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At the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Philadelphia Chapter's National Philanthropy Day Awards luncheon, three fundraising pros discussed making the dreams of donors and volunteers come true.

Recent tweets on fundraising (#fundraising).

As you create your New Year's resolution for 2014, ask yourself if you are certified. If you are not — isn't it time to improve your career?

Following is some information you need to know when considering using an outside resource for fundraising assistance, fundraising service providers. (And, no, this isn’t an argument that one method is better than another.)

Whatever your career level, I encourage you to promote the profession through involvement within the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

During the last few years, the case for knowing and improving every fundraising organization’s donor-retention percentages has nearly reached a fever pitch. One of the first methods to improving donor retention may sound obvious, but it is so often taken for granted: proper gift acknowledgment. In many ways, the thank-you letter is a “springboard” to improving donor retention. Is there any better opportunity to solidify a relationship than in the process of thanking a donor for his or her gift?

For the first time in five years, charity respondents to the annual Fundraising Effectiveness Project survey saw positive gains in giving, but still continued to lose donors faster than they gained them.

In my recent webinar with 4GOOD/Nonprofit Webinars about How Creative Thank-Yous and an Attitude of Gratitude Can Supercharge Your Fundraising, it became apparent there’s one question many of you struggle with: How on earth do you develop a system that assures thank-yous really get out in 48 hours? Heres' the biggest secret: 1. You’ve got to get everyone in your organization to buy in to the 48-hour rule. This is perhaps the most important thing you can do to sustain donor relationships.

People respond to professionals who are energized by their work. Let's show our passion as fundraising professionals to help transform our profession and the world.

As the donor public has been focused on nonprofit overhead in recent months, it seems that nonprofits have in turn been focusing on their costs to raise money. That's perfectly logical and wise, but this has generated a lot of questions and misunderstandings about what and how consultants or agencies charge.