Creative

For the first time on record, the nonprofit that received the most in donations in the country is not what you typically think of as a nonprofit—and that has some in the nonprofit sector worried that the new model is upending traditional philanthropy. Giving accounts allow donors to get an immediate tax benefit when they…

A direct mail appeal spreads the word to Catholics about their brethren in need.

A direct-mail appeal spreads the word to Catholics about their brethren in need. Mailer Name: Catholic Extension Date Mailed: January 2015 to August 2016 Catholic Extension, also known as Catholic Church Extension Society, was founded in 1905 in Chicago. It raises money to support and strengthen poor Catholic mission dioceses across the U.S. Much of that […]

Art serves many purposes, as this direct mail membership campaign shows.

Art serves many purposes, as this direct-mail membership campaign shows. Mailer Name: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Date Mailed: March 2015 through June 2016 The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, dedicated in 1993, is the country’s official memorial to the Holocaust. This direct-mail package is one of several controls that has been used to drive membership over the […]

The first time I attended an Association of Fundraising Professionals meeting, I searched for the peer-to-peer fundraising sessions. There weren’t any. Each year I would go look, and there were never any sessions. Recently, a few are showing up, but they typically only involve peer-to-peer fundraising peripherally...

Experts say not to fret. Run/walk/ride events aren’t going away. They’re just evolving. And there are more of them, with newer events—built on refined P2P concepts and years of research and data—popping up often. Two events for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund illustrate this phenomenon. The organization hosts both a walk event and a ride event. One is the Time to Fly walk, an annual run/walk in Minneapolis founded 14 years ago. The other event is the Great Cycle Challenge, a virtual, month-long biking event that took place for the second time this past June.

We all know the Amazon Dash button to be a one-step ticket to replenishing household supplies—laundry detergent, dish soap, paper towels—and your day-to-day necessities—Doritos, GoldFish, Pop-Tarts—for those of us who prefer convenience over human interaction. But did you know you could use the Dash button to support the American Civil Liberties Union and really “stick it to the man”?...

Persuasive copywriting is just one skill in the fundraiser’s toolbox, but I’d argue that it’s critically important. After all, everything from your newsletters, to your fundraising appeals, to your grant proposals, to your online campaign, to your website, stems from the written word. It’s a skill-set that you should be honing on a regular basis. How? Here are a handful of my most-relied upon resources...

Deciding on your big picture goals and creating at least some loose project plans can give you structure for the year. But how can you plan for storytelling? That’s what I want to talk about in today’s blog. These tips will help you with editorial and content planning and more. Think about your themes. While…