Strategic Planning

Fundraising is all about relationships: The depth and quality of relationships between donors and the institution—the organization’s staff. It is also all about numbers. You must have a certain number of donors at specific levels to meet your goal (unless you have one donor driving the project, but then you will most likely eventually have to worry about sustainability)…

I am a sucker for those ads that feature dogs and other four-legged creatures in cages. The organizations that I contribute to on a regular basis include the following: ASPCA, The Humane Society, Farm Sanctuary, AARF and PAWS...

Dialogue with your donors, clients or prospects begins with good data; we all know that one tenet of direct mail—garbage in and out. When we go to the mailbox, a treasure trove of information on fun, as well as vital information, awaits us. Some good, some bad and at most, lame or even useless...

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...

There may be as many ways to segment and customize your file as there are ways to leave your lover, but the evidence mounts that the level of commitment a donor has for your organization may be the most important...

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 No. 1 trending article this week on NonProfit PRO was from our weekly blogger, James Sullivan. He shares seven things you need to do when dealing with lapsed donors...

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?"...

With today’s ever-changing landscape, fundraisers who want to be successful also need to be great marketers—and keep up-to-speed with the latest trends, strategies and platforms….

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?...