Accountability

There may be as many ways to segment and customize your file as there are ways to leave your lover, but the evidence mounts that the level of commitment a donor has for your organization may be the most important...

With the exception of a nonprofit board’s infancy or juvenile stage of governance, it is my opinion that for all practical purposes, sitting on a nonprofit board is more glory than guts, requiring the minimum of wear and tear...

It is always amazing to me how smart, responsible adults can kill or at least smother a very good thing. I’m talking about the case at a southern university, which has 15 colleges and one major gift officer assigned to each college...

I was speaking recently with Dave Goetz of CZ Strategy, and our conversation turned to challenges facing nonprofit organizations. When he asked what I thought was the biggest challenge fundraisers had to deal with, I didn’t answer with the usual suspects...

The words you use on your donation page are powerful. And there’s a danger in assuming your donor understands why they should give to you just because they land on your donation page. By adding copy to your page, you can articulate those reasons clearly and increase your donations...

I (Katrina) have had several 10,000-hour thresholds in my career. I started my company, Turnkey, in 1989, so my first 10,000 hours happened around 2007 or so. By that time, while certainly not having achieved genius-level competence...

We are huge proponents of video—carefully planned video with a clear objective. In most campaigns that are focused on major gifts, we are not big fans of a fundraising video, unless there is a reason that prospective donors can’t see impact of the client’s work firsthand...

In the nonprofit sector, we wear a lot of hats. We all do it anyway because we care about the mission. We are a passionate bunch. But let’s face it, despite our passion, we all need to get a lot accomplished with a limited budget and limited time to do so. We also need to recognize that cross-team collaboration is vital to fulfilling the mission. Enter growth hacking for nonprofits...

To achieve victory, a capital campaign must be won on paper before launched on the streets. Hiring fundraising counsel to conduct a campaign feasibility study is a proven and prudent way to ensure campaign success...

I’ve been engaging donors to support important mission work, special projects and big galas for a few years now, and I have noticed the use of the word “philanthropy” instead of “fundraising.” It is not a bad approach, but it has the potential to shift many attitudes for varied reasons...