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...
Using Twitter and Facebook in your year-end fundraising letter strategy
Last time, we looked at creating a year-end strategy for fundraising letters. But in today's world, it's wise to consider complementing these appeals with tools like Facebook and Twitter. According to FundRaising Success Magazine: Between 35 percent to 42 percent of...
Fundraising is NOT the “f” word
I've been amazed at how afraid people can be of asking for money. Some even seem seem afraid of the very word "fundraising." So I've found myself saying "Fundraising is not the 'f' word!" So, with the help of CafePress.com, I've created some t-shirts, mugs, stickers,...
Start your year-end fundraising letter strategy today!
Have you started your year-end fundraising letter yet? Fiscal people can do funny things to the way we measure time. In our organization, our year-end was September 26 this year. Many schools and colleges work on a July-June calendar. Others end their year in February...
Development and Social Media in a nutshell
In the last three weeks, I've given five talks about social media and fundraising to various groups of development officers. Today I was asked to sum up one of the sessions. Summing up social media without slides is challenging but here was my attempt: Social media is...
3 reasons social media is worth the effort for local nonprofits
This past week, I've been privileged to be on a couple panels introducing nonprofit organizations to social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Linked in. While I love these tools, I was quick to express that: They don't replace all the good fundraising practices...
Homeless man leaves $4 million estate
Do you remember Jean Preston, the unassuming librarian who'd amassed an $8 million estate? Or Helene Whitlock Alley, the $100 donor that bequethed $7.3 million to a diabetes group. Well here's another entry in the never underestimate anyone category: Richard Walters....
Fundraising Secret #42: You’ll need to change your schedule
In Fundraising Secret #41, I encouraged you to go rounding on your donors. Since then, I've been reminded how much time this takes! It's not just the visit time, that time is wonderful. But it's time to set up the visits and then, more importantly, the time to record...
Twitter 101: What’s the deal with hashtags (and why should I care?)
All week, I've been sharing the answers I've been giving to questions I've been getting on how to effectively use Twitter. The first two were on what I use to tweet and how to find interesting people to follow. Today is the final installment: What are hashtags? (And...
Twitter 101: Finding Interesting People to Follow
On Monday, I started the first of three posts I'm calling Twitter 101. That post focuses on programs I use to tweet. Today, I'll answer the second question I've been getting: How do I find people to follow on Twitter? How do I find people to follow on Twitter?...
Twitter 101: Basic tips and advanced techniques for using Twitter
Recently, I've been asked how to use Twitter. I've already written on Twitter for Fundraising and Twitter for nonprofits. But these questions were much more "tactical," how-to type questions so I thought I'd share with you what I've been telling folks. The questions...
Fundraising Secret #41: Round with your donors
As fundraisers, we know we are most effective at our job when we're talking to prospects one-on-one. Isn't it amazing how seldom we do it? I've been doing this for years but I'm still amazed at how easily we get caught up in writing case statements, designing...
Local Twestivals: Using Twitter to fundraise for charity
Have you heard about Twestival? In one day last February, people all over the globe used Twitter to organize fundraising events that raised $250,000 for charity:water. Well it's back! This time it's Twestival Local. Hundreds of teams around the world will be raising...
Fundraising Secret #40: Learn from your colleagues
Fundraisers are some of the best people in the world. People committed enough to a cause to ask others to invest in it. They're good with people, great at networking with donors, and quite resourceful. Except when it comes to professional development. I've spoken to...
Fundraising Secret #39: Learn to love objections
If you're going to ask people for money, you've got to learn to love objections. Or at least be comfortable with them! Working on a session for the APRA conference in Boston, I'm relearning how fun objections can be. Seriously, if there were no objections, we wouldn't...
Join the conversation in Twitter – get social with “social media”
I'm thrilled with the increase in Twitter usage I'm seeing! More and more people are checking it out. Here's a tip: feel free to reply to other people's tweets. If people are using Twitter, they know their comments are public. If they wanted to be private, they...
Happy New Year! (Fiscally speaking…)
For many readers of this blog, today is the end of the fiscal year. Congratulations! You’ve made it! What are you doing to celebrate? We live in a fast paced world. And our organization's financial needs are insatiable. All too often, our year end is merely punctuated...
Fundraising Secret #38: Make Online Fundraising Easy
As the recession continues, and our need for funds grows, I continue to believe we'll need a combination of face-to-face experiences with donors augmented by a robust, but appropriate, use of online tools. In my article Bananas and Websites, I give an overview of Seth...
What it really takes to successfully fundraise in a recession
Here's a great piece from Lois Lindauer's latest "Development News" email: AHP Study Demonstrates Value of Fundraisers in Recession The Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) just released results from its 2007 benchmarking survey, which examines nonprofit...
Fundraising Secret #37: Use Powerpoint effectively
I've been through a flurry of bad powerpoint presentations recently. At the last one, the speakers turned their backs to the audience and read the slides word-for-word. I kid you not. Perhaps it was because the words were so tiny none of us could see them. If you're...
Are nonprofit’s helping postpone Alzheimer’s?
Apparently 2009 is going to be the year of learning to delay Alzheimer's. In today's news, work is apparently officially proven to delay Alzheimer's. The equation? 1 year or work = 6 weeks of delay. Earlier this year, I read that drinking strong coffee may reduce the...
Fundraising Secret #36: Keep It Simple
Last week, I had someone pay me a huge, though unintended, compliment when unsubscribing from my email newsletter. She said the content was "far too basic" for her. I was thrilled! I strive to make fundraising simple, basic, and easy to understand. Many of you have...
2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference
This is the time of year when all the nonprofit geeks gather at NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference and when the rest of us who feel techincally savvy realize we're probably just geek-wannabes. 🙂 Even if you not in San Francisco, it's very easy to keep up on...
FREE “Ask Without Fear!” Teleclass
Since this month marks the 1 year anniversary of the publication of "Ask Without Fear!", I'm deciding to have a party! On April 28 at 12 noon Eastern Time, I'll be offering a free teleclass on fundraising in today's economy. To join the call, you just need to go to...
A case for Twitter, Facebook, & social media for healthcare fundraisers
I was just on a call with fellow members of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy folks when someone asked, “Does anyone here use Twitter or Facebook?” It appeared I was the only one using social media for my nonprofit. Many wanted to, but their IT departments...
Managing Assumptions
In the last edition, I mentioned some points taught by Betsy Rigby, Director of Development with Partners HealthCare at the New England Association for Healthcare Philanthropy annual conference in Rhode Island last month. One was the two managment theories,...
Ostrich Mentality: Social Media and Storytelling
The latest edition of FundRaising Success Magazine has a terrific article by Bryan Schoell called Get Your Head Out of the Sand. Here's the begining: People are talking about you online. Ignoring that fact won’t make it go away, so you’d best join in the conversation....