What to questions should you ask when considering fundraising software?
This week, I'm pleased to introduce David Unger. David is an accomplished fundraiser and President of Unger & Associates. His years of experience have led him to create his own donor management and fundraising software system: Total Community Manager. I've asked him...
Fundraising on President’s Day?!
Today is President's Day in the USA. So I got to thinking: how could a nonprofit use this holiday for fundraising? Here are two ideas I came up with: (1) President's Day Mailing Send a mailing to your database listing all the past presidents -- however they're called...
Did Facebook make your friends and fans invisible?
Last week, my friend Susan Murphy (@suzemuse) tweeted a blog post by V3 called "How not to be invisible on the new Facebook newsfeed." The title was a bit misleading, but the post was very helpful. Apparently, our friends at Facebook have automatically changed our...
Sample Fundraising Kick emails
People are benefiting from the new Fundraising Kick weekly emails. [If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, Fundraising Kick's are brief, simple weekly emails that quickly give you the added kick to do what you already know you need to do: ask for money.]...
Make some green this St. Patty’s Day
You've got a month. Have you figured out a way to use St. Patrick's Day to raise some funds for your cause? What if you did a mailing along these lines: Dear _________, You've heard of the "luck of the Irish"? Well this St. Patrick's Day, families at our shelter could...
Wikipedia’s savvy fundraising
I'm a big fan of making it ridiculously easy for donors to give. Apparently, Wikipedia is too. Last night, a web search from my phone led me to Wikipedia. They knew I needed the mobile website based on my browser, so they stuck a banner that gave directions how to...
Should we have a large board?
A client recently asked me an excellent question: I know of an organization that has a large board. It seems they do it so that they can invite potential donors to be on the board. It seems more or less honorary, they don't get involved much. Should we look at making...
Are you making it a happy Valentine’s Day for your donors?
I encouraged Fundraising Kick subscribers to devote all of last week to showing donors some love. I even suggested different ways to express their appreciation for people that have made their organization's existence possible. How about you? Even if you're not on the...
Ask Without Fear! Fundraising Class
Tomorrow I'm teaching my first "open" fundraising class. It'll be held in Lewiston, Maine at the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce. For more information, and to register for the class, go to https://fundraisingcoach.com/class. Apparently people are finding this...
5 Mail Lessons Learned While Fundraising for Higher Education
Today I'm pleased to introduce David Hazeltine. David and I met at an NEAHP conference a couple years back and immediately hit it off. Since he works with DMW Direct Fundraising, I've asked if he'd share his insights into direct mail fundraising. Check out his blog at...
How personal should your social media be?
A few weeks ago, a Twitter hashtag, #lessambitiousmovies, caught my attention. It was around 10:30 p.m. after a hard day and I had a blast coming up with appropriate movie titles. Apparently I tweeted alot in 30 minutes! @jonaha sent me this screenshot. I'd totally...
How to write effective fundraising letters
In writing up a project for a client, I drafted this short reminder on how to write effective fundraising letters. What else would you add? The letter is personalized “Dear Friend” doesn’t cut it. Studies show the first thing people look for is their address is at the...
My top 5 favorite Android apps
Last month I got my first Android, a Samsung Mesmerize. I love it. I do miss the keyboard of my Blackberry. But I'm ok with that. Here are my favorite apps: Hootsuite I love that HootSuite [affiliate link] lets me tweet from my two accounts as well as update my...
Are Nonprofits Keeping Up With the New Volunteer?
This week, I'm honored to introduce Joanne Fritz. Joanne is the About.com guide for their Nonprofit and Charitable Orgs section. She originally posted this wake-up call on her blog there. Read it and take a hard look at how you're stewarding volunteers! by Joanne...
The “Ask Without Fear!” DVD pre-release announcement
Earlier this month, I mentioned how excited I was about the products that I've got coming out this year. Today, I get to announce another really cool offering: the "Ask Without Fear! DVD"! Many of you who've read my book or attended my seminars have asked for a DVD...
