Last week I attended the Gift Planning Council of New Jersey’s annual conference. I wish you could have been there with me. It reinforced my belief that even small shops can raise a ton of money. Here are some terrific tips from the conference for you to implement today! Focus on Gifts that Don’t Impact Cash Flow Are you actively soliciting … [Read more...]
Do You Make These 4 Big Fundraising Mistakes?
Even intelligent, hardworking, well-intentioned fundraisers make mistakes from time to time. We all do. Here are four big ones to watch out for: Mistake #1: Treating All Donors the Same Do you wish that donors would treat your organization like the most important charity? If so, you should be treating them like your most important donor. … [Read more...]
Creating a 60 Day Fundraising Plan: Days 31-60
To get your year off to a strong start, I've prepared a 60 Day Fundraising Plan to ensure your fundraising efforts are successful. Having a fundraising plan in place is critical to your success. Missed the first two posts in this series? Go back and check them out: Creating a 60 Day Fundraising Plan: Days 1-15 Creating a 60 Day Fundraising … [Read more...]
Creating a 60 Day Fundraising Plan: Days 16-30
Missed days 1 through 15? Check it out here: Creating a 60 Day Fundraising Plan: Days 1-15 Creating a Fundraising Plan: Days 1-15 (Recap) By now you should have identified your best donors, including your largest and your most loyal donors. Using those lists, your next step was to create a combined list of your top prospective donors … [Read more...]
Creating a 60 Day Fundraising Plan: Days 1-15
A friend and colleague, who happens to be the new executive director of a nonprofit that's in financial trouble, called me and asked me to help him develop an "emergency" 60 day fundraising plan. The board hired him, in part, because the organization is in trouble and he’s going to try to turn things around. Hopefully you're not in as dire … [Read more...]
Why You Should Set Fundraising Goals for the New Year
With the end of the year so rapidly approaching, it's the perfect time to think about your accomplishments as well as the things you wish you had done differently this past year. In order to be more successful in the new year than we were in the previous year, it's essential to reflect on what worked and what didn't work. But the most … [Read more...]
Look what YOU did! 5 Ways to Thank Your Donors
"Look what YOU did!" This was the subject line of an email I recently received. Was it good? Bad? Suddenly, I felt like a kid being called to the principal’s office. Was I in trouble? What had I done? Of course, it didn’t take long for curiosity to get the best of me and I immediately opened the email. In big, bold letters, the … [Read more...]
Are Your Donors Superheros or Cash Machines?
Have you ever heard Tom Ahearn speak on donor communications? He spoke last week at the AFP-NJ Conference and many of his points were perfectly timed for your year-end fundraising efforts. The Key Motivator for Giving is NOT the Needs of Your Organization This maybe surprising to many of you, but you must be able to convey the opportunity for … [Read more...]
4 Rock-Solid Ways to Raise More Year-End Money
As the end of the year approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about year-end giving and how to help my clients and readers (you) raise even more money this year. I went back and reviewed my posts from last year on the subject (listed at the bottom of this post — some great reading, by the way) and thought of a few additions. 4 Ways to … [Read more...]
Nonprofit and Life Lessons Learned from Steve Jobs
Over the last few weeks, we have been abuzz over the life and death of Steve Jobs. Carmine Gallo wrote a post on the Steve Jobs Seven Rules of Success, which I think apply beautifully to nonprofit professionals and fundraisers, and I can’t help but share them with you — with my own spin. 1. Do What You Love Clearly, Jobs loved what he … [Read more...]
