Personalization

After being left in the lurch for some time, email marketing again came revitalized in 2016. With an array of new approaches in email design and automation, it is likely to be a great year that is full of promises for email marketing....

Donors are the lifeblood of every nonprofit, but retaining them long-term is an ongoing challenge. Recently, nonprofits have had success improving donor retention through recurring-donation programs. The benefits of recurring-donation programs Recurring-donation programs are a win-win for both nonprofits and donors. For nonprofits, they are an easy and effective way to retain donors and increase…

When it comes to our communications, we all have good intentions, don’t we? And then that thing intervenes. You know, life. You know you aren't communicating with your donors often enough, and you’re probably right. You aren’t using direct mail to its full potential. Identifying your problem is the first step. Figuring out how to solve it, though, ultimately will be an ongoing endeavor. You need to start now...

Cathy is the executive director of a small, worthy nonprofit focused on the elderly. In the midst of her planning for 2016, she reached out to me with a familiar concern. How do I persuade prospective donors to actually invest in my organization? In fundraising lingo, “How do I convert more prospects into donors?”...

Any of you who have read my blog posts over the last four years are well aware of my focus on one of the most important concepts in fundraising success: donor retention. Because of that focus, the research on the subject spans every nook and cranny possible for fresh insights and techniques. Needless to say,…

You know that you should have a solid communications calendar in place, one that combines touches with direct asks throughout the year. But if your organization relies on its year-end direct-mail appeals to raise the majority of its funding, here are seven tips to get you headed in the right direction...

University at Albany advancement administrators conduct one-on-one meetings with young alumni, individually connecting with potential donors to convince them to give back to the institution. The goal, assistant director of young alumni programs Brian Rudolph said, is to instill giving habits in the recent graduates. Though the tactic is expensive, it is effective, he said. Philanthropy…

In 2016, marketing and communications professionals will stop targeting millennials as one demographic and focus on reaching the younger consumers based on their passions, according to a study released this week by Hotwire PR. The agency's seventh annual "Communications Trends Report," which was based on crowd-sourced data from 400 communicators across 22 countries, revealed that…

Fifteen years ago, public school teacher Charles Best started DonorsChoose.org out of his classroom in Bronx, N.Y. He set out with a simple idea: Invite teachers to request supplies they need and allow citizen-donors to make direct connections with specific classrooms. The mission of DonorsChoose.org isn't unique. On the contrary, there are many organizations that…

Learn how to target and engage donors in this webinar offering expert advice on boosting fundraising appeals and increasing donations.