The 3 things to get you over the fear of asking
Have you ever been put on the spot by an excellent question? Last week, I was speaking at a Rotary Club. At the end of the presentation, one man asked this question: For some of us, we'd rather have a long, sharp wooden stick put in our eye than ask people for money....
55 quotes on fundraising & giving
I've just created a page of the inspirational quotations used in my fundraising training book. These have helped so many of the thousands of people that have read the book that I'll also be sharing some of them on Twitter with the hashtag #awfquotes. There are 55...
Kindle edition of “Ask Without Fear!” reformatted!
I published the first Kindle edition of my fundraising training book almost three years ago! It was first a PDF, not very Kindle-friendly. Then I created a file through Amazon's digital publishing tool. I'm pleased to announce that today, I uploaded a professionally...
![[Guest Post] 10 Ways to Successfully Chair an Event](https://cdn.fundraisingcoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/02230950/laynegray.png)
[Guest Post] 10 Ways to Successfully Chair an Event
This week, I'm honored to introduce Vivanista. Vivanista is a member-based, lifestyle community for charitable volunteers. I really like their practical tips as well as their emphasis in women in philanthropy. Check out their tools at Vivanista.com This top 10 list...
Introducing Fundraising Kick: Sometimes it’s all you need!
Because sometimes all you need is a little kick! This year, I've got a lot of great products and services I'll be rolling out to help you raise money. Today, I want to introduce you to a cool new service I'm really excited about called "Fundraising Kick." I've had the...
Nonprofit Marketing: Keep It Simple Stupid
I just watched this video from Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water filmed at last year's NextGenCharity conference. Watch this. Scott's background helped him to actually hear people's objections to normal "charity." So he set out to create a different kind of...
Fundraising Job Opportunity: Washington STEM
I regularly am notified of job openings. To help readers of FundraisingCoach.com, I'll start posting them again. I'm not connected with any of these searches so I provide the link for more information. Washington STEM is hiring. Washington STEM is "a new 501c3 formed...
A Brief History of Philanthropy: 501Videos Movie Monday
I love 501 Videos free Movie Mondays. And I love history. So I loved listening to today's "Brief History of Philanthropy" video! Looking at ancient history, including named giving opportunities in Ephesus, Stuart takes us right up to the present. All in about 5...
Top Fundraising Coach Blog Posts in 2010
These were the highest traffic blog posts in 2010. Interestingly, four of them weren't written in 2010! And you've really liked, my new series of guest bloggers. 40% of the top ten were written by them. Thanks for helping make this a great year! #10 Fundraising...
Creating an environment for goal success
Yesterday's free goal setting mastermind was a lot of fun! The hour flew by without my mentioning one of the most important steps in successfully accomplish goals is crafting your environment. I could give tips and pointers on how clients have shaped their...
Donation Days!
As I've said in earlier posts, studies show that more than 20% of donations are received today and tomorrow. How have you prepared for this? What are you doing over the next two days to make it ridiculously easy for donors to give? When I was running a development...
Crafting subjects for year-end fundraising emails
All month, I've been seeing some odd email subjects trying to get me to give. Would you open any of these? An Appeal From [Nonprofit] CEO [Name] It's Not Too Late for Your 2010 Tax Deduction: Support [nonprofit] Today Since we are at year-end, could you re-visit your...
Merry Christmas from the Pitman Family!
A fun video from my family to yours! Without them, I wouldn't be able to do all I do at FundraisingCoach! I posted this to Facebook earlier today. If we're not friends on Facebook let's fix that! I'm at: http://facebook.com/marcapitman
Wreck the resolutions! Join the Free Goal Setting Mastermind Call
Wreck the New Year Resolutions! Statistically, they'll be over by the end of January anyway! Lets set goals for 2011 that will bring us through the year. So I'm offering a free conference call on Thursday, December 30 to help us jumpstart 2011. There have been lots of...
Could you help with a 3 question survey
All year, people have told me that hour long webinars are just too long. We're all pressed for time. So I'm starting a 22 Minute Institute: 22 minute webinars focusing on some aspect of either: Fundraising, Leadership, or Social Media Would you help me shape this...