Fundraising Secret #92: Take time for yourself weekly
I’m a fan of Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of the most powerful concepts, in a book chock full of powerful concepts, is the idea of weekly planning. Daily planning is important, but that often amounts to no more than prioritizing...
When corporate donors attack and new fundraising dvd’s
I was honored to be this week's guest for 501 Video's "Movie Mondays". My topic was: A Lesson learned from Angry Corporate Sponsors. www.NonprofitBestPracticesStore.com I'm out here in Seattle filming a couple fundraising training DVDs. One is a DVD of "Ask...
Fundraising Secret #79: Make Your Gift First
Have you ever asked someone trying to sell you a product if they use it themselves? It can be pretty illuminating. After all, if they don’t use the product, perhaps it’s not a good one for you to use either. So too with fundraising. If you’re asking for money, be sure...
How to Become a Fundraising Hero
How To Become a Fundraising Hero - International Bowl Expo 2010View more presentations from Marc Pitman. Here are my slides from today's session How to Become a Fundraising Hero at the 2010 International Bowl Expo here in Las Vegas, NV. I really had a blast talking to...
Book Review: Guerrilla Market for Nonprofits
I'm surprised by how many nonprofit professionals see "marketing" as a bad word, a practice that is somehow beneath them. If that's your attitude, a new book called Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits will help you move beyond that and become excellent at communicating...
Nonprofit Executive Director and Fundraising Revisited
A few weeks back, I posted this question: Q: As an E.D., what percentage of my time should be spent on fund raising? I am relatively new at this and want to balance my schedule. My answer was something like, "100%." And I got some comeuppance. Here are some of the...
How much time should a nonprofit executive director allocate to fundraising?
Not long ago, I received this great question: Q: As an E.D., what percentage of my time should be spent on fund raising? I am relatively new at this and want to balance my schedule. A: Interesting question. I'm tempted to say 100%. But there are so many variables: If...
“Ask Without Fear!” fundraising soundtrack game
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ask Without Fear! was listed on Amazon.com two years ago. Last week I asked for suggestions about songs that dealt with Research. Some of the answers were: "The Gambler" Kenny Rogers "Private Eyes are Watching you" Hall & Oates "If I...
“Ask Without Fear!” soundtrack contest: Research
Today marks the 2nd anniversary of Ask Without Fear! being on Amazon! Years ago, I crowd-sourced a fun "Soundtrack for the Alumni Director's First Year. So to celebrate this milestone, I'd like to make an "Ask Without Fear!" soundtrack based on each of the four steps:...
Movie Monday’s 100th Episode: Free Fundraising Videos
If you subscribe to my bi-weekly fundraising email newsletter, you know I'm a big fan of 501Videos' Movie Mondays. These short, free movies, are timely training tools and wonderful weekly reminders. Plus, they give you an inside look at how other fundraising...
Are there creative ways to publicly thank donors?
Q:My organization is building an endowment fund and several people have made generous donations in the past few months. Of course, we've thanked them personally, but we want to find a more "public" way of recognizing them. We will include them in a special list in our...
Printed Donor Lists: To do or not to do?
Q: What are your thoughts about including an annual roll of donors in a (printed) annual report? Our staff is split 50/50 on whether that is still useful, necessary, or appropriate. Thanks. Katie Benston, Dir. of Annual Support Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte...
Fundraising Secret #45: SAY THANK YOU!
As kids, most of us were trained to say "thank you." Some of us even had parents that required us to write "thank you" notes to relatives that gave us gifts. So why don't we say "thank you" to our donors? The very people that fund our mission. That give out of their...
How Funders are Changing the Game: Movie Mondays
Did you see this free "Movie Mondays" by 501 Videos on How Funders are Changing the Game? (Sorry. I haven't figured out how to embed these videos into my blog.) If you want to get the free movies each Monday, sign up at: Movie Mondays. Hurry, a new...
Perfect opportunity for a corporate ask?
