Fundraising communication is different—understand the variances, make it personal and consistent, and you will be taking great strides in deepening donor relationships...
Several years back, a popular consumer product used the tag line, “Accept no substitutes,” to claim singular distinction for their product. The implication here is that the quality of the product is so high, the essence of the experience so fulfilling that you’ll never want anything else. Ever...
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...
During a recent client coaching session, we spent an hour talking about the reasons why it’s so important to hire a capital campaign consultant. Yes, we’ve covered this topic before, but the question keeps coming up. Besides, we thought of even more reasons that hiring a consultant is such a good idea. Why? Because any nonprofit that’s planning a capital campaign should really make the oh-so-worthwhile expense of hiring a consultant a budget priority!...
It was time to trot out my PowerPoint presentation and go through all the points of what we did as a company, the results we secured and how we did it. I was invited into the office of the president of a very prestigious eastern nonprofit. The purpose of the meeting was to explain what…
A few weeks ago, I shared how I made 20 online donations on Black Friday. For some, this was a repeat donation; for others, it was my first. Of course, all organizations sent me an auto-responder message and a “thank you” email message. So far, so good...
It’s the holiday season: That time of year when things are busier, time seems to move faster and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. That’s why we’re here to get you a super short list of our top five rhetorical questions around holiday giving. Sure, you might know the answers already, which is why they’re rhetorical, but sometimes a little reminder is a good thing...
You want to be seen as organized, thoughtful and helpful, right? Those qualities are a must in fundraising. Few other donor communication methods convey those qualities as much as sending a year-end statement to acknowledge a donor’s itemized giving over the past year...
Many have called 2017 “the year of me.” In fact, we’ve heard the idea come up in a variety of conversations, and characterized in other forms, like the “you universe” or “the transformative me.” While there’s an unmistakable trend in the retail world this holiday season around self-gifting and a little more self-indulgence overall, there is another layer...
Framing your donations as a set can double, triple or even quadruple your average gift. Hopefully, that statement is enough to get you to plow through some psychology, behavioral science, and peer-reviewed research with me...
