Retention

The ACLU saw a record number of donations come in right after the Trump administration enacted its travel ban. This spawned a discussion on the Nonprofit Happy Hour Facebook page, in which someone wondered if these would be one-time donations. That’s a good question since donor retention rates are declining again. Yikes! This should not…

Passion is defined as compelling enthusiasm. Imagine if your donors simply oozed with excitement about the work you do at your organization (not just for the cause in general). How would they be different from the donors who just melt away, day after day, like the ice cube in the bowl?..

Running a true raffle though is legally quite complicated. Registrations for charitable gaming licenses are cumbersome, time consuming and potentially more costly than the money you could raise. Instead, we operate these types of promotions under sweepstakes laws. But what are the keys to success? How can you use sweepstakes to attract new members and engage your donor base? Here’s what we’ve discovered...

When Congress passed legislation in December 2014 to establish a congressional commission to study the feasibility of and recommend a site for the National Women’s History Museum, there was a catch. The commission and museum would both need to be financed with private money. No Washington, D.C, 
museum had ever been asked to underwrite its own congressional commission...

We work in a world of transition. Each of us has gone through a number of job changes in our nonprofit careers. If we have served in a management role, we have also seen a number of employee transitions. A fact of life in our profession is that employees will come and go. And if not handled properly, these transitions can hurt your organization's donor retention...

We are into the fourth quarter of the year. And that means it's time to reach out to your donors. Hopefully, you have been tracking retention of your top donors all year. There are times in shops large and small that this slips—because of the urgency of tasks that are often less important. Now, it is critical...

You could invest a few minutes each day, or just an hour or two each week to increase your major donor retention, strengthen relationships between you and your professional colleagues, donors, potential donors and volunteer leaders, and help you stand out in the field...

A coaching client just told me a powerful story of following up. For about six months, he followed up with three supporters. Each had made small donations in the past of less then $1,000 each. After about five months of following up, one donor said he'd make a gift "this quarter." By "this quarter," he…

The donor made a $5,000 pledge, payable at $100 a month. She stopped giving, and the organization said nothing! This is an amazing story of ignorance and neglect. Ignorance in that a good fundraiser should know better. Neglect in that this good donor seriously was abused in this relationship...

Last week, I served my mandatory "American privilege," aka jury duty. I know all the arguments for why it’s a wonderful right we have in this country and how it allows us to experience in grassroots democracy in action. But it was a miserable day...