Q: Hi Marc! 🙂 You seem to know much about fundraising...any great ideas on a fundraiser for Cub Scouts...we need to raise $1500 for a new pinewood derby track...however the pack is in an area that the people don't have tons of money...HELP! I need a jump start. TY...
5 tips on choosing your nonprofit URL
Q: Marc, I'm embarrassed to admit that we don't yet have a website. But do you have any advice about choosing a domain name? A: Great question! Getting a memorable domain name is a very important step in online fundraising. All fundraising, really. Donors often check...
5 tips for increasing traffic to your nonprofit’s website
Q: Do you know of the best way for my web site www.aidsadvantage.org to come up on search results when people type in the words “Aids, South Africa, Africa”? I wish to increase traffic to my web site and since this is unfamiliar territory I thought you could help me...
It’s Beth Kanter’s birthday
Today's the birthday of the amazing Beth Kanter. I love her passion for nonprofits and social media. I'm particularly grateful for her helping us in the nonprofit world articulate metrics and ROI. Not only is she a really smart teacher, she's also doing the actual...
When is the best time to host a fundraising movie event?
With the first blog post of 2010, I'm starting a series of posting questions I receive and my answers to them. Sort of a "Dear Abby" for fundraising. I'm calling it "Question Marc" -- pun fully intended! 🙂 It'd be great to have you take part. If you have a question...
Fundraising Secret #44: Up your giving this year
Wondering how to increase your fundraising effectiveness in 2010? Here's an idea: increasing your personal giving...to other organizations (not your own). Go check out Jeff Brook's blog post "Fundraisers who don't give don't get it." In it, he refers to a post by Seth...
Can Chase Learn from it’s Community Giving #fail?
Chase embarked on the largest social media contest to date with the announcement of its Chase Community Giving initiative. The contest was supposed to crowd source their philanthropy, allowing Facebook users to vote on which charities would receive their $5 million....
SOFII needs your help
Many of you have heard me extol the virtues of SOFII in the past. SOFII stands for "The Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration." And what a showcase it is! For the low cost of free, you can view articles from the greatest fundraisers from around the globe....
Fundraising Secret #43: Fundraising takes guts
I was talking to a friend last week about her fundraising efforts. She was having second thoughts about a mailing that was going to business leaders she knew and respected. I'd rarely heard her confidence this shaken. As we started discussing the letter, I asked her...
I’m so grateful this TweetsGiving
As most of you know, I am an avid fan of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. They don't replace normal fundraising techniques, but they sure to extend our ability to reach our donors and donor prospects. So this week, I want to tell you about a cool...
Twitter lists and branding according to Jay Baer and Wordle
Like so many others in the past few days, I read a great blog post on what twitter lists can say about your personal brand by Jay Baer. He points out that Twitter lists give a unique insight in to what people think of you. As he says, these words they use help tell...
Tweetsgiving is almost here!
What happens when techie people decide to express their gratitude during Thanksgiving? TweetsGiving of course! Will you join me in tweeting your gratitude? You can find out all about it at: http://tweetsgiving.org/. Be sure to click on the "join us" link. But hurry,...
Fundraising warning: Don’t limit your fishing to the smallest pond
Within the last couple weeks, there was an article about another nonprofit closing. Reading the article, I saw an incredibly common fundraising myth perpetuated. The myth sounds goes something like this: if we only had more businesses and foundation grants, then our...
Facebook Marketing advice in the NYT
Waterville's amazing librarian, Sarah Sugden passed on this terrific article from the New York Times, How to Market Your Business With Facebook. It's well worth reading for nonprofits too. For instance, take this great advice: Some basic rules: Buy-buy-buy messages...
Fundraising oddity: Bet you’ve never seen THIS before!
Earlier this week, I walked into an office here at Inland Hospital and saw this. After being a bit grossed out, I read that it was one way this office was collecting for our hospital's United Way drive. Being the geek I am, I decided to run a photo caption contest by...
Hospitals helping Fort Hood Casualties
One of the privileges of working in philanthropy is seeing people rise to the challenge when tragedy strikes. Yesterday, this email came across an email list for those of us involved in AHP, the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. Neil gave me permission to share...