Time Inc.

Hard to believe, but the deadline for FundRaising Success’ fourth annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence already is fast approaching! Cut-off for entries is July 11. The entry form isn’t available quite yet — look for info on that here next week and in the May issue of the magazine — but in the meantime, here are some details to get you thinking about your submissions. 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

If you haven’t given some thought to registering for the DMA Nonprofit Federation’s Leadership Summit taking place in Palm Beach, Fla., in June … now’s the time. This year, the senior-level conference’s theme is “Tackling the Tough Questions” and, like always, it features just a small number of sessions to allow attendees to really dig into the tough issues facing the nonprofit industry today, including how the influx of corporate business models can help and/or hurt nonprofit fundraising; getting buy-in from the top for innovative and perhaps risky campaigns; grooming the next generation of fundraisers; and the reality of ratings for nonprofit organizations. Every

Hard to believe, but the deadline for FundRaising Success’ fourth annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence already is fast approaching! Cut-off for entries is July 11. The entry form isn’t available quite yet — look for info on that here next week and in the May issue of the magazine — but in the meantime, here are some details to get you thinking about your submissions. 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

Awards2007 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards by Margaret Battistelli, February H **2007 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence by Margaret Battistelli and Abny Santicola, September H **BrandingNet Gain: The Young and the Restless by Nick Allen, February GFundraiser Confidential: The Pursuit of Brand Happiness by Todd Baker, May GTag(line)! You’re It! by Richard Deveau, September…

Few universities are as indebted to their alumni as the University of Notre Dame. Case in point: In 1879, when a fire destroyed its Main Building — which at the time housed virtually the entire university — only 35 years after it was founded, it was alumni from Chicago who rallied to raise funds to rebuild it. Their support not only got the university back on its feet, but it also set it on a path of growth that hasn’t yielded to this day.

In our quest for practical, actionable content for Advisor readers, we come across a lot of really terrific resources. And we usually cull nuggets of information from them to present alongside our staff- and contributor-written stories. But sometimes we like to turn you on to some of these resources as a whole — especially those that seem like unexpected surprises — so you can check them out yourself and get their solid advice first hand. Such is the case with the Web site of Alexandria, Va.-based consultancy Marketing General Inc. (www.marketinggeneral.com). The site’s News & Tips section is a treasure trove of information for

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.

This month, I head to the DMA Nonprofit Federation Leadership Summit in Coral Gables, Fla. I’ve attended the past two years, and each time I’ve been reminded of what invaluable opportunities these conferences can offer — to learn, network and just plain chill with the people whose contact info populates your address books.

As I’ve said before, the Leadership Summit takes chances. It doesn’t look or feel the same as other conferences. It moves. And it makes you think. All hallmarks of what I hope is a new generation of events where the status quo gets a swift kick in the pants.

When I interviewed for my job here four years ago, I came in kind of blindly. I knew the parent company — North American Publishing Co. — produced trade publications, but I didn’t know what sort of magazine, specifically, NAPCO was launching. When I found out it was about fundraising, I was thrilled. And I went on to tell the president of the Target Marketing Group, who was doing the interview, how intimately involved I had been in fundraising for much of my adult life. And I further went on to talk about car washes and bake sales and — oh, boy! — a Krispy

At some point, smaller organizations have to decide whether to stay small or grow. In order to grow, there usually needs to be an increased investment in development.

But how can you tell if that time is now? Here’s a checklist to help you determine if your organization is ready to ramp up its fundraising efforts — either to expand its services or simply to bring in more funding to support existing programs — and what to do if it is.