We watched in horror as Charlottesville, Va., erupted into violence this past week. Otis graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1979. There, he met the Dalai Lama, he met students of diverse backgrounds, he played basketball on a diverse team and he became a Buddhist…
Any major gift officer who has been working for a few years has heard this phrase uttered by one of their donors, “Well, who else is going to fund this project? I don’t want to be the only one to invest in it...
At the recent Bridge Conference, I enjoyed several wonderful sustainer sessions. During one of those, someone asked about the automatic sustainer upgrade process some nonprofits are apparently using. My hair immediately started standing up straight! What happened to being donor-centric?...
Your volunteer has two relationships you need to worry about: one with the organization you represent, and one with the mission of that organization. We’ve all seen a volunteer became disenchanted with an organization, but not with the mission...
It’s no secret that volunteers are one of the most important components to the success of your nonprofit and its ability to achieve goals. If volunteers engage in a positive experience with your nonprofit organization, they can fill multiple opportunities of need and take part in your fundraising campaigns. The truth of the matter is that providing an outstanding experience for your volunteers starts from the first communication you have with them...
Every single sentence in your email appeals is critical to your email fundraising success. We learned this through an experiment we conducted with the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Before their grand opening, the George W. Bush Presidential Center was running an acquisition campaign to recruit founding members...
If you have ever experienced a TED Talk, you know that every single speaker consistently presents a topic in a fascinating and engaging way. A friend of mine recently told me that he had wondered why each presentation was so good. So he researched the subject and discovered that TED Talk organizers actually have specific guidelines for each of their speakers...
I have just returned from teaching a weeklong Salvation Army Continuing Education Program class with my instructor partner, Mike Rowland. Mike is the director of community relations for The Salvation Army Indiana Division...
Donations are the lifeline of nonprofit organizations, so it comes as no surprise that the end of the year can be a lucrative time. As potential donors, fueled by the generous spirit of the holidays, look to offload some cash before the end of the fiscal year, some organizations can see almost half of their annual donations come through during this period...
A cursory search on the Internet for “volunteer handbooks” produces disappointing results. Most examples are no more than a couple of pages stapled together, highlighting dress codes, attendance policies and general volunteering expectations...
