Accountability

Fundraising challenges are part of the package for nonprofit marketers: Attrition, converting small donors into major gift donors, growing the donor base and not to mention factors beyond our control that affect giving trends...

Last month, the NonProfit PRO team attended the 2017 Association of Fundraising Professionals’ International Conference, which took place in the beautiful city of San Francisco. While we walking around the exhibit area, we saw something that caught our eyes—a diversity board! The Alford Group, a professional consulting partner helping board leaders, organizational management and community…

You run a mid-sized nonprofit. Suddenly, a funding source comes through big-time with the technology grant you’ve been waiting for. Time to pop the champagne? Not so fast. Technology funding windfalls can cause disorder and disarray at nonprofit organizations...

I’m a total convert on the topic of monthly donors. I’ve seen its power and how it has kept an organization going after a major disaster. I’ve seen how it generates 50 percent of an organization’s revenue. I’ve seen that even small tweaks to organizations’ communications can make a difference...

So many nonprofit leaders get into this sector because they are good at filling needs. They get so good at doing that they draw other people into their orbit. Because they’ve been good at doing, they just keep “doing” and think this is what nonprofit work is about...

Great fundraising is focused on the long-term—taking that donor from first-time gift… to lifetime. And it’s built around the science of human behavior and what actually works. We see it time and time again: the very practice of donor-centricity leads to community...

Do you think your digital presence is vital? Most of your potential donors, employees, volunteers and people who need what your organization offers will find you through your website. As a specialist in the nonprofit digital marketing field, one of the biggest issues I face with clients is their website...

Direct mail dates back to 1,000 B.C. when an Egyptian landowner advertised a gold reward for the return of one his slaves—all finely scripted on a piece of papyrus. For a marketing strategy that ancient, you would think direct mail’s days might be numbered, right? Think again...

In a previous blog post, I briefly examined what appears to be a growing sentiment in the nonprofit industry that direct mail fundraising is somehow flawed. Fundraisers have been slow to abandon outdated business practices or to evolve quick enough to react to the mounting challenges facing nonprofits today—and yes, there are many that we must overcome...

Letting go… It’s not always easy, is it? Anyone who has had to take their child to college or end a relationship knows saying goodbye is never easy. It’s also not easy for you as a major gift officer (MGO) when a donor, who you have been stewarding and cultivating over time, no longer meets the criteria as a major donor...