Welcome to our blog
Most nonprofit professionals believe that their organizations will be more successful when their boards are active in fundraising. That correlation was proven through this research by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC). It found that active fundraising by nonprofit board members is positively correlated with organizations meeting their fundraising goals. Board engagement does work. But, here’s a myth buster. Defying a […]
Every organization’s revenue stream is different, but, for most, at least a portion of fundraising comes from corporate support. Besides traditional corporate grants, which you apply for directly through a company’s grant making arm, corporations offer a variety of programs to give back to communities where their employees live and work. Collectively, corporate philanthropy accounts for nearly $15 billion in […]
You’re in the throes of beginning a fundraising program for your new nonprofit and money is a problem. You may not be able to hire a donor prospect researcher to prepare detailed information about your donor prospects, but you can start pulling together some basic information just with some time and patience. Here are six online sources to try. 1. […]
Just what is a major gift? And who are major donors? That seems to be in the eye of the beholder. Some charities consider a gift of $500 or more to be major, while others only see a major gift when the check is at least for $100,000. A tiny number of charities are fortunate enough to hold out for […]
Frankly, I almost never get a thank you phone call from a charity. Because they are so infrequent, I am always pleasantly surprised. Those hackles that immediately arise when I hear a voice say “This is Susan, calling for XYZ charity,” magically convert to a smile. I put the brakes on my at-the-ready “no,” and respond with something like, “Oh…well, […]
If you’ve been looking for signs about which way the fundraising winds blow for 2015, there is no lack of places to look. The Web has been awash with predictions for months. One source I like especially is the National Council of Nonprofits. If anyone is in a position to see the near future for fundraising, this organization is. Back […]
Just a few months ago, I attended a conference, and I heard someone say: “Direct mail does not work for monthly giving.” Hmmm. That is extremely odd, because that’s definitely not my experience. There are just so MANY organizations that are HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL generating monthly donors through the mail. In fact, Vibrant Data reports that direct mail is still 43% […]
As you know, I’ve been writing about what to do when starting a monthly giving program. Recently, I’ve been talking to a lot of clients about their programs and helping them become more successful. What I found was that those organizations that were struggling to grow their program, undoubtedly were doing one or more of the following 7 no-no’s. The […]
We previously looked at what matching gift programs are and how they work. But how can smaller organizations benefit from these corporate giving programs? In this article we take a look at some ideas that small nonprofits can use to increase donations through matching gift programs. The beauty of matching gift programs is that, for nonprofits, they essentially represent free […]
The time always comes when your nonprofit’s donor management software needs to be upgraded or completely replaced. When do you know when that time has come, and then what do you do? Several nonprofit pros gave these answers when I asked them to complete this sentence: “I knew it was time to get a new donor management system when….” when […]
Recent Comments