Touch Points Please: Donor Engagement
The most important thing a nonprofit can do to increase its annual fund donors is simple: reach out and touch them. To ensure a healthy and prosperous year end, your development plan should include sending out an annual solicitation letter as early as November. Much emphasis is placed on making an annual ask, and whileRead More Touch Points Please: Donor Engagement
Don’t Say No To The Dough: Gift Lessons
Last month The Washington Post reported that 50 leading Roman Catholics in higher education signed a letter protesting a $1-million gift that will enable the Catholic University of America’s School of Business and Economics to hire four visiting scholars to do research on “principled entrepreneurship.” They argued that the gift sends “a confusing message” becauseRead More Don’t Say No To The Dough: Gift Lessons
Communication is Key – Just Ask What you Want to Know!
As fundraising consultants, we get the privilege of interviewing top donors all over the country. One of the issues that pops up constantly is the poor communication between non-profits and donors. Often, I will hear from donors that the staff of the non-profit had never talked to them about a specific issue, or I hearRead More Communication is Key – Just Ask What you Want to Know!
Nobody Wants to Fund Endowment?
I was sitting around the table with a group of campaign volunteers, who were also significant donors. We were discussing the organization’s proposed capital campaign elements and one of them said, “We need to reduce this endowment part, nobody wants to give to endowment anymore.” To my surprise, everyone else at the table agreed withRead More Nobody Wants to Fund Endowment?
I’m A Volunteer; You Can’t Make Me Do Anything
The headline of this article is an expression I’ve used for over thirty years. Relying on volunteers can lead to misunderstanding, sluggish performance, disappointment, and oftentimes, negative outcomes. Or, volunteers can be the measure that propels a nonprofit organization to its greatest success. In my travels, I meet Executive Directors and CEOs of nonprofits onRead More I’m A Volunteer; You Can’t Make Me Do Anything
What The Heck Is Donor Fatigue?
In recent months we’ve been asked dozens of times by reporters, clients and volunteer leaders about phenomenon of “donor fatigue”. This theory espouses that there are so many fundraising projects underway that donors are stretched to capacity and can no longer support them all. In essence, that donors are “worn out” from too much givingRead More What The Heck Is Donor Fatigue?
The Only Cure for Donor Fatigue
It happened again. I was meeting with a school head recently and she told me, “Our fundraising is flat, we are experiencing a lot of donor fatigue.” I told her that I was not surprised to hear that, because donor fatigue is easily spread through contact with unicorns. Ok, I really wasn’t that sarcastic (butRead More The Only Cure for Donor Fatigue
American Donors Didn’t Quit
Today, June 10, the Giving USA Foundation released Giving USA 2009, its annual yearbook on giving for the year 2008. Although the book will not be released until August, Alexander Haas has advance access to this information. As an annual tradition our Firm shared these findings and our analysis of them on the day the data is released by the Foundation. AllRead More American Donors Didn’t Quit
Let the Donors Decide
Over the past several weeks we have been telling people “it’s the donors’ money, shouldn’t we let them decide what they want to do with it?” This has largely been in response to boards and staff who believe that the economy is bad so they should not ask anyone to give. But even if manyRead More Let the Donors Decide
Donor Fatigue?
We hear a lot about “donor fatigue” these days. It has become a great excuse to sit pat and not move forward. The thing is, in our experience, it really does not exist. Donors do not get tired of giving, they get tired of being asked to give to organizations that they are not closely connected to andRead More Donor Fatigue?
