Charity Auctions: 3 Best Practices for Fundraising Success
Planning a charity auction for your nonprofit? Follow these best practices to ensure you can give your guests the best experience possible while raising funds.
How to Write Compelling Text-to-Give Requests: 4 Key Tips
Before you can dive into leading a text fundraising campaign, you need to familiarize yourself with nonprofit text messaging best practices. One of the most important components of running a successful text-to-give campaign is drafting effective, persuasive messages...
6 Guidelines for Planning Your Hybrid Silent Auction
With a strong plan for your hybrid silent auction, your nonprofit can expand its reach and boost revenue. Explore these guidelines to make your event a success.
Integrating Your Nonprofit Website With Social Media: 4 Tips
Your nonprofit’s website and social media are two of your biggest marketing assets. Explore these top tips to pair them together and expand your reach.
Your fundraising is stronger than a 1980’s power tie
I talk with a lot of nonprofit leaders who get really, really nervous about the wording of their fundraising ask. While I love the intentionality they show in wanting the right words, their fretting reminds me of power ties in the 80's. Do you remember those? In the...
Protect Your Nonprofit from the Dip in Donations
The latest GivingUSA numbers are out. And the numbers aren't pretty. Yes, the USA recorded over $499 billion was given from non-government sources last year. But the trend of fewer individuals giving accelerated. Individuals gave a 64% of the total - still the lion...
You can’t cram for fundraising results
Successful fundraising is built with human relationships. It's not a mechanical process that you can "turn on" when you need it. I find it’s better to build a habit of consistent communication with donors and prospect rather than trying to "make up" for not talking to...
Fairway Fundraising: Tips for a Charity Golf Tournament
As a nonprofit professional, you should always be focused on raising the bar with your fundraising efforts. Stand out by hosting a charity golf tournament.
What to do if you have run out of donor opportunities
As I talk with nonprofit leaders, one of the common complaints I get is “I wish I had more opportunities. I feel like my list is so short. I’ve already reached out to them over and over.” Does this sound like you? My friend Phil Jones has a helpful framework to...
How many times should you follow up a fundraising ask?
A common fundraising question from nonprofit leaders is "How many times should I follow up on an ask?" The situation I'm seeing a lot recently: A nonprofit leader asks a donor for a specific amount of money. The donor seems positive and says they need to talk with...
Understanding Stock Donations: Quick Guide for Nonprofits
Interested in branching out into fundraising gifts of stock for your nonprofit? Learn all the essentials and background you need with this crash course.
Won’t asking for money change the relationship?
On Saturday, I was honored to do a training at the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina in Charleston, SC for founders of nonprofits in the Facebook Grant for Supporting Black Communities program. During the training, a question was asked that I think we all...
Fundraising With a Positive Return: 3 Accounting Practices
Fundraising is essential to your nonprofit’s strategy. You raise money to directly fund and support your various programs and projects. Therefore, it’s important that you do everything you can to make sure the fundraising campaigns you host are as impactful and...
3 Ways Nonprofit Storytelling Helps You Maximize Donations
Nonprofit storytelling is the practice of including real stories in your outreach to inspire action. Learn how effective stories can help maximize donations.
Not all fundraising calls have to be about asking for money
This week, I shared with my Fundraising Kick subscribers that I recently heard Stevie Wonders “I just called, to say, I love you.” (Sorry for putting that earworm in your head. And you’re welcome.) Which had me thinking about fundraising calls nonprofit leaders make....
![[Guest Post] The Diagram of Ethical Storytelling Excellence](https://cdn.fundraisingcoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/21092424/CaliopyGlaros-Ethical-Storytelling-Strategy-400x250.webp)
[Guest Post] The Diagram of Ethical Storytelling Excellence
Today's guest post on ethical nonprofit storytelling is from Caliopy Glaros. Caliopy is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Philanthropy Without Borders, a firm with expertise in ethical storytelling, donor engagement, and strategic planning. This article was...
Membership Marketing Data: A Crash Course for Nonprofits
Data can help your nonprofit take its marketing strategy to the next level. Learn how to use membership marketing data to your advantage in this guide.
Donor Research: 7 Tools for Creating a Prospect Profile
Originally posted in March 2014, updated in March 2023 One of the most enjoyable aspects of major gift fundraising is getting to build relationships with donors—relationships that last beyond one donation and remain strong even when it’s challenging for donors to...
Nonprofits are NOT self-reliant
One of the biggest red-herrings I see nonprofit boards pursue is a pipe dream of "self sufficiency" for their nonprofit. Rather than pursuing their mission, the board directs the executive director to look at selling things and renting things in a quixotic attempt to...
CEO’s – are you leading your nonprofit? In fundraising?
As the CEO, the leader of your nonprofit, how much time are you really giving to fundraising? As the top leaders, the organization will follow your lead. You should be involving all your direct reports in some aspect of fundraising. And an easy way to do that is if...
Don’t build your fundraising on rented land like AmazonSmile
Did you see the news about AmazonSmile? After 10 years, they've decided it doesn't work for them. So they're stopping the program on February 20, 2023 and they're going a different way. Did you share "AmazonSmile" links with your donors? Did you include "Amazon Smile"...
It’s weird to ask for money in January, isn’t it?
January can be a hard month to make fundraising calls in. As the leader of a nonprofit, you are acutely aware of all the work that went into your organization’s fundraising last month. So it can feel “too soon” to get back to asking. It’s not to soon. All of your work...
Surprises for New Nonprofit Leaders
At a recent "Exactly What To SayTM for Nonprofit Leaders" session at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference, I asked attendees: When you took on a new leadership position, what surprised you most? While there were responses like "the great impact I get to make" and...
What do we do now?
You've made it. It's after GivingTuesday. Your year-end fundraising letters are written, edited, and stuffed. Your year-end fundraising emails are scheduled. Your fundraising systems are in motion. Now what do you do? This is supposed to be the biggest month of the...
Across the Generations: 5 Tips for Fundraising to All Ages
Nonprofits are currently in a unique position, interacting with as many as five different generations at any given point (from the Silent Generation to Gen Z). Each generation is as different as the next, meaning your organization requires a strategic fundraising...
Marc’s Donor Communications Panel with NXUnite: Key Takeaways
According to NXUnite’s Nonprofit Fundraising Training guide, written and oral communication are two of the most important skills that any fundraising professional must have. While it might seem obvious, communication is at the core of fundraising, and nonprofit...
Digital First Impressions: Your Nonprofit’s Homepage
Your homepage is the face of your nonprofit. While marketing appeals will likely be supporters’ first impression of your nonprofit, your homepage tells supporters everything they need to know about your nonprofit (whether it’s intentional or not). To improve visitors’...
Pleasant Persistence (it’s boring but effective)
One of the hard truths about fundraising is that: fundraising isn't always fun. Good fundraising is tedious, meticulous, regular, pleasant persistence. (Even when you don't feel like being pleasant.) If you're not getting the results you want, look at your own...
3 Tips for Fundraising in a Recession
One of the interesting things of being an active blog for twenty years is you get to cover things like fundraising in a recession. Multiple times. A quick search shows blog posts on recession proof fundraising going back at least 14 years. Including "10 Tips for...
5 Ways to Level Up Your Volunteer Program
Volunteers are key to helping nonprofits stay up and running. From donating their time to help out with vital programs and initiatives to lending their professional expertise and skills, volunteers help keep nonprofits on track to complete their goals. As a nonprofit...