As a fundraiser, I often wonder about crisis fundraising... Does giving to an organization like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, or Save the Children help those impacted in real-time during all-out war? What about sending medical supplies or even teddy bears (as I’ve seen requested this week for the children of Ukraine)? What sort … [Read more...]
2022 Fundraising Pep Talk: You CAN Raise Major Gifts! (In Just 6 Steps)
Two months into the new year, two years into the Pandemic, twenty-two years into the century, and let me guess -- you’re still not raising major gifts the way you’d hoped. Something’s got to give. Something’s got to change. No more excuses. There’s no time to waste. THIS will be the year you raise major gifts. First, Face Facts... … [Read more...]
Top 10 Reasons You WON’T Raise Major Gifts in 2022
After teaching fundraising for more than a decade, I have a pretty good idea of who will raise major gifts and who won’t. There are familiar patterns I've learned to recognize -- markers of success, and markers of failure. Some of these patterns are obvious; others, not so much. I've done a number of posts over the years on what it … [Read more...]
4 Steps to Crush Your Fundraising BHAG in 2022
Do you have a BHAG? That is, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal? You may be familiar with this popular term coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book, Built to Last. Now, it’s a widely used expression and concept to help with long-term planning and visioning. Set BHAGs to Establish Long-Term Goals Companies often set BHAGs for … [Read more...]
How to Determine the Right Ask Amount for Each and Every Donor
Although you should be asking for major gifts all year long, Q4 is a prime time for raising major gifts. So, there’s no better time to think about how to determine an ask amount than right now. While there’s no exact scientific formula to determine an ask amount, below are some guidelines to help you start thinking about your ask amount in … [Read more...]
When to Take Risks: Is Your Nonprofit Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish?
Is your nonprofit penny-wise and pound-foolish? What's your organization's risk tolerance, and when is it a good idea to take risks? This big-picture post provides the answers to those questions. Risk Aversion (i.e., The Path Untraveled) No doubt, you’ve heard the expression: It takes money to make money. But what does that even … [Read more...]
3 Critically Important Ways of Measuring Fundraising Success
The most obvious way of measuring fundraising success is dollars raised. However, when your boss and board only focus on dollars raised, they miss a huge piece of the picture -- and that can have serious consequences. Let’s take the example of a new Development Director named Sasha. Sasha's Story: Is She Doing a Great Job? In her first … [Read more...]
8 Tips for a Super Successful #GivingTuesday
To #GivingTuesday or Not to #GivingTuesday? That is the question. What is #GivingTuesday? In case you’re brand new to fundraising or have been living off the grid for the last 10 years, you’re likely familiar with #GivingTuesday. It's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, #BlackFriday, and #CyberMonday. According to the GivingTuesday … [Read more...]
3 Surefire Ways to Build Your Resilience and Fundraising Confidence
Being a great fundraiser requires RESILIENCE. There’s a lot of rejection in fundraising and hearing "no" over and over can take a toll. Fundraising is part art, part science. There isn’t only one right way to ask for money. Trial and error is par for the course. That’s because fundraising involves humans. And humans have emotions. In … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 3: Solicitation
This is part three of my “back to basics” series on how to raise major gifts during Covid and beyond. Part two looked at cultivation (step 2 in the fundraising cycle). Although there aren’t very many silver linings when it comes to COVID, there is one important change for fundraisers in terms of how we ask for gifts. A key result of forced … [Read more...]
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