Is your cause so weak it depends on a charitable deduction?
Today, Joe Meehan pointed me toward's the article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy about President Obama's new bill limiting charitable deductions. As expected the outcry was fast and strong. At the risk of being a bit controversial: Who cares if deductions are...
3 Tips for Effective Fundraising Letters
Every other Tuesday, I send out my free email newsletter. I'm amazed that next year will be it's tenth year in publication! I bet that makes it one of the oldest email newsletters in the industry. (10 years ago we called them "Ezines" so this is still called The...
More travel tips for fundraisers
A few months back, I offered 12 travel tips for the flying fundraiser. Christina Attard left a list of her own in the comments. Her suggestions were so good, I wanted to make sure you saw them! So here they are! (You can follow Christina on Twitter @GPtekkie.) by...
Writing goals and focusing your subconscious
I'm a huge believer in goal setting. Especially in the power of writing down goals. Every December, I write a list of 100 things I want to accomplish in the next 12 months. This technique isn't for everyone, but it's fun to see how well received it is for people who...
Book Review: Cause Marketing for Dummies convinced me
Cause Marketing For Dummies by Joe Waters & Joanna MacDonald As a development director and long time major gifts guy, cause marketing has always seemed to dilute philanthropic giving. Moreover, it always seemed reserved for the “big boys” in cancer...
Goofy video fun poll: Which promo do you prefer?
I'll be speaking at the Social Media FTW conference on September 22 in Portland, Maine. The organizers have asked each of the presenters to do a quick video promoting why people should come to their session. Would you help me decide which video to send to the...
Should we hire a fundraiser and pay him a percentage raised?
One of the most common questions I get from board members and nonprofit leaders is some variation of: We're a small nonprofit without any fundraising program. Are there ever any conditions where it makes sense for us to hire a fundraiser that gets paid a percentage of...
6 year olds and high-D people
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I love the DiSC personality system. And I'm amazed at how obvious these character traits can be in real life! High-D's High-D types are people that are extroverted, fast-paced individuals more focused on getting tasks done than on...
So many great free fundraising resources – Tom Ahern
There are so many great, free fundraising resources. I'm just now catching up on Tom Ahern's wonderful newsletter. Tom is an amazing wordsmith of fundraising prose. Every couple week's, Tom sends out an email filled with anecdotes backed by statistics, reminding us of...
Fundraising Myth: If we build it, God will fund it
I get the opportunity to work with a lot of faith-based organizations. I love helping them get excited about raising money and showing them that others in the Bible got excited about fundraising too! But I'm amazed by a persistent cop-out so common among Christian...
Worn paths and nonprofit organizational structure
This summer, I've served on an ad hoc strategic planning committee for an organization here in Maine that's just celebrated its tenth year. As with any organization that survives this long, we find the environment now is a lot different than when the organization was...
Are you using social media to broadcast or engage?
About an hour ago, I tweeted a question about what to use for photo editing on my brand new Mac. (Yep, looks like my PC died. So after about 16 years of being PC, I'm back to being Mac.) In the tweet, I mentioned I'd used SnagIt on my PC and loved it, but wasn't sure...
Job opening: Development Director, Hospice of Southern Maine
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to help the then nascent Hospice of Southern Maine raise the last million dollars in a successful $3 million campaign to help build a free-standing hospice care facility. It is a tremendous organization doing incredibly important...
The secret to finding new donors
Every so often, like last spring, I get calls from potential clients desperately hoping I will give them donors. It's like they think I have some sort of "magic Rolodex" that I'll offer them, a list of people anxiously looking for worthy causes to give to. I've never...
We need high-S people!
I love the DISC personality assessment, especially as taught by Personality Insights. Today, my daughter gave me a perfect example of an S! I just took two of my kids to the library in my Prius. My son sat up front; my 9 y.o. daughter in back. I noticed she chose to...
