Annual Campaigns

I’m not a particular fan of Giving Tuesday. In my experience as a staffer, I found it a time-suck. Worse, if your organization doesn't have a strong community profile (a “best-kept secret”), it’s time spent building recognition for Giving Tuesday, not for your organization. And of course, it doesn’t always raise much money, either. Tom…

The end of the year will be here before you know it! Are you working on your year-end appeal? Crafting fundraising appeals and end-of-year campaigns is not rocket science, but you do have to adhere to certain guidelines if you want to achieve blastoff. So, here come some guidelines!...

Do you have a plan in place to meet your year-end fundraising goals? Just imagine: The average nonprofit raises more than 40 percent of its annual revenue during the last quarter of the calendar year. Start getting ready for year-end fundraising with the following tips you can start implementing now...

Yes, your board members can boost year-end fundraising way over your goal this fall. How? There are easy jobs they can do and roles they can play to help meet and even exceed your fundraising goal this year. The things that board members do can make all the difference to your fundraising—and to your donors.…

The other day my daughter and I were walking down an aisle in a department store, and she noticed a huge Halloween products display. "Oh come on!" she said. Too soon. I agreed, and we had a laugh about how I forbid holiday music until after Thanksgiving. Ah, the apple doesn’t fall far from the…

Year-end annual fundraising is when the rubber meets the road. This is the time for creative fundraising campaigns! There’s tons of money at stake this fall. It’s the generous time of year, when donors think about giving. Donors give more, especially in December and the last days of the year...

OK, why am I talking about year-end? It’s August! Well, because that’s how our weird world of fundraising works—at least for direct response. I started presenting holiday campaign ideas to my clients back in July. Literally Christmas in July. That’s what makes the world of direct response marketing agencies extra weird. Because of the lead…

I can remember the day just like it was yesterday—that dreaded moment when my director of development approached me and said: “We need you to get an appeal out. And it should have gone out last week.” To provide context, I was a mere two weeks into my job and had been pulled off task so frequently that I still had no idea what this particular organization had done in terms of past grants...

Are you thinking about participating in a giving day? Good news! There are so many organizations that have given it a try, and you can learn from them (the good and the bad). Look at their websites, donation landing pages, countdown clocks, emails, social media accounts, images and hashtags. Do a Google News search to…

The annual fund campaign is a cornerstone of most nonprofit fundraising strategies. Annual fund campaigns refer to a set of strategies that nonprofits implement to raise the funds needed to cover their operational expenses. Generally, they’re made up of three main components: outreach, fundraising events and direct asks. The unifying thread of these components is…