I’ll never forget reading those poll results way back in 2004. If there was one pivotal moment in my career in philanthropy, that was it! My Good Works partners and I had polled Canadian direct mail donors to probe their willingness to leave charitable gifts in their wills – and found that the Canadian legacy gift market was WAY bigger than anyone had anticipated up to that point. From that moment on, my biggest single professional goal was to persuade annual giving fundraisers to see the incredible legacy gift potential among their $50 and $100 donors. Early Lessons In those early days, we fi ..read more

For many of us fundraisers, we’re not far off that magical time of the year: planning season. The time of year when we evaluate this year’s progress and learnings, decide what to stop, start, and continue next year, and develop our all-important budgets and projections. If annual planning isn’t your jam – or you don’t know where to start – fear not. Here are 3 core questions you can ask to guide planning discussions, frame your thinking, and develop a data-driven strategy for your fundraising. If you do it right, you can build a plan that won’t just carry you through next year – it’ll help you ..read more

Closing Date: June 28, 2024 Job Location: Ottawa (Flexible) Years of Experience: 5+ Salary Range: $81,000 – $101,300 Reports To: Director Client Experience What exactly is this position all about? It’s a fundraising consulting gig where you are the lead strategist for a group of clients. You will provide the vision and direction for the annual fundraising programs of charities who work in primarily direct mail, digital and/or legacy giving. Are you passionate about fundraising? Are you a strategic thinker who can mix multiple channels to create integrated fundraising experiences? Can you plan ..read more

We know you’ve been patiently waiting, and it’s finally here –  the 2024 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report  is now ready for you to download and discover! The Cole’s Notes, you ask? TLDR: This year’s benchmarks are relatively flat, with minor swings up or down for the majority of indicators. Direct mail fundraisers, you’ve weathered the storms of pandemic fundraising, and you’ve arrived at your new normal. Download the report What's the role that DM Benchmarks 2024 plays in the story of direct mail fundraising? This is my fifth DM Benchmarks report, so I’ve seen a thi ..read more

Closing Date: 19 April 2024 Job Location: Candidate to be based out of our Ottawa office, which operates with a hybrid model Years of Experience: 2+ Salary Range: $53,400 to $66,800 Reports To: Manager Creative People & Systems The Digital Fundraiser supports the work of our client service teams to establish, develop, enhance and execute digital fundraising programs using a variety of platforms and tools for our charity partners. This role requires strategic development, execution and coordination, project management, and individual contribution as part of a multi-faceted team, based on cl ..read more

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my 10+ years working in the charitable sector, it is: You are not your donor. It can be a hard truth, I know! But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I like, what you like, or what your CEO likes; it matters what donors respond to. And if there’s another thing I’ve learned, it’s that donors will often surprise you! What works for one organization (or even one group of donors within an organization) may totally bomb for another. So, how do you figure out what makes your donors tick? Simple: you test it! If you’ve read my blog, “3 Helpful Tip ..read more

Even though this blog about how to build a fundraising story bank is coming up on five years old, it’s still as relevant as ever. I believe that stories are the most persuasive tool in our box when we tell them right. It’s also been our experience at Good Works that our clients who can generate the best stories often get the best results – especially in legacy giving. So, have a read (or a re-read if you were following us in 2019) and use this method to generate more donors and more revenue! – Fraser Green Didn’t you love it when you were little and your mom or dad read you bedtime stor ..read more

It’s time: we’re headed into the calendar year-end. If you’re anything like us, the chaos is in full swing! So, let us bring some calm to the chaos. Here are some insights and practical year-end fundraising tips from across our team to make your year-end a little less stressful. Trust your strategic fundraising schedule. You made it for a reason. When talking about the scheduling of year-end fundraising, our Director Client Experience, Jenn, had this to say: “I think sometimes when we’re in the thick of it at year-end we start to question our plan. I always say: the second guessing is an exhau ..read more

Your integrated fundraising campaign is like a puzzle. Each piece – the great story, the channels you choose to deliver that story, the clear and compelling call to donate; all of that and more – comes together to create a big picture (that is, a powerful giving experience for your donors!). But there’s another ‘big picture’ that your fundraising puzzle shows you – and it can be a trickier one to see. When you mix together mail, email, search, social, website, video, phone, and any other channels to create a multi-channel donor journey, you will also need to look at the results in a multi-chan ..read more

Have you recently run a Facebook campaign using a lookalike audience? Did it make you doubt whether or not they’re effective? No need to stress out, in this blog we’ll take a deep dive into the world of Facebook targeting. Lookalike audiences in a nutshell For years, organizations have used Facebook’s lookalike audiences to connect with a laser-targeted groups of people who “look like” their current supporters – meaning these people are more likely to take action. Facebook lookalike audiences use data from your source email list to create an audience group that matches the characteristics of y ..read more