Fundraiser Education

During a recent orientation session with two new major gift officers, one individual asked me to define the term “case for support.” He was very eager to learn what I thought about the concept. It is an essential part of the fundraising process, and I'm not the only one in the profession that feels this way...

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...

In a mailbox that’s a little less crowded than just a few years ago, there’s still a daunting task at hand for fundraisers: how to stand out to the prospective member or donor. Even with a full box of exciting tools at your disposal, the good ol’ envelope is still just an envelope, right?...

As Garth Stein's "The Art of Racing in the Rain" opens, Enzo, the canine narrator, tells a story that will make you laugh, make you cry and make you laugh again. And we’re left with no doubt that Enzo would be as remarkable a human as he was a dog. And that he’d be one heck of a good fundraiser...

When it comes to marketing decisions, it’s not just about the immediate change. The long-term impact must be assessed as well…

Fundraising is an art and a science. It’s hard work and easy to screw up. Right this minute, you may be planning to make an ask and you may already have set yourself up to fail. For every 10 asks you make, you’ll get, on average, seven noes. And that’s if you are really good…

Alone, needing money to do a new project, without a development director or fundraising systems. No gift history. No fundraising experience. Just a big idea for a music project that promised to do what art does so well: get people thinking differently about an important topic—in this case, war. That describes musician and composer Theresa Wong...

Did you know that for small nonprofits, one out of every $5 is raised online? And about half of individual donor revenue comes from donors giving less than $1,000? In addition, small nonprofits retain about 60 percent of their donors from year to year—that’s astounding! For nonprofits with budgets that are less than $2 million,…

“You'll never know everything about anything, especially something you love,” said renowned chef and cooking instructor Julia Child. You and I love nonprofit work—and especially fundraising. Therefore, we should be lifelong learners and coachable. According to Webster’s, coachable is "capable of being easily taught and trained to do something better."...

Since January, I’ve been traveling around the United States talking to audiences about my new book, "The Almanac of American Philanthropy," and how private giving affects our nation. During these sessions I’ve collected 12 broad criticisms of charitable action that people sometimes raise. From the lessons of my almanac research, I offer responses below. 1.…