Twestival Local 2011: Interviews with Organizers
Last month I had the privilege of interviewing some Twestival organizers, Stéphanie Montreuil @fleur_de_lotus of the Ottawa team and Chris Penbernthy @chrispenberthy on the Plymouth team. I love how both of these organizers are going about creatively helping charities...
Fundraising Tips for Twestival Local 2011 Organizers
I'm pleased to be providing fundraising coaching for Twestival organizers around the world. Here are some tips the team has developed over the last couple years. I've updated them this year and made sure they fit in 140 characters! 🙂 Hopefully these will be helpful...
That Red Cross sure knows fundraising!
I just saw a post on Mashable about how the Red Cross is helping get the word out about fundraising. With a little snippet of code, you can have a thin red bar on the top of your website or blog to help raise money for the earthquake victims in Japan. You can see a...
Now on YouVersion: Principles of Fundraising
I'm thrilled to announce my Fundraising in the Bible seminar is now a free devotional reading plan on YouVersion! If you use this popular free Bible app, you can now do the 6 day study from your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Blackberry, or even your desktop. Check it...
3 things Disney has taught me about celebrations
I love going to Disney World in Florida. Disney has celebrations worked out to a science. Looking at this t-shirt today, I realized three things Disney's taught me about celebrations and special events: Find excuses to celebrate Disney seems to celebrate everything....
Are fundraising professionals stupid?
I just had another talk with a fundraising director who was getting micro-managed by a nonprofit ED. She was out visiting sponsors for an event and getting emails questioning whether being out of the office was the best use of her time. This happens all the time. Even...
Are your Facebook updates invisible?
Last week, I tried giving my "Ask Without Fear!" Facebook page fans a special offer. Since they were already fans, I simply "updated fans" with the content of the special offer. That didn't work. I'm so glad I tweeted and updated my Facebook status. People replied to...
I’m sorry, is that your parent speaking?
I grew up with a mother working on her Masters in family counseling. So as kids, my sister and I got to read a lot of her homework. Seriously. She'd photocopy articles or chapters in books and have all of us read it. I know. I grew up in a weird house. But it was the...
Fundraising training for libraries and librarians
I love libraries and believe their mission is as important in our digital age as they've ever been. So I'm working on a version of "Ask Without Fear!" specifically for librarians. I'm blogging my book at my new library fundraising blog Beyond Fines. Let's make this a...
Got a great nonprofit video? Submit it for the DoGooder Video awards
Did you see the awards that See3 and YouTube are giving? Apparently it's the fifth year of the "DoGooder Video awards." There are awards for large, medium, and small nonprofits and even for low-cost videos. The CASE Foundation is offering $2500 prizes. Here's a video...
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 http://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...