Being in the non-profit field is not an easy path. It takes a lot of fortitude, commitment, and a super strong belief in the cause with which you’ve aligned your self and your soul. Over the years, I’ve referred to this poster (shown above). It’s taped on the wall in my office and sometimes I…
What’s the worst donor experience you’ve ever had? I’m pretty hard to rattle. Sometimes I hear stories from donors about their experiences with the charities they support that shock me. There are the rare one or two that have actually made me mad. This one did both. My friend and I were discussing the organizations…
How do we acquire new monthly donors? First of all, let’s not brush over the importance of creating a monthly donor acquisition plan for your organization. Monthly donors are the new gold, waiting to be mined from your current contact list. Why? Because everyone talks about wanting to engage new and young donors. And, we…
As we wrap up the third month of 2018, there are a few things that keep bubbling to the surface of my awareness, so I thought I’d share just a few. Fundraising ROI – The second gift is the most important one. The statistics for repeat gifts are dismal. You need to understand your cost…
This post is quick and to the point! We need to make our fundraising appeals easy to read by the oldest demographic of our communities. Don’t make your donors run out to CVS to get a stronger pair of reading glasses! LOL! Choose a type font that’s large enough to be read comfortably by most…
Some of us fail because we’re too humble. Yes, it’s true. We get so close to our work and we seem to talk about it in all of our social circles, among friends, family, and our significant others that we can’t fathom the thought that someone hasn’t heard about our most recent success! Let me…
You may think it’s common sense. But, you would be surprised at how many non-profit organizations use these two words so sparingly, they’re hardly being uttered. Certainly, they’re not being said enough. Those two words are, Thank You! When we get our fundraising hats on, get our plans out and start plotting our outreach efforts,…
5 Ways To Earn Your Donors’ Trust One of the trickiest things that we, as fundraisers, need to remember is that while WE know and love our organization, our donors are not sitting on our shoulders, observing how great the programs are working, how may people we are serving, or how efficiently we’re operating. Instead,…
In order to start a new friendship, you need to ask some questions about the person, right? This usually starts as “on the surface” banter and as you learn more and more, the questions become focused on what you have in common. It’s what begins to forge a relationship. The same is true for donors….
Many of us in fundraising didn’t come here naturally. I started my career in sales, an artist’s rep for commercial photographers. I loved that job, not only because I was able to surround myself with incredibly creative people, but also because I loved creating relationships. Our clients were important to us for repeat business, no…