Strategic Planning

Selling the Experience
June 13, 2017 at 11:25 am

There is a popular advertisement on television that must be working well, as it has been on for some time now. The Volvo ad is striking and memorable. It uses verses from Walt Whitman’s beautiful “Song of the Open Road...

Conflicting Agendas Kill Major Gift Programs
June 12, 2017 at 10:54 am

It is always amazing to me how smart, responsible adults can kill or at least smother a very good thing. I’m talking about the case at a southern university, which has 15 colleges and one major gift officer assigned to each college...

The 5 Donor Love Languages
June 9, 2017 at 12:01 pm

If love is the answer, what was the question? It seems the question on our minds these days is, "How do I raise more money" or "How do I retain my current donors and get them to give more?"...

5 Guidelines for a Simplified Nonprofit Strategic Planning Process
June 8, 2017 at 12:16 pm

Everything I knew and read about strategic planning said that it took a lot of time and money. I struggled every day to figure out how to get everything done with very limited resources. All the books I read and all the classes I attended bombarded me with copious information and theory. How could I narrow it down and make it work for me in my small nonprofit?...

Keep the Singing Out of Direct Mail
June 8, 2017 at 12:04 pm

There are a lot of disaster stories out there; some are just plain sad, and some didn’t even make the mailstream. One such sad story began with the creative, and the clients decided that they wanted to have a singing microchip sing a popular song about their product...

Report: 2017 Nonprofit Communication Trends
June 7, 2017 at 10:32 am

It is of utmost importance to implement effective communication in a nonprofit organization. Why? Because effective communication leads to higher team performance, which ultimately leads to more proficiency within the organization...

More Copy Could Equal More Donations
June 7, 2017 at 10:25 am

The words you use on your donation page are powerful. And there’s a danger in assuming your donor understands why they should give to you just because they land on your donation page. By adding copy to your page, you can articulate those reasons clearly and increase your donations...