Tired of board members who don’t give? Feeling overwhelmed as the executive director doing it all? Learn how your board can be your superpower in helping you reach more individual donors.
If you’re feeling frustrated because your gifts are coming from the same people who have always supported you, think about the way you’re asking. If you want older donors, mail your appeal. If you’re trying to reach others, rethink how you ask. Does your “ask” match your audience? As December Read more
This question comes up a lot when we talk about individual donors. And it’s good one! Great donor cultivation often leads to a major gift. To answer, I thought I’d invite a colleague whom I really respect for his fundraising skills. Steven DeCaprio and I worked together years ago at Read more
Nonprofit rating sites like Charity Navigator matter because many donors will look up your online rating site before making a gift.
Summer is a great time to assess your fundraising plan with your board or fundraising committee. As we get close to the middle of the calendar year, two things happen in fundraising. We hit a milestone in our budget and annual fundraising plan: we’re either halfway through our 2026 fiscal Read more
I used to write grants for the small nonprofits that we help with fundraising. (In fact, we used to be called Community Grantwriters, because so many organizations wanted that kind of fundraising.) But guess what? We don’t write grants anymore. (And we’re so serious about this that we changed our Read more
Every nonprofit needs more than just donations. So be ready with a list to answer this important question from someone who loves what you do: How can I help?
Giving is an art. So is sincere donor appreciation. In fundraising, this can be dicey business: platitudes of thanks or a plea asking donors to keep on giving?
Your board is key in reaching your revenue goal this year. If they seem uncomfortable asking, here are two tools that will make it easy for your board to share an “ask” with potential new donors. Share an Email Appeal (like Giving Tuesday) Giving Tuesday is always the Tuesday after Read more
Direct mail is my least favorite kind of fundraising. Why? And yet, at some level, it works or nonprofits wouldn’t spend all the time and money sending mail appeals. Fear of losing donors is real. It can be easy to forget that donors are just people. So year-end is also a time Read more