Fundraiser Education

Do you feel like you’ve been on the receiving end of the same marketing advice for years? Or that the outdated hodgepodge of marketing tactics promoted by fundraising blogs, websites and experts often isn’t relevant to your fundraising strategy–and might actually be killing your fundraising results? Here's one I hear pretty often: "If you show…

I consider these three words the holy trinity of fundraising success. They are simple. They are easy to remember. They really work. Plus, if you wrap them up with some emotional color, you’ve got an offer that can’t be refused. Let’s take a look...

Have you ever attended a conference or a course, but then failed to act on what you’d learned? Hey, it happens to the best of us. So, what’s a quick and easy shift you can you make today to ensure that you follow through on implementing those tactics you know will make your organization stronger (and keep your donors giving)?...

As the year comes to an end, we have the opportunity to reflect on our lives, give thanks and plan for the coming year. We reflect on family, our relationships with friends and community, and often our work life. With this column we offer 10 questions you can use to reflect on your role as…

During the holiday season, our mailboxes are overflowing with catalogs, holiday cards—and requests for donations. At this time of year, when people are feeling most generous, nonprofits work hard to raise needed funds. Although important to nonprofit budgets, most year-end giving is transactional rather than transformational. Donors give once—often devoid of strategy—and nonprofits receive a…

Can philanthropy be taught in a classroom? And would philanthropic donors armed with MBAs in impact and effectiveness actually be a good thing for the voluntary sector? Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett thinks so. He’s spent the last three years setting up the London School of Economics' (LSE) new Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship. Having…

You could argue that a nonprofit needs money, talent, publicity, gifts in kind, etc. But why does it need these things? To get its mission done. And that’s a point that most people on the inside of the nonprofit forget, that the whole effort is about the cause, not the organization. This topic is one that every major gift officer and every manager related to major gifts must get straight in order for major gifts to be successful. Here are the major areas where this goes wrong...

On behalf of everyone at NonProfit PRO, I'd like to wish our readers a happy Thanksgiving and (hopefully) long holiday weekend! Our offices will be closed Thursday, Nov. 26 and Friday, Nov. 27, and we will not be deploying our NonProfit PRO Today newsletter. We will resume full operations on Monday, Nov. 30...

You’ve got a little more than a month left before the bells toll announcing the end of 2015. For most fundraisers, that’s a time for balancing efforts—to end the year strong in terms of income, to use up accrued vacation, to be cheerful at the company party and to keep up on work so 2016 fundraising doesn’t fizzle before Valentine’s Day. Here are five ways to stay focused on what matters in these final days of 2015 while still having time for holiday cheer...

Scaling a charity is statistically harder than it is to grow a business. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations registered in the U.S., including public charities, private foundations and other types of nonprofit organizations, including chambers of commerce, fraternal organizations and civic leagues. Despite their…