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...
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[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....
The 4 Donor Groups You Need to Contact Before the End of Year
As we've been approaching the end of year, my coaching clients are asking me to help them prioritize their major gift fundraising contacts. Here are some of the ideas I share with them. 1. People who gave in November or December in 2014 but haven't yet this year These...
How to not bore your donors to tears
Do you fear your donors are bored with you? Here's some good news: with all the holiday parties at this time of year, you have virtual laboratory for learning to be interesting! How to be interesting to your donors In his classic How to Win Friends and Influence...
Averting the coming nonprofit leadership crisis – a study
We've been inspired to launch a nonprofit leadership survey. Last month's post on fundraising problems being leadership problems really hit a nerve. And it's no wonder. Charities are getting hit hard from outside pressures but based on my experience with the coaching...
5 Amazing Prospect Research Tools to Learn More About Your Current Donors
I'm pleased to welcome back Bill Tedesco, founder and CEO of DonorSearch, my favorite prospect research tool. I love how easy they make it for nonprofits to do the research that helps you treat your donors well and raise the money you need to fund your mission. In...
Enter into the DONOR’S story
Last week at the Blackbaud conference, I heard yet another story of good fundraising letters being eviscerated by marketing. Unfortunately, it happens all the time. A fundraiser studies her craft, reads the results of fundraising tests, and creates a compelling...
2 morning tasks to super charge your nonprofit social media strategies #bbcon
At Blackbaud's Conference for the Philanthropic Community in Austin this week, I got to hear Austin Graff share tips from his experiences with IJM (International Justice Mission) and Honest Tea. He said two things that are super simple and super powerful for making...
4 Questions to Answer for Monthly Giving #bbcon
I'm attending the last day of BBCON - Blackbaud's Conference for the Philanthropic Community and just got to here an amazing 15-minute session by Brady Josephson. He outlined the four questions you need to answer when setting up your monthly giving program. Here they...
Fundraising problems are LEADERSHIP problems
A couple weeks ago, I shared a story with nonprofit executive directors who get my Fundraising Kick coaching emails. It's important enough that I want to share it with you too. In September, I was privileged to keynote for the Utah Nonprofits Association. My talk was...
The right use of “we” in fundraising
This morning, I read a great post by Terry St. Marie called "The Critical First Step For Great Leadership: The Journey From 'I' to 'We'." His movement from ego-centricity to inclusiveness is something as critical in fundraising as it is in leadership. Normally "we" is...