Individual Giving

As Black Friday approached, I became very aware that our peak giving season is now here. For my organization, during the last four months of the year, we receive more than 60 percent of our donation revenue. I stopped for a moment the other day during lunch and wondered why giving at the end of the calendar year is so important...

The average American household is giving far less to charity than it did a decade ago. Over the past 10 years, charitable-giving deductions from lower-income donors have declined significantly, at almost the same rate that charitable giving from higher-income donors increased. Itemized charitable deductions from donors making less than $100,000 a year declined by 34…

I talk a lot about ways to raise money and not have to ask for the gift. But, please, don’t get me wrong—there are times it’s important to make the ask. Asking for the gift is part or all of your work if you have the position of executive director; development director; major gifts, planned…

Are you wondering how your fundraising program is really doing? How you compare to your peers? Where you could be raising even more money? Each year, the Individual Donor Benchmark Report examines individual donor fundraising data from small and mighty organizations—those with budgets less than $2 million. There’s no other source of this kind of…

Did you know that for small nonprofits, one out of every $5 is raised online? And about half of individual donor revenue comes from donors giving less than $1,000? In addition, small nonprofits retain about 60 percent of their donors from year to year—that’s astounding! For nonprofits with budgets that are less than $2 million,…

There are 142 days left in 2016. That sounds like a lot, and it is if you start thinking about year-end direct response fundraising now. But if you wait, there’s a good chance you will leave money on the table because of missed opportunities and no time to give it your best effort. For those of you who want to enjoy the holidays knowing that you’ve done all you can to maximize the income your nonprofit will receive, here are some things to work into your planning...

When you work at a small nonprofit or a nonprofit with a very small development staff, life feels very rushed all the time. Who posts on social media? You do. Who updates the website? You do. Who writes the appeals? You do. And maybe you don’t even have a development staff—it’s just you, the executive…

Charitable giving may be up nationally, according to new data released last week, but it's a different story in Southern California. The ground is shaking beneath 35,000-plus charities based in Los Angeles County, and it’s not because of the San Andreas Fault this time. Angelenos are giving $1 billion less per year—almost all of it…

Charitable giving topped $373 billion in 2015, a 4 percent increase over 2014, according to "Giving USA 2016," the annual report published by Giving USA Foundation and produced by Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The giving totals are the highest ever recorded for a single year. Don't have time to dig into the full report? No worries. We've compiled some of the highlights...

Three in every $4 are donated by individuals, according to Giving USA 2015: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2014. Given this statistic, it’s imperative that, as fundraisers, we master the principles of people-based marketing. The principles are based on the evolution of a single idea: By understanding the unique characteristics of a donor, we can build highly customized experiences that will drive increased giving, improved retention and enhanced donor satisfaction...