Blackbaud’s Conference for Nonprofits (Success experienced by an attendee)
Jennifer Friedley, Director of Development
Midland Care Connection, Topeka, KS
http://www.midlandcareconnection.org/ (785) 232-2091 x330

On Monday, October 23, 2006, Marc delivered seminars at the Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits entitled “Ask Without Fear!” and “Creating Donor Evangelists.” The talks were geared to an audience of employees of both small nonprofits where fundraising was only one of their responsibilities and those employed at larger organizations.

Process

Prior to the talk Marc conducted research to craft his talk so that his point of view melded with the experience level of conference attendees.

In “Creating Donor Evangelists,” Marc encouraged attendees to become better at connecting their organization mission to individual donors in ways that donors could then spread the word themselves. He gave recipe-like specific ways nonprofits could retool their storytelling and use social media to increase engagement with donors.

In “Ask Without Fear!”, he applied his recipe-like process to a 4-step process for fundraising. He built the case for getting to know donors, shared recent statistical research, and gave practical stories to illustrate his points.

Results

Rather than speak in just theory, or grand ideas, Marc broke each topic down to actionable steps that anyone, no matter how busy, could put into practice. Six years later, I’m still referring to my notes from those seminars and applying what I learned. His were the only sessions that had such lasting results.

Testimonial Quote

Marc’s talk was practical and action-oriented, geared toward small and individual fundraisers and delivered so that attendees could act on the advice upon returning to their offices. And unlike some speakers, who rely on their own particular experience, Marc adapted his talk based on nonprofits actually in attendance. Marc is and will continue to be on my nonprofit thought leader “A” list as an effective educational speaker and resource.