American Diabetes Association

Join FundRaising Success in Washington, D.C., next week for our inaugural peer-to-peer conference, Engage P2P: Redefining Peer to Peer.

Fundraisers know how big a role mobile plays in peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, which makes responsive design a must for your event website.

If your organization does P2P fundraising — or if you wish it would — I hope you'll join us in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 21.

Fundraisers, on the whole, are dedicated, passionate and tireless advocates of the causes they champion and of the greater good. The overwhelming majority are meticulously ethical and completely undeserving of the shadow that hangs darkly over their profession.

FundRaising Success takes a look back at the 2010 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards Lifetime Achievement winner, Lynn Edmonds, president of LW Robbins.

For the 2011 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards, FundRaising Success honored six fundraisers as Fundraising Stars for their tremendous fundraising accomplishments in 2010.

To measure the effectiveness of a brand based on a single channel or a single campaign strategy is a terrible mistake. And, honestly, I'd like to see the media report on what matters — not just something that has a shock factor.

Don't let anyone fool you, looks count. First impressions go a long way. In the past week I've been thinking a great deal about the first and last impressions we have on our constituents. For those of us at colleges and universities, it begins when our future alumni are students. For others, it begins when our constituents receive our communications. I saved all of my direct mail from nonprofits for the last week, and I'd love to share some thoughts on the first impressions they gave.

For many nonprofits, e-mail is the bridge that Facebook fans frequently walk across on their way to becoming a donor, simply because it’s more private and less distracting than Facebook. This is why it’s critical to have a smart e-mail marketing strategy, in addition to a smart Facebook strategy. No one ever joined an e-mail list just to join an e-mail list. It would be great if this were so, but it’s not.

The Nonprofit Federation of the Direct Marketing Association (DMANF) is pleased to announce the selection of Lynn Edmonds, president of LW Robbins, as its 2013 Max L. Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award recipient. The Max L. Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award, presented annually at the Washington Nonprofit Conference, recognizes career accomplishments by an exceptional fundraising professional with a track record of service, leadership, innovation and integrity.