When a major campaign begins to languish, it is inevitable that some keys to campaign momentum were either never in place, or have been forgotten or neglected. Here are eight keys to ensure your campaign maintains momentum and achieves its goal!...
As Garth Stein's "The Art of Racing in the Rain" opens, Enzo, the canine narrator, tells a story that will make you laugh, make you cry and make you laugh again. And we’re left with no doubt that Enzo would be as remarkable a human as he was a dog. And that he’d be one heck of a good fundraiser...
When it comes to marketing decisions, it’s not just about the immediate change. The long-term impact must be assessed as well…
Earlier this year, I received a postcard mailing from the Share and Care Foundation, a nonprofit organization located in New Jersey. In just four panels (one of which was the address panel), the postcard tackled one of those funding needs that make many fundraisers cringe—toilets...
“You'll never know everything about anything, especially something you love,” said renowned chef and cooking instructor Julia Child. You and I love nonprofit work—and especially fundraising. Therefore, we should be lifelong learners and coachable. According to Webster’s, coachable is "capable of being easily taught and trained to do something better."...
Gift cards used as recognition are like wiregrass in my fescue, like a dog’s butt on my favorite pillow, like white zinfandel being the only wine served. There is so much wrong with using gift cards as recognition, and actually as gifts in any regard, that it’s hard to even know where to start chewing on the issue. I always have known it was wrong...
I remember working for a social services agency where the social workers would often say to me, "I could never do what you do." I’d reply, "Back at you!" Each of us thought the other person’s talent was a mystery because we’d never learned it. And we’d never wanted to learn it. I also remember board members, sitting in a fundraising training I was facilitating and saying, "I could never ask for a major gift as well as you do."...
There is a friendly debate going on between a major gift officer, with a great deal of experience, and me. The subject is about the use of receipt returns in major gifts—that tiny, tear-off "coupon" that is attached to the official receipt that goes to a donor...
As a capital campaign consultant and coach, I’ve doled out lots of advice over the years. A few tips recur again and again. They always seem fresh, pertinent and important. These tips are more about human nature than they are about fundraising. But then, great fundraising is more about human nature than it is about money...
Years ago, I was a boy scout in Charleston, W.Va., for a relatively short period of time. I enjoyed the experience but was faced with the dilemma of either continuing in scouting or playing little league baseball. I must say that baseball won the day but the positive memory of my scouting experience has stayed with me through the years...
