When we start our nonprofit, we seem obsessed with is buying stationery and business cards. I think we feel these somehow show that we’re a legitimate organization. Good quality stationery is nice and can be a benefit. You definitely should look professional, but don’t waste your time and money by getting distracted by this at [...]

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As a fundraising professional, you should be getting fundraising and leadership training annually. But I’ve heard that the average development professional stays in their position for 18 months. Since the downturn of 2008 that might be a little longer. In any case, your board and your volunteers will be with your organization longer than you. [...]

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Have you checked out Google Docs? I keep finding remarkable ways to use this for collaboration! For example, an organization I work with recently ran a phonathon that didn’t involve asking for money, but asking people to advocate for our cause. Our database administrator did the sort and dumped hundreds of names exported onto two [...]

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Lately I’ve been getting lots of questions about how individuals can fundraise for walkathon events and many other -athons: bike, bowl, etc. Here are some of the ideas I’ve been offering:

First of all, good for you! Thank you for caring enough about the cause to put yourself out there and raise money for it. Our world is a much better place because of people like you. Thank you!

• RESEARCH
  The first step in any fundraising effort is to research. By doing research up front, you–or you and your team–will lay a terrific foundation for achieving your goals. Here are some suggestions on what to do:
  1. Determine how much are you are going to raise

  Specifically. Not the “more-is-better” answer but how much? $1,000? $2,500?

  This will often come from the minimum amount you need to raise to be part of the event. But what if you raised more? Figure out a specific dollar amount.

  2. Find out if the nonprofit has different giving levels to recognize donors
     Often nonprofits will recognize donors by assigning them to a donor level “Founders” or “Contributors” or “Patron.” Find out if the group you’re supporting uses these and if gifts given by your friends will be recognized in this way. It’ll help later on.

  3. Develop a plan to reaching that goal
     If you’re trying to raise $2500, it’s easy to fall prey to thinking you “only” need to find 100 people to give $25.

     This just doesn’t happen.

     We’ve been studying fundraising for decades. Although this sounds wonderfully egalitarian, experience shows that people give varying amounts.

     Plus, if you only ask $25 from someone who’d gladly have given $100, you’re leaving money on the table.

     To do the research of creating a plan, go to a tool like GiftRangeCalculator.com. Plug in the amount you want to raise and the calculator tells you what size gifts you need to ask for and how many prospects you need.

     If you do it for $2500, you’ll get something like this:
     

     You’ll see that it recommends your top gift be $625–the equivalent of 25 people giving $25! A tool like this is based on decades of fundraising experience and can really help you develop a map to raising the amount of money you need.

     You’ll also see that if you get all the gifts recommended, you’ll actually raise $3200. I did this intentionally. I wanted this calculation to be conservative so that even if you miss some of the 49 gifts, you’ll still reach your goal.

     I also did this because if your cause is worth fundraising for, it’s worth raising more than the minimum!

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I’m a fan of Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of the most powerful concepts, in a book chock full of powerful concepts, is the idea of weekly planning. Daily planning is important, but that often amounts to no more than prioritizing emergencies. If you’re like most people, you get into [...]

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Have you ever asked someone trying to sell you a product if they use it themselves? It can be pretty illuminating. After all, if they don’t use the product, perhaps it’s not a good one for you to use either. So too with fundraising. If you’re asking for money, be sure to make your gift [...]

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As kids, most of us were trained to say “thank you.” Some of us even had parents that required us to write “thank you” notes to relatives that gave us gifts. So why don’t we say “thank you” to our donors? The very people that fund our mission. That give out of their hard earned [...]

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Wondering how to increase your fundraising effectiveness in 2010? Here’s an idea: increasing your personal giving…to other organizations (not your own). Go check out Jeff Brook’s blog post “Fundraisers who don’t give don’t get it.” In it, he refers to a post by Seth Godin who says: … if you work for a non-profit and [...]

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I was talking to a friend last week about her fundraising efforts. She was having second thoughts about a mailing that was going to business leaders she knew and respected. I’d rarely heard her confidence this shaken. As we started discussing the letter, I asked her if the letter needed re-writing. Maybe her hesitation was [...]

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As most of you know, I am an avid fan of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. They don’t replace normal fundraising techniques, but they sure to extend our ability to reach our donors and donor prospects. So this week, I want to tell you about a cool experiment that’s entering its second year: [...]

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