Trade Associations/Trade Shows

The deadline for FundRaising Success’ fourth annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence is fast approaching! Cut-off for entries has been extended to July 21. You can find the entry form here. The categories will be pretty much the same as last year, with some minor changes. Categories are: * Direct Mail: Acquisition (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Acquisition (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Special Appeal * Package of the Year: The highest overall points-getter from among the other direct-mail winners * Grand Control of the

The deadline for FundRaising Success’ fourth annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence is fast approaching! Cut-off for entries has been extended to July 21. You can find the entry form here. The categories will be pretty much the same as last year, with some minor changes. Categories are: * Direct Mail: Acquisition (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Acquisition (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Special Appeal * Package of the Year: The highest overall points-getter from among the other direct-mail winners * Grand Control of the

The deadline for FundRaising Success’ fourth annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence is fast approaching! Cut-off for entries is July 11. You can find the entry form here. The categories will be pretty much the same as last year, with some minor changes. Categories are: * Direct Mail: Acquisition (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Acquisition (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Special Appeal * Package of the Year: The highest overall points-getter from among the other direct-mail winners * Grand Control of the Year: Chosen from

The deadline for FundRaising Success’ fourth annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence is fast approaching! Cut-off for entries is July 11. You can find the entry form here. The categories will be pretty much the same as last year, with some minor changes. Categories are: * Direct Mail: Acquisition (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Acquisition (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (50,000 or more mailed) * Direct Mail: Renewal (Fewer than 50,000 mailed) * Special Appeal * Package of the Year: The highest overall points-getter from among the other direct-mail winners * Grand Control of the Year: Chosen from

Sometimes the best ideas and feedback come from colleagues in the nonprofit world. That’s why Dane Grams, online strategy director for the Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political organization, reached out to attendees of the DMA Nonprofit Federation 2008 Nonprofit Leadership Summit even before they arrived in Palm Beach, Fla., last week for the conference. Preparing for the session, “Leading Our Leaders: How Do I Get Buy-In from the Top for My Great Ideas, Innovation Strategies and Fearless Fundraising Efforts?” Grams and his colleague Ann Crowley, membership director at HRC, conducted a pre-conference survey to find out

Nonprofit professionals say charity watchdog groups like Charity Navigator, which aim to ensure nonprofits are financially responsible, don’t give donors a clear picture of an organization’s effectiveness. Watchdog groups look at an organization’s tax records (the 990 form) and little else in determining its rating, said John Melia, founder and executive director of the Wounded Warrior Project, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based organization that provides programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life. Melia and other nonprofit professionals discussed issues surrounding charity watchdog groups and their rating systems at the session “The Costs of

Behaving like a business can have some real benefits for nonprofit organizations. So said Kurt Aschermann, president and COO of Boston-based fundraising consultancy Charity Partners, speaking in the session “The Business of Fundraising: How Does the Influx of Corporate People and Business Models Help or Hurt Nonprofit Fundraising” at the DMA Nonprofit Federation’s 2008 Nonprofit Leadership Summit last week in Palm Beach. It would be foolish for nonprofits not to begin exploring some of the practices instituted by their corporate partners, he warned. Aschermann, who previously served as senior vice president and chief marketing and development officer for the Boys & Girls

How do you end a fundraising conference on a note that will keep people around for the final session? Not an easy task, but one the DMA Nonprofit Federation seems to have accomplished. The last session of the 2008 Washington Nonprofit Conference, which took place in Washington, D.C., last week, was fairly well attended. It helped that there were prizes to be had, but the big draw was the promise of a session that wrapped up all the key points of the previous two days worth of sessions. In all, five panelists were on board for the rehash. Dana Weinstein, director of membership at

Attending conferences is a great way for nonprofit professionals to learn, expand their network and stay up to date on issues facing the sector. Conferences also are a great opportunity for personal enrichment. There are many different reasons for attending conferences. Some attend as participants, while others attend as keynote speakers or seminar leaders. Whatever your reasons for going to a conference, you can take steps to make your experience both a positive and rewarding one. For Attendees: Before the conference Choose carefully. The first step to a successful conference is choosing the right one to attend. Most conferences aren’t cheap, so it’s important

[Jon Duschinsky is the director of Ressources non profit, a fundraising consultancy based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. At the 27th International Fundraising Congress, which took place in the Netherlands last week, he presented a session titled Funky Fundraising Failures, in which fundraisers from around the world talked about their professional non-successes. Here, he shares the top three lessons learned from that session.] 1. Check, then check again. The most common mistakes are the ones we miss through simple lack of checking. At the Funky Fundraising Failures session, fundraisers from around the world shared stories about how a small error, a moment of inattention, had caused