When you look at your donor base, what do you see? Do you see a plain filled with stick figures who all look the same? Or do you see a diverse set of people who come from different backgrounds, have different motives driving them to give, and who each want something meaningful from their donation experiences? If you’re like most fundraisers and nonprofits, it’s probably closer to the second option. And if so, that’s good, because donors are not all the same, and you can try treating them as if they are at your own peril. The problem is, most nonprofits are not doing a good job treating their ..read more

It’s the enduring appeal of the scholarship. It is a way for one person to help another person realize their potential. The volume of giving to higher ed is down. The percentage of annual alumni giving has declined over the past three decades. Those that continue to give, however, show a preference for scholarships. Donors to higher ed show less interest in unrestricted giving, endowments (including endowed chairs) and capital improvements. Yet, interest in scholarship support remains strong. In the surveys we conduct, we see most alumni saying no when asked about their interest in supporting ..read more

All your donors are on a journey, whether they know it or not. Some of them are on a journey to get as far away from your organization as they can get. But most of them are looking for someone to go with them on their journey. And if you make yourself available in a friendly, relatable, curious, and sincere way, they’ll welcome your company. For major donors, this is even more important, because few people who give away large sums of money want to do it in total obscurity. Yes, some donors wish to be anonymous. But that’s typically only from the eyes of other donors. To make their gifts anony ..read more

Put the right idea in front of the right door in the right way at the right time. The more consistently you do that, the more support you will receive. Let’s look at each part of the equation: The Right Idea: It’s not your need for operating cash. It’s not your strategic pillars or your hope for more endowment. It’s a compelling “imagine what if” or “who we could better serve” or “how we make an even greater impact.” The Right Donor: It should be someone you know and know to care about the idea in question. If not, it should be someone who has a history of caring about the idea. The more you ..read more

As you begin scouring your donor and supporter databases for your next batch of major donors, where do you begin? How can you tell from the swath of names, addresses, and accompanying data who might be a good candidate for a potential major donor you could reach out to? This is the process of donor identification, and it’s a critical component of any major gifts fundraising strