A truth about major gift fundraising
Major gift fundraising can be a wonderful experience for donors and for the nonprofit. The results are great - both for donors and for the nonprofits. But an unseemly truth about major gift fundraising is: it's hard. There are times of long, disciplined waiting. I...
Is #GivingTuesday worth it?
I've been getting alot of questions about #GivingTuesday. So here are some thoughts and some links to more insights. A few weeks ago, Farra Trompeter and I discussed #GivingTuesday as part of a year end effort on Blackbaud's #NoFilter Podcast. (You can listen to that...
Have you written off someone as a lost cause? #followupfriday
A coaching client just told me a powerful story of following up. For about six months, he was following up with three supporters. Each had made small donations in the past, less then $1,000 each. After about five months of following up, one donor said he'd make a gift...
Is crowdfunding the right fit for your nonprofit?
I've been fundraising since before Facebook. Even before Google existed! I've seen a lot of fads, tricks, and solid strategies in my time. Two of the most persistent seem to be bake sales and crowdfunding. (Seriously, a startling number of well meaning supporters...
How to use a job analysis to get the salary you want
As a trained salary negotiation facilitator, I’ve presented facts, resources and strategies to many individuals across the globe to help them enter into and walking away successfully from negotiation conversations. Today, I want to provide a tool specifically for...
Fundraising Events: The 10-Step Guide to Planning Your Own
Most of us like to believe that we’d give to charity purely out of the goodness of our hearts. It’s also what we’d hope to be true of our donors. 100% altruism. Philanthropy without expectation of reciprocation. But the world doesn’t work that way. That’s why, as...
Do you wish you had the time to educate your board?
Do you ever wish you had the time to educate your board on the field of fundraising and what really works? Now you don't have to! Watch this quick video to see why: Learn more about this done for you course at: http://101.fundraisingcoach.com/ Hurry! Registration...
Taming the Special Event Monster
You know it’s there, lurking in the shadows of your workload. You try to avoid it, but sooner or later it must be dealt with. Your organization is relying on you to step in and be the hero. Now is the time to take a stand and conquer your fears. It is time to take...
Your fundraising letters helped by zombies
Have you ever struggled with the active voice vs. passive voice in your fundraising letters? It's so easy to slip into the passive voice, thinking it sounds more "objective" or "business-like." But active voice is easier to read and is better at accomplishing your...
Telling Stories that Move Donors to Give
It was the midst of the Great Recession, and about one in ten people across the U.S. were out of work. Amadou was one of them. Unemployment benefits helped his family, for a while. But he had worked for a low wage, and his benefits were only a fraction of that—and...
Giving continues to grow
Fundraising in nonprofits can be an almost thankless task. At the end of each fiscal year, no matter how well you did, you start again at zero. It can feel like funds don't come in as quickly as you or your leaders would like. In fact, it's easy to start thinking that...
#FollowUpFriday and piling up fish?
I just sent this out to everyone getting weekly #FollowUpFriday email reminders: It's #FollowUpFriday!It's Follow Up Friday! Over on the http://followupfriday.org/ page, D.C. Dreger quoted a John Grisham character calling today "fish Friday." D.C. says, "These are...
One of 2016’s top 25 Fundraising Experts
I'm honored to find myself on the list of America's Top 25 Fundraising Experts. It's great to be in the company of people like Jerold Panas, Penelope Burk, Tom Ahern, and Simone Joyaux. You can see more about the list at: 2016 America's Top 25 Fundraising...
Mobile Giving 101
Mobile giving is one of the hottest topics in town. That being said, many people have been throwing the term around without fully understanding its practices or implications. It’s more than just texting to give. And that’s precisely why we’ve crafted this essential...
Is your mission statement trying too hard?
Can you recite your nonprofit's mission statement? Does it inspire and energize? Or is is more like a laundry list of tasks? If it sounds like tasks, it's hurting your fundraising. Your nonprofit's mission is vital. It's needed. It should inspire passion. When it...
