Special Olympics International

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

Marty Coelho was one of the driving forces behind Relay for Life. You probably don't  know him in that context. But if your organization does or is considering doing peer-to-peer fundraising, you probably will want to hear what he has to say.

If you are a nonprofit fundraising leader, join in on the Leadership Summit.

We operate thanks to the public trust. Countless hurting people depend on nonprofits. Countless donors entrust their resources and their dreams to nonprofits. We must never be afraid to do what’s right. As Dr. King pointed out, society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

While nothing can replace the effectiveness of face-to-face interactions when trying to get to know people, now more than ever, data on donors and prospects is easier to gather without ever meeting them. This offers fundraisers opportunities as well as challenges. Shannon Schambeau, manager of donor relationship management for the Special Olympics and co-presenter of a session on using demographic data to acquire and upgrade donors at the Bridge Conference in Washington, D.C. last month, recently spoke with me about the main prospect research challenges she faces at her organization. Schambeau says the issue she’s had in terms of prospect research is having complete

For a mailing so small -- 4 inches by 8.25 inches -- this package does a good job of getting noticed. First off, it’s mailed blind, with no indication of the sender on the plain, white outer envelope. Blind mailings are always intriguing, if you ask me. Whether the recipient ends up being interested in what’s inside or not, the fact is that most people at least want to know who the mail came from. Once inside it’s clear the mailing’s from Special Olympics New Jersey. Included is a 7-inch-by-7.5-inch, double-sided letter on card stock, a reply device, two VIP tickets to the 2006 Summer

When it comes to the question of which list strategies work to build and develop a base of annual giving donors, the obvious answer is to look for more names that are similar to your regular annual donors. Common industry wisdom says to analyze what your best donors are like and then go find more like them.

While that statement certainly is true, the problem with a simplistic approach is that it neglects important discussions of gift size, lifetime value, future giving potential and other key ingredients of a successful annual-giving program.