The first fundraising book I ever wrote (more than 10 years ago, now), is called 50 Asks in 50 Weeks. Published by CharityChannel Press, it’s now available in its 2nd edition. I mention this because I’m revising and expanding my online training program, Mastering Major Gifts. In the process of improving the program and creating new … [Read more...]
5 Reasons your Nonprofit Should Invest in Virtual Training
The following is a guest post by Matt Hugg, president and founder of Nonprofit.Courses, an on-demand educational resource center for nonprofits. Can virtual learning be your new nonprofit superpower? Smart nonprofits take virtual learning and run with it. The most successful nonprofits are the ones who educate their staff. This … [Read more...]
Virtual vs. In-Person Solicitation: Predicting the Future of Fundraising
For the last decade, I’ve written, spoken, taught, and even preached about the benefits of in-person solicitation for raising major gifts. The success I'm seeing with virtual solicitations taking place these days has made me reconsider some of my own assumptions and question what the future of fundraising will look like. Of course, … [Read more...]
Covid-19 Creates New Ways to Solicit Donors
One refrain that always made me cringe -- yet seemed so commonplace at many nonprofit organizations -- was: That’s the way we’ve always done it. And while I was the first to encourage the boards I worked with or the senior staff I coached to try something new, it seems I may have fallen into that trap myself. Covid-19 is a … [Read more...]
To Have or NOT to Have to a Capital Campaign: 3 Reasons for Each
If you’ve been raising major gifts for a while as part of your annual fund (as I’ve encouraged my readers to do for years now), it might be time to consider a capital campaign. This post dives into three reasons to have a campaign, as well as three reasons NOT to have a campaign. 3 Reasons NOT to Have a Capital Campaign Let's begin by … [Read more...]
21 Ways to Thank Major Gift Donors: A Round-Up of Strategies
Expressing gratitude is the final stage of the fundraising cycle. It comes after the hard work of identifying and cultivating donors, and of course, asking for their gift. Step 1: Identification Step 2: Cultivation Step 3: Solicitation Step 4: Stewardship (gratitude) In other words, after a donor commits to a gift (donation), it’s … [Read more...]
How to Ask for a Major Gift: 5 Clear Steps in 30 Minutes (or Less)
Today, you're going to learn how to ask for a major gift in five very clear steps. You'll need about 30 minutes of time total to carry out these steps. But before diving in to the "how-to", it's important to know WHEN and WHERE to ask for a major gift. Knowing WHEN to Ask for a Major Gift Let’s assume you’ve built a fairly good … [Read more...]
How to Engage Your Nonprofit Board in Just 15 Minutes per Month
Welcome back to Major Gift Fundraising 201, where we discuss fundraising basics and beyond! You can check out the first post in this series here. Today we’re going to be talking about how to engage your board members in only 15 minutes per month. Engage Your Nonprofit Board in Just 15 Minutes per Month This topic is really important to … [Read more...]
Major Gift Fundraising 201: Board Basics for Raising Bigger Gifts
Whenever I speak at conferences about how to raise major gifts, one of the first topics I cover (after determining what the term major gift actually means) is board member engagement. I ask audience members (or workshop participants) to raise their hands if their organization has 100% participation. In other words, if every board member … [Read more...]
The Amazing Power of Authenticity When Building Donor Relationships
At a recent board retreat I was facilitating, a board member challenged me. He said that he felt the donor cultivation strategies I was discussing seemed contrived. He didn’t believe we could develop real relationships with donors because the ulterior motive was to raise money. However, this particular board member was missing one key fact … [Read more...]
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