Newport ONE

New research gauges American sentiment toward helping others. The 2020 Giving Survey identifies attitudes associated with charitable causes, personal responsibility, giving behavior, and preferred communication channels. It is a roadmap for how to identify and connect with people across the giving spectrum.

FundRaising Success published its first issue in November 2003, which makes this our 10-year anniversary year. To celebrate, we’ll be taking a look back at past issues throughout the year. Following are some words of wisdom culled from the June 2005 issue.

Newport Creative Communications announced that it has welcomed its first full-service client from Canada — Show Kids You Care — a significant first step of its expansion into this nation of generous givers.

Newport Creative Communications announced that Bob Hoagland, a direct-response veteran, has joined the agency and will spearhead additional expansion and growth of its Washington, D.C.-area office.

Hoagland comes to Newport with more than 30 years of agency experience. During this time, Hoagland launched and grew highly successful fundraising programs for March of Dimes Canada, The Jimmy Fund, Feed the Children, Save the Children, International Child Care, American Red Cross Chapters, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, AARP, HSUS, Paralyzed Veterans of America, The Missionary Oblates of Mary, and others.

Competition is stiff — new mail solicitations arrive every day. Through the mailbox or the inbox, organizations must build a connection with their donors right from the start to begin long and fruitful relationships. Here are seven ways to improve your welcome package ... and ultimately improve retention.

The holiday season provides ample opportunity to proposition potential donors and renew supporters' contributions. According to Michael Nilsen, senior director of public affairs for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), approximately half of all charities get between 30 percent and 60 percent of their contributions during the last quarter of the year. Roughly 20 percent of AFP member organizations noted that in December alone, they received 50 percent of their annual contributions noted Nilsen.

Wow! Who ever thought the Gold Awards could be so exciting? The sun was setting on judgement day, and we had a tie for Package of the Year. A first! So, I polled our four judges — Steve Froehlich, director of development analytics at the ASPCA; Tim O’Leary, vice president of McPherson Associates; Paul Bobnak, director of North American Publishing Co.’s Who’s Mailing What! Archive; and FS Senior Editor Abny Santicola. After some soul searching and spirited debate, they weighed in: two for one package and the other two for the other package.

I have a secret. No, not “The Secret” — Oprah’s recent favorite book. This is a secret that I only want to share with smaller nonprofit organizations. So keep it to yourselves; we don’t want the big guys to know we’re on to them. The secret is that nonprofits of all sizes can conduct their fundraising programs in the very same way as the biggest and most successful organizations in the world. To be clear, we’re talking about the way you conduct your program; raising the same amounts of money as the larger organizations is something I can’t promise. But taking cues

Grueling is the word that crossed the lips of the intrepid judges for our 2006 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence as they made their way out of our offices one hot afternoon in August.

Not that we’re particularly demanding taskmasters, but the competition was, indeed, fierce. Much to our glee, it grew from 33 packages in 2005 to nearly 90 this year (sent in by 21 agencies and four nonprofit organizations). Some of the categories remained the same, but we added a few and tweaked a few others.

What has been your organization’s major challenge when it comes to soliciting major gifts? — FS Advisor, March 14