Advocacy is at the core of every nonprofit organization in one form or another. Most nonprofits are looking to make some sort of social change in the world. It is easy to get caught up in fundraising efforts as a nonprofit and count solely on those campaigns and projects to advocate for your audience. While this is helpful, fundraising should not be your only advocacy effort!...
If you want to be a great major gift officer, you need to be curious. Curiosity will lead you and your donors on an incredible journey where you really get to be that bridge by taking the donor in one hand and in your other, taking the need your organization addresses and bringing them together. How will you practice major gift curiosity today?...
I was born and raised in the Netherlands where electronic bank payments, or direct withdrawls, were a way of life. Believe it or not, even credit cards there were required to be paid off every month, automatically, from your bank account. Things have changed there, but also here in the U.S...
I recently received a note from LinkedIn that a good friend and associate, who is a CEO of a local organization, wanted me to do some nonprofit networking with an individual who is currently working in the sector. She wanted to meet to build a network for expanded nonprofit career opportunities...
At a time when many are warning of a shrinking donor universe, many fundraisers are focused on the importance of an effective donor journey. At the heart of building more successful long-term relationships with supporters is the marketer’s ability to make decisions about key considerations.
One of the things that our data on peer-to-peer programs tells us clearly is that getting peer-to-peer early registration from participants results in greater fundraising. But why? How does it actually work? Not the way you’d think...
You’re planning a capital campaign to raise somewhere between $6 and $10 million. It’s based on a design of a building plan that’s just been finished. The costs are still a stab in the dark and it’ll take some time to estimate the real numbers. But on their way out of the meeting when the new building design was approved, three enthusiastic board members decided they wanted to make a big gesture of support...
It was budget time, and the manager was asked by finance to provide a forecast for major gifts for the coming year. The manager and the chief financial officer discussed how they should arrive at the right number and the CFO said: “Look, just take what major gift officers did last year and add 10 percent. It’s what we do every year.” And that, in a nutshell, is what major gift success looked like for that CFO...
I still come across many organizations that are actively trying to grow their monthly giving program, but they’re not sure who’s “running the show.” Nobody feels responsible. People wait till someone comes up with the next idea. Some think they only need to be focused on one aspect of monthly giving...
Acquisition is a major topic. The data tells us that is exactly what we should be talking about. There is a troubling trend in American charitable giving that should be sobering to every nonprofit that depends on individual giving...
