Wednesday, I had the opportunity to join over 375 people to hear Seth Godin speak at MIT. He was sharing ideas from his new books The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? and V Is for Vulnerable: Life Outside the Comfort Zone. After he spoke, he invited six of us to give an “Icarus [...]
[Warning: rant in progress] Stop it with the excuses. The timing is never perfect. There are always reasons to put off asking people to support your nonprofit. And that is a sure way to get your nonprofit bankrupt. If your nonprofit is doing important work, people will want to fund it. But they won’t come [...]
Lots of us will be thinking about how to be more “green” since today is Earth Day. But how can we make our nonprofits more green? As in taking in more dollars? Ask! You knew that was coming, didn’t you? Asking for money is where the magic happens! The 3 Best Times to Ask There [...]
Happy Groundhog Day! It’s become my Groundhog Day tradition to repost my 2008 post: Fundraising Secret #11: Don’t Be A Ned. Enjoy! (And don’t be a Ned!) Fundraising Secret #11: Don’t be a Ned Click on the image to watch the clip. Does this sound like your fundraising efforts? Ned: Phil? Phil Connors? Phil Connors, [...]
[Warning: Rant in progress] In my book Ask Without Fear!, I encourage fundraisers to PYITS–put yourself in their shoes. Thinking like the donor or prospect can save you lots of embarrassment in the process of asking for money. But never forget: you are not your perfect donor Your major gift donor prospects are not on [...]
Whether you love or hate New Year Resolutions, millions of people use January 1 to start new habits. As a result, I’ve been asked by several bloggers and magazines what New Year resolution I would suggest people make. My answer for nonprofit folks? Ask more. If you could do only one thing this year As [...]
December 1 is almost here. And many inexperienced fundraisers are getting ready to throw in the towel. It only seems natural: In December their donors’ schedules are full of holiday parties. In December, many of their donors will go to additional church services. In December, snow can make travel difficult for events or appointments. In [...]
