FundRaising Success

If you don't know where you're going, it's kind of hard to get there April 5, 2005 By Margaret Battistelli Editor-in-Chief FundRaising Success "Chesire Puss," Alice began, "would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don't much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat. Ah, the wisdom of Lewis Caroll. But who knew he could be such a valuable leader in the field of fundraising? Edith Falk ... apparently. Falk, president of the Chicago-based philanthropic firm Campbell &

April 5, 2005 By Paul Barbagallo Senior Editor FundRaising Success It's well known that 80 percent of your donors account for 20 percent of your overall annual fundraising. But in 2003, that small-dollar 20 percent crowd anted up more than $48 billion, according to Giving USA statistics. Diane M. Carlson, chairman of Nevada-based nonprofit consultancy IDC Corp., advised conference attendees Sunday to delve deeper into their "modest-donor pool," learn more about their giving behaviors and, most importantly, listen. Unfortunately, donors of all income levels often are perceived as having the same giving propensity and behaviorial patterns, but that some are just more