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...]
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Nonprofit Leadership
If you’ve ever heard me speak before, you know how passionate I am about fundraising and nonprofit leadership. My “no-nonsense” attitude comes across loud and clear about board members’ roles and responsibilities with regard to giving, as well as the Executive Director’s important role in fundraising. The following might seem more like a … [Read more...]
Attention Funders and Fundraisers: Capacity Building is Key
Here’s the message of today’s post: Think BIG. Think LONG TERM. Are you changing the world (or your corner of it, at least) by fulfilling your mission? How are you making sure your organization is GROWING? Well, you can't grow effectively when your own donors are limiting your growth. It infuriates me... I’m tired of … [Read more...]
8 Ways Your Board Can Fundraise Without Asking
Can you guess the number one complaint I hear from Executive Directors and Development Directors? Their top complaint is that their board members do not help with fundraising. How about you? Do you have board members who just won’t fundraise? If yes, the question is, why...? Have you included fundraising as part of their board member … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 4: Stewardship
Stewardship is the fourth and final stage of the fundraising cycle. (Step 1 is Donor Identification, Step 2 is Cultivation and Step 3 is Solicitation.) What is Stewardship? Everything that happens after a gift is made is a part of stewardship. In other words, all forms of expressing gratitude and letting the donor know how their gift was … [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...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 2: Cultivation
This is part two of my “back to basics” series on how to raise major gifts during Covid and beyond. Part one looked at donor identification (step 1 in the fundraising cycle). Remember, there are four steps in the fundraising cycle: Identification – Who you will raise money from Cultivation – Building relationships with potential … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 1: Donor Identification
Over the years, I’ve written a lot about how to raise major gifts, but it's been a long time since I’ve gotten back to basics. As the pandemic is winds down, it's helpful to consider how things have changed as we review the basics. With that in mind, here’s part one of a 4-part series on how to raise major gifts in a post-pandemic … [Read more...]
4 Steps to Raising Major Gifts: Tried-and-True for Over a Decade
Recently, I went back and revisited this old post from a decade ago to see if my thoughts had changed. This 2011 post about how to raise money from individual donors is something I’ve been teaching, writing, and speaking about for more than 10 years since its original publication date. The original post began with a statistic from Giving … [Read more...]
Christmas in July: The Best Time to Prepare for Year-End Fundraising
If your fiscal year ended on June 30th, as is the case with many nonprofits, you may be taking a well-deserved week off after closing out your “year-end” last week. And after some much-needed rest and relaxation, it’s time to start planning for the calendar year-end (regardless of when your fiscal year-end is). 3 Steps to Prepare for … [Read more...]
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