One way to avoid a failed capital campaign
Recently, I've been getting a lot of questions about capital campaigns. Some nonprofits are going into them wisely, knowing that they have one-time additional costs to be able to better fulfill their mission. Others are looking at a campaign like a "Hail Mary" pass -...
Tips & Tricks from the Foundation Side of Grant Seeking
Grant seeking is a distinct form of fundraising - one that can seem like a complete mystery. That's why I asked Diane H. Leonard to share some tips. She's not only written grants, she's successfully helped others write them. More importantly, she's even worked in a...
How Small Shops Can Overcome the Challenges of Fundraising Software
Too many nonprofits think that choosing a fundraising software provider is the end of a journey. It's really just the beginning. Using software is essential, but the use you'll get from it is only as good as your data and the training your provide your team. And the...
Fundraising like Linus: what security blanket are you clinging to?
Last week, I sent out a fundraising coaching email to Fundraising Kick subscribers asking them if they were fundraising like Linus. My grandfather loved Charles Schulz's Peanuts comics. Everytime we went to his house, we’d see lots of Peanuts characters: Charlie...
What is The Concord Leadership Group LLC?
Some of you have been seeing my name associated with at group called "The Concord Leadership Group LLC." You've seen it mentioned in the emails you get from The Fundraising Coach. And over the last few weeks, since the release of the nonprofit sector leadership...
Are you following up on your quality of life? #followupfriday
It's Follow Up Friday! In most of my #followupfriday email reminders, I encourage subscribers to reach out to people or following up on uncompleted tasks. Often they're following up with donors and prospects and staff. But today, I invited them to do a follow up of...
Have you tried fundraising in a “vision vacuum”?
I've been a leadership guy a lot longer than I've been a fundraising coach. In fact, one of the things I love about nonprofit fundraising is that fundraising impacts all areas of leadership: mission, vision, values, staff recruitment and retention, communicating...
Is your community suffering from an attack of a charity ideology?
If you are paying attention to government actions and media reports, it is easy to see that nonprofit work is under consistent attack. Local and state governments are threatening to tax charities. Federal governments are testing new regulations that would never be...
Watch the fundraising objections fall to the floor
Last week, I was invited to give a full day Ask Without Fear!® training in Kansas City. We had a blast. One of the exercises involved overcoming objections…even before they come up. The process was: The participants pictured someone on their “chicken list” - a...
![[Guest Post] Top 10 Tips for Growing Your Matching Gift Program](https://cdn.fundraisingcoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/02230718/adam-weinger-headshot-vertical-200w.png)
[Guest Post] Top 10 Tips for Growing Your Matching Gift Program
I've been impressed with the number of nonprofits actively educating about matching gifts. I'm seeing it on thank you pages and hearing about it from coaching clients. This is relatively easy money that many are missing out on. So I invited Double the Donation...
Relationship Fundraising in the 21st Century – An academic study by Rogare
We live in the best time to fundraise! No longer are we at the mercy of the latest anecdote. Now we have a growing body of solid research into how to best help donors to invest in what matters to them most! Take this as an example: for over a year, the folks at...
A simple personal leadership tool for executive directors and fundraisers
Or how to answer the question "What do you do with your time?" In the last couple weeks, I've found myself sharing a tool with each of my private coaching clients. So I thought I'd share it with you too! As a fundraiser, I know that I'm raising money most effectively...
A warning about fall fundraising appeals
Fall fundraising is hard enough. But listening to NPR's All Things Considered on my ride home this evening, I remembered how much more challenging political mailing will make your fundraising this fall. So I pulled to the side of the rode to record this...
4 things to check as you begin 2016
I find it so easy to keep looking for the new thing, pressing toward the next deadline, looking for the next big "win," that I tend to forget routine maintenance systems. But just like our cars need routine maintenance or they'll fall apart, so do our fundraising...
PSA: Check your nonprofit’s donation page NOW
Don't let this happen to you! Last night, my wife and I were doing some year-end giving. We went to a nonprofit we love and found this on their donation page: Where there should have been a giving form, there was just a line of code. No way to give online at all....