The problem with the ease of communicating these days is, well, we talk too much! And too often, we aren’t really communicating with people who really want to engage in that particular conversation at that particular time. Before you move into the busy last four months of the year, take time to consider your donor audience...
Communicating effectively with your donors and would-be investors is the first step in achieving fundraising success. I’m talking about communicating with your supporters in ways that attract their attention, give them confidence that you’re really doing something worthwhile...
I have two teenage sons, both in superb physical condition. As their mother, I feel empowered to set them to mowing grass, painting, sealing the driveway and other character-building tasks whenever I see them in repose. Likewise, it’s fun to put the bright young minds at Turnkey to work in similar fashion. A frequent object of my "what do you think" spotlight is Julian May. He suffers from the ability to write, which makes him a target. I asked him, "In your mind what’s the most important thing right now in peer-to-peer fundraising?"...
I can remember the day just like it was yesterday—that dreaded moment when my director of development approached me and said: “We need you to get an appeal out. And it should have gone out last week.” To provide context, I was a mere two weeks into my job and had been pulled off task so frequently that I still had no idea what this particular organization had done in terms of past grants...
Do loyalty “clubs” really matter to today’s donors? With or without a club or membership, there are success factors, or consumer needs, that I believe good fundraising strategies have delivered for a while and must continue to deliver...
If you have been trained correctly as a development professional you are taught to be donor-centered, provide outstanding customer-service and essentially strive to say “yes” to donors. I mean, just about every blog post that Richard and I write emphasizes in some way how to best serve your donors. We say it over and over again because, as industry professionals, you still don’t have putting donors first ingrained enough in your DNA. You’re getting better, but we still have work to do.
There are 142 days left in 2016. That sounds like a lot, and it is if you start thinking about year-end direct response fundraising now. But if you wait, there’s a good chance you will leave money on the table because of missed opportunities and no time to give it your best effort. For those of you who want to enjoy the holidays knowing that you’ve done all you can to maximize the income your nonprofit will receive, here are some things to work into your planning...
A charity that spends 20 percent on overhead and knocks its mission out of the ballpark is not less worthy of support than one that spends 10 percent on overhead but helps relatively few people. It’s one way of assessing things, but not necessarily the most meaningful...
Twice in the past month I visited with a CEO who had the sinking feeling that it was time to replace the nonprofit's chief development officer. The reason in both instances: a failure to connect with people. Both explained that unless pushed, their chief development officers would go to events and prefer to sit at their tables and not connect with the guests...
Judging by the volume of charitable contributions processed over the first six months of 2016, it appears to be another up-and-down year for America’s nonprofit organizations. A more in-depth analysis into the data revealed some consistent and concerning trends that impacted the first half of 2016 and that likely may carry over into the second half of the year...
