1. How to Get Your Donors More Engaged
(News/Fundraising News)

Every development professional I know spends a lot of time thinking about how they can get their current donors more engaged with their fundraising efforts. We ask questions like, “How can I get our donors ...

2. Sounds Like A Squirrel
(News/Fundraising News)

... too cliché with our message to donors or we lose our ability to be effective. A couple of great examples are our slogans or mission statements. Too often our mission statement or slogan actually doesn’t ...

3. Endowments… A Reflection in a Mirror?
(News/Fundraising News)

While working on a proposal for a significant merit-based endowment, a co-worker made an insightful comment. He said donors who set up endowments picture themselves as the individual receiving it. We can’t ...

4. Featured Fundraiser: Sandy Clark
(News/Fundraising News)

... fascinating and provide me with tremendous stories that I can share with donors. Related posts:Featured Fundraiser: Tom McLagan Featured Fundraiser: James Tobias Featured Fundraiser: Sarah Kaiser Solicitation ...

5. How To Write A Donation Request Letter For Youth Arts And Sports Programs
(News/Fundraising News)

Writing a donation request letter for youth arts and sports programs is a tricky endeavor. Schools often ask for money so your potential donors have probably seen letters just like yours many times before. ...

6. Mobile Giving Research and Opinion
(News/Fundraising News)

... try and find creative ways to reach out to their constituencies, text messaging is a great way to get a personal message out. Providing donors with instant information about the needs of your organization ...

7. How Does Mobile Giving Work?
(News/Fundraising News)

... its donors an option to give via text messaging by texting a specified keyword to a specified five digit number. When this keyword is sent, the cell phone companies send the designated gift amount to the ...

8. Tips on Building Good Proposals
(News/Fundraising News)

... gift with some statistics. What do you always include in your proposals to major donors? Any tips or tricks you use to create a good proposal or in integrating a proposal into a solicitation? Related ...

9. Thinking Critically, Thinking Differently
(News/Fundraising News)

... donors for funding. Many of our volunteers’ questions included educating them about the mechanics of the organization and the industry. Some of the terms we used were different than the terms they used, ...

10. Small to Middle Donors and Obama
(News/Fundraising News)

... where you can cultivate a fan-base in a way that is personal to them. Or, we need to find a [...] Related posts:Obama Crowned Direct Mail King Organizing Your Donors All Donors as Major Donors More on ...

11. Do You Talk or Do You Listen?
(News/Fundraising News)

... enjoyed listening more than talking. I have found that many donors want to talk about themselves, why they do or [...] Related posts:Small Talk, Big Value All Talk And No Give Prospecting and Asking ...

12. Success Breeds Success
(News/Fundraising News)

... when it includes their giving. Here are some tools you can use to let success breed success: Show progress. Regular updates that donors are giving and giving generously are important to keep the momentum ...

13. Donor Flavors
(News/Fundraising News)

There seem to be three distinct kinds of discussions that I have with donors: story-based, fact-based, and recognition-based. Many solicitations will have one or two of these themes in them, but one of ...

14. Interview with Adam Penenberg
(News/Fundraising News)

... on information they deem worthy–whether it’s a link to a funny video on YouTube, a political message, petitions, etc. If a nonprofit has a passionate core group of donors then the key would ...

15. Development Work Like Pastoring
(News/Fundraising News)

... it is something we talk about often. Where we give or do not give our money often says a lot about us and what we believe in. In conversations with donors I’ve often heard, “I wish I could give more.” ...

16. Featured Fundraiser: John Peterson
(News/Fundraising News)

... chapters. Each chapter provides its own funding, so our role becomes one of training and assisting them. Our development department is relationally driven, spending face to face time with major donors ...

17. Reactive or Proactive
(News/Fundraising News)

... really are opposites. Reactive donor management provides you an opportunity to approach individual donors in a very focused and personal way. Often you can provide very custom thank you materials and have ...

18. To Be or Not To Be- Donor Loyalty
(News/Fundraising News)

... we thank one-time annual fund donors? Should we invest less in cultivating repeat donor gifts? It sometimes feels like every campaign appeal I send out is written to sound more and more urgent. Does there ...

19. Question: How Much is Too Much Board Prep?
(News/Fundraising News)

... in the strategy of the organization (as we’ve talked about in another post, Who Talks to Your Donors). Some boards [...] Related posts:Drowning in Agendas Characteristics of a Model Board Member Using ...

20. What Do You Track?
(News/Fundraising News)

... on conversations that you’ve had with that donor and individuals who know them. This helps segment and keep track of donors in your database. Last/Next Action: Having the ability to track an action plan ...