Slacktivism: Don’t go stealing my label – but feel free to steal my status
It's my pleasure to introduce you to Clover Frederick. Clover is a marketing consultant, speaker, and blogger specializing in nonprofits. As director and founder of nonprofit marketing network in Lincoln, Neb., she helps connect nonprofits with the marketing...
You’ve gotta focus
I'm currently teaching a college course on internet marketing. This week I'm really pushing them to define their target market. Most of them are trying to say, "Really, my market is everybody." Are you doing this with your fundraising? If you are, "marketing to...
Don’t let the debt ceiling debate take your fundraising down the drain
The debt ceiling debate has been dragging out for months here in the USA. Whether right or not, it's got lots of Americans thinking of the credit limit on their credit cards and how close so many of us are to them. This leads to a focus on scarcity and lack and could...
Fundraising layups- basics to fund your nonprofit
While Google+ is fun, our nonprofits won't exist without our asking people for money. Here are some articles and interviews to help you with the basics of fundraising. Remember, even multimillion dollar NBA players do layups every week at practice. The same basics...
Google+ 1 Month Later: 3 Reasons I’m Impressed
I joined Google+ exactly one month ago. I started out with my curiosity piqued and then I got a vision for how nonprofits could benefit from Google+. I was even interviewed about Google+ last week. Here are three reasons I'm impressed with Google+. In just 1 month,...
The Folk Dance of Nonprofit Organizational Development
The Folk Dance of Nonprofit Organizational Development by Marc A. Pitman, FundraisingCoach.com The first three to four years of a nonprofit is a startup phase. Things are gloriously crazing. People are living on a dream. The possibilities are endless. The adrenaline...
Interviewed about Google+
Today I had the pleasure of being interviewed about Google+ along with Michael Hiles. I made sure to include how I thought nonprofit employees could leverage Google+ (and nonprofits when businesses and organizations are allowed on). You can hear the whole 45 minute...
2 more public speaking tips for the theatrically timid
A couple days ago, I offered some tips on public speaking. 2 1/2 tips to be exact. Since then, I thought of 2 more: 3. Be able to give your talk without electricity There's nothing more embarassing to watch than a presenter who's completely lost without their...
Bootleg clip from the AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference
I've never been bootlegged before. I'm not even sure that's the correct phrase! But Elaine Fogel recorded this from my Who's Telling YOUR Nonprofit's Story? session at the American Marketing Association's 2011 Nonprofit Marketing Conference last week in Washington,...
2 1/2 Public Speaking Tips for the Theatrically Timid
Let's face it, fundraising involves speaking. Lots of it. We speak to individuals. We speak to groups. We speak to volunteers, donors, staff, peers, bosses, everyone. And some of the best exposure we can get for our cause is doing public speaking to larger groups like...
Pro Tips on Getting the Most Out of a Pay-Per-Click Campaign
If you're like me, you haven't engaged an agency to conduct a pay-per-click campaign. I wouldn't know where to start, so I'm pleased to have this guest post from Taylor Gabel. He is an Online Marketer and Entrepreneur specializing in SEO and general online money...
Job Opening: Director of Communications
Last week at the AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference, I had the opportunity to meet Steve Rosenthal, the founder of Cross-Cultural Solutions. His description of Cross-Cultural Solutions ability to send volunteers overseas impressed me. When he mentioned they have an...
A Twitter chat for fundraising and marketing for small nonprofits – today!
Twitter chats can be a terrific way to meet new colleagues and get ideas for your work from really creative people. I'm particularly excited about the #smNPchat Pamela Grow started. We "meet" on Twitter every other Friday at noon Eastern time to discuss marketing and...
Good news about Millennials and Fundraising
This week, I'm thrilled to introduce Christina Attard. Christina is an accomplished Canadian fundraiser with a particular expertise in the areas of planned giving and millennial. I've asked her to share her take on engaging millenials in funding causes. She can be...
Getting started on Google+ for nonprofits
Last week, I wrote a post for About.com explaining why I was checking out Google+. A week later, I love it! I've would probably stay on Google+ if I didn't have so much invested in sites like Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare. True, I am feeling a bit overloaded. For...