Most people, businesses and charities that have achieved great success emphasize the why over the what and the how. Of course, the what and the how are a lot easier than the why, but if you properly understand and express your why, people who feel similarly will buy from you or donate to you willingly, regularly and for a very long time...
As development professionals, the level of service and excellence in which your organization delivers its mission impacts us directly. We must be ever-vigilant in observing and being proactive in solving situations...
As development professionals, we come across many misconceptions about our profession and the nonprofit sector that dilute the power of philanthropy. By casting fundraisers in a negative light, myths prevent giving and deter qualified people from joining our industry as professional fundraisers...
When people ask you what you do for a living, how do you talk about it? When you are finished telling the person what you do and why, are they thinking: “Wow, this person really loves their job,” or “Hmm… I’m glad I’m not doing what they are doing...
Two weeks ago, I was checking my credit card statement and noticed several iTunes charges on it. The charges were going up in value. Believe it or not, I don’t have an iTunes account, so that was an immediate flag. I called the credit card company right away to dispute the charges. They, of course, canceled my card and sent me a new card...
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program aims to achieve two socially worthwhile goals: Reduce the debt burden on recent college graduates and entice people to enter traditionally low-paid public service careers...
Getting your fundraising program to deliver the ongoing revenue your organization needs to fulfill its important mission is often about focusing on better rather than more. As we work to generate the much-needed revenue, we often get lost in the rush to simply do more of what we’re already doing. That probably gives us some results, but at what cost?...
For many nonprofits, fundraising energy becomes sluggish as the temperatures rise. It may not be prime event season, donors may be too busy for a visit, mailing an appeal letter might be put off until fall, and online efforts take a back seat to vacation and “summer hours...
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...
