Fundraiser Education

Pop quiz: Who should receive a "thank you"? A recurring donor who gives $15 a month A major donor who gives a $10,000 gift A first-time donor who gives a $50 gift A regular donor who gives a gift to a special campaign like #GivingTuesday A new donor acquired through a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign All…

Advances in technology and the emergence of social media tools make it more possible than ever for social movements and causes to quickly spread far and wide (to go "viral" in the parlance of the moment). But how do you take a cause and transform it from an idea into something with universal appeal? In…

Do you ever feel stuck in cultivation? Like you’re simply not sure it’s the right time to ask? How can you know when the donor is ready? Figuring out when it’s the right time to ask can be one of the most difficult challenges for fundraisers to overcome. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to coach…

“My name is Pamela Barden, and I am a Baby Boomer.” There. I admitted it publicly. I am one of the 75.4 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964. I used to be part of the largest generation in the United States, but, in 2015, we let our guards down, and those pesky Millennials surpassed us, according to the U.S. Census Bureau....

Larry Johnson, CFRE, founder of The Eight Principles, and Mark Feinberg, president of NonProfitEasy, which offers the Fundly suite of technology for nonprofits, have announced their partnership to enhance Fundly’s end-to-end nonprofit and fundraising management tools with straightforward fundraiser training. As Fundly’s new oracle, Johnson will offer insight into creating sustainable growth and nurturing the…

On Jan. 13, Association of Fundraising Professionals, New York City Chapter (AFP-NYC) held its fourth annual State of the Industry meeting at CURRENT at Chelsea Piers in New York. It was a remarkably productive event, accomplished in an impressively short amount of time. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are a few highlights...

A few years back, I was facilitating a board retreat, where it quickly became clear to me that the majority of the board members were unwilling to participate in fundraising or even open to the idea of fundraising. The First Question Is Key In all my years of working with boards, I had never encountered…

Imagine hosting an event where you don’t sell tickets or ask for donations—instead you simply give your top-tier prospects a night to remember. It’s an exclusive gathering, it sparks interest and, if done right, it’s a great way to revive your donor list. This type of donor-appreciation event is known as a cultivation event, an…

Planned giving needs to be intentional. According to Giving USA, 8 percent of contributions in 2014 were in the form of bequests. That means nonprofit organizations received $10.75 billion as a result of people making gifts through their estates. We love the news reports of the organization that receives millions of dollars from someone it has never before heard of. But every day, unreported by any news agency in America, are the people who set aside a portion of their estates for charities they are supporting, have supported, have some affiliation with, or have benefitted from at some time.

With the new year, fundraisers are off and running. Feverish activity working to reach high goals is the order of the day. Almost daily, another shortcut to success drops into our mailbox. The question is, do we go for it?...