books you turn to, time and time again? What are those books that may have brought about a shift in thinking or a new way of doing your work? These are the books that line my bookcase. What’s your favorite? And which books are missing from my shelf?...

I’m seeing a trend in what I call “fact-sharing,” instead of sharing a story. To illustrate what I mean, I’ve got a some short audio clips to share with you. Listen and hear the difference between sharing facts and sharing words that cause people to feel something. Anything. What you cause others to feel isn’t…

When we reach out to our investors—our donors—our efforts are to move donors to make a gift to our cause. If not right away, then eventually. Our public relations efforts, media placements, events, even one-on-one cultivation is focused on getting the gift. Fundraisers are evaluated on their abilities to get the gift. That’s all that…

At the Bridge Conference last week, I had the opportunity to attend several breakout sessions. Like any conference, there were hits and misses, but I learned a few things, was reminded of many things and had some other things I was convinced of confirmed. So, all in all, it was a good investment of time and money...