Peer to Peer

Hundreds of hardy Penn State students have raised more than $10 million for pediatric cancer patients in the annual 46-hour dance marathon known as THON. The $10,151,663.93 total was announced Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, billed as the world's largest student-run philanthropy. Money raised benefits pediatric cancer…

Recently, we met with a major health care nonprofit that was reviewing its fundraising portfolio. Their peer-to-peer campaign had become an unholy mix of walks and runs, often holding runs and walks on the same day, mixing constituents who showed great affinity to their cause with others who showed great affinity to running 5K races...

I recently did a webinar for a major nonprofit preparing to roll out next year’s walk campaign to its local chapters. There were about 200 chapter directors on the call. In the last year, the nonprofit has gone away from providing incentives of consumer products and has opted for more modest gifts with its brand to recognize fundraisers and donors, per our recommendation...

Around the first of each month, I go through my bank’s drive-through and get some cash in $5 and $10 bills. I keep the money in the console of my car to give away to people on street corners asking for assistance when I’m driving around...

The Charleston Animal Society’s annual Chili Cook-Off and Oyster Roast surpassed its initial predictions by a mile … and a half! It resulted in an income of over half a million, which exceeded its estimated $375,000 goal by a whopping 34 percent...

Thanks in large measure to Donald Trump, during the last year there has been a lot of attention focused on charity galas. It got rolling when it was reported that The Arc of Palm Beach County had held its 2016 Cowboy Ball at the President’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where “the posh of Palm Beach, the grandeur of Texas and the thrill of Vegas come together...

By now, pretty much everyone is aware of the massive tax bill that is expected to be voted into law this week by Congress. If you are a hedge fund manager, you are pretty happy right now. If you are a nonprofit CEO or CDO, well… not so much...

Your swag may be hurting your mission. When asked about people wearing a nonprofit’s swag, most fundraising professionals will respond, “The more the better!” But when it comes to the buttons, ribbons, wristbands, t-shirts—all the stuff that people wear with a nonprofit’s brand—more is not always better. Sometimes, more can be, well, less. Here’s why...

Most people think that anything that gets people to focus attention on their nonprofit leads to good things happening. Increased attention = increased revenue. And no matter what your mission is, you can find ways to connect with prospective constituents. Facebook, of course, is the biggest fish in the pond...

We were listening to a presentation at the NonProfit PRO Peer-to-Peer Conference in Washington D.C. last week when the topic of “suggested fundraising” amounts came up. There is a lot of thought given to registration fees (don’t do it!) and minimum fundraising requirements...