Coaching Services
Since more people are asking about coaching, I've updated my Fundraising Coaching Services page at Fundraisingcoach.com. Let me know if I can be of service!
Book update
I've been emailing with the publishers of Ask Without Fear! A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors with What Matters to Them Most. They assure me the book will be in print by the end of February/beginning of March. As hard as it is for me to believe, there are other...
A resource for your new year
Squidoo
I've just tweaked my page at Squidoo. Sorry. My "lens" at Squidoo! If you use Squidoo, I'd love to hear the things you like most about it. Feel free to post a comment here.
Percentage Based Fundraising
If I had a nickel for every time I was asked if I'd work for a percentage of funds raised, I'd be a rich man. But fundraisers that have been in the field far longer than my measly 10 years have long been against this practice. The idea appeals to the entrepreneur in...
Fundraising Secret #9: Don’t innovate just to innovate
Liz Strauss has a great post on innovation at Brainless Business Bible: Customers want innovation. She says a speaker at a conference emphatically said "Customers want innovation." He even had a powerpoint slide with that on it. But, as she points out, customers are...
20% off selected products at the Fundraising Coach Store
To help you jumpstart your 2008 fundraising success, I'm offering 20% off two of my most popular offerings: Creating Donor Evangelists program gives you easy to implement tools to help take your relationships with your donors to the next level. If you want to learn...
Fundraising Secret #8: Plan Your Work; Work Your Plan
Whether your fiscal year is based on a calendar year or some other cycle (ours starts in October!), December is a great time to review your goals. So often we're running so hard and fast that we don't take time to look up and see what direction we're running in! Years...
Fundraising Secret #7: Don’t ask for money on a postcard
In keeping with the fundraising secrets on using the PS and writing with blue ink, I'm offering Fundraising Secret #7: Don't ask for money on a post card (or a credit card number on a postcard). It's amazing but some of us do it! I did it last year. It seemed like an...
Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants
Nancy Schwartz is hosting this month's Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. Check it out to see what the three top things some of us are committing to in 2008. It's not to early to start thinking about your 2008 goals. Be sure to check out my MagnetGoals program!
Not Enough Status
Just made a reservation for the New England Association of Healthcare Philanthropy 2008 Conference at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa. The call to the Marriott reservations person was friendly. He knew of the conference discount. He not only asked if I was a Marriott...
3 Marketing To Do’s for 2008
Nancy Schwartz is hosting the next Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. This time the question is: What are the Top 3 "To Dos" on Your 2008 Nonprofit Marketing Agenda? Here are my three: Develop a plan to proactively promoting my new book Ask Without Fear! A Simple...
The “you” test
Mal Warwick first got me thinking about how often I use "you" (or I don't use "you"!) in my fundraising letters. Here's a sort of test I saw in Fundraising Success magazine. Does Your Messaging Pass the ‘You’ Test? “The ‘you’ test is the quickest, surest way I know to...
Ask Without Fear Book Update!
Early this morning I received the final design of my book Ask Without Fear! . I'm so excited! This now goes to the publisher for printing. I'm not sure what the final time table is but the book is closer than it's ever been to being in print!! To take advantage of the...
November Giving Carnival 2
The November question for the Giving Carnival is: “What business practices should nonprofits adopt to maximize their resources?” My first answer dealt with having our financial house in order. But there's another wonderful business practice I think nonprofits could...
November Giving Carnival
The November question for the Giving Carnival is: "What business practices should nonprofits adopt to maximize their resources?" Great question! I think a very helpful business practice would be having open books. Donors are used to living in a world of increasing...
How to write a thank you letter
Happy Thanksgiving! Looking for some good quality, inexpensive thank-you cards online, I Googled "Thank You cards." I was pleasantly surprised to find a link to a fantastic article on how to write a thank you note. The key points made be the author Leslie Harpold...
Blogging from Blackbaud
Greetings from Charleston, SC! Here at Blackbaud's Conference on Nonprofits. I got to spend 3 1/2 hours with the amazing fundraising mind of Mal Warwick. I wish I'd had this before I sent my year-end appeal text to the printer. 🙂 I've been at this for more than 10...
Fundraising Secret #6: ALWAYS use a PS
In Fundraising Secret #5: Use Blue Ink, I encouraged you to enhance your direct mail with a simple bit of color. Another oft overlooked tool in fundraising letters is the P.S. Postscripts are so important to fundraising letters, I often tell seminar attendees that...
Media Habits
Nancy Schwartz at the Getting Attention Blog has a terrific post about the .media habits of people aged 12-24 and 25-50. Check read through the summary and see if it can help your fundraising and the way you interact with your donors and pre-donors. I bet alumni...
Don’t mess with us nonprofits!?
This is too odd a tale to be made up. Robbing a nonprofit? An employee of World Relief shooting someone? Especially when World Relief is part of the National Association of Evangelicals? Here's the entire blurb as seen in today's daily by the Chronicle of...
Paying Volunteers?
The Chronicle on Philanthropy had a brief article this week about the growing practice of paying volunteers: Retired People Demand Pay for Volunteering at Charities. Huh? If you pay...doesn't that make them employees? I thought the lack of pay was the primary...
More on the Silver Tsunami
Ellen Goodman has a great editorial on the Al Gore Population. Here's a brief part of the editorial: As a country, we are at the beginning of an enormous transition. Under the old compact, sixtysomethings were supposed to get out of the way and out of work. They were...
The “Silver Tsunami”
Last Monday, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling applied for her Social Security benefits. According to the Reuters, Casey-Kirschling is the first Boomer to apply for Social Security. Why does this matter? The "silver tsunami" has started. Casey-Kirschling may be the first, but...
Make Their Day
This was in our internal "daily" here at Inland Hospital. What a great reminder! FISH! Make Their Day The Pike Place Fish guys make a difference for everyone around them. They “make their day’ by having fun and inviting others to join in. It’s hard for anyone to...
What not to do with email
Here's a great blog post on how not to send an email message. Please do yourself a favor and read: Six Ways to Screw Up a Customer Email. Are you guilty of doing you any of these?
Good and Bad Fundraising
Jeff Brooks over at the ever insightful Donor Power Blog, has a great comparison of traditional fundraising vs. effective fundraising. (He calls it: The differences between good and bad fundraising.)
Free Ask Without Fear! Bookmarks
Last Friday, I received 1,000 Ask Without Fear! bookmarks! I'd love to give them away to as many people as want them. To get your free, ultra-special Ask Without Fear! bookmark, simply snail mail a self addressed stamped envelope to me at: Marc A. Pitman...
Fundraising Secret #5: Use Blue Ink
The last couple Fundraising Secrets (Nobody owes you anything and You're not begging!) have been quite intense. So I thought I'd take it down a notch with Fundraising Secret #5: Use Blue Ink. If you're in fundraising, you're in the direct mail business. So it would...
Executive Coaching of Nonprofit Executives
Discussions like this just warm my heart! Online Discussion: Executive Coaching A growing number of charity leaders are seeking professional coaches to meet challenges on the job, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports, and two management experts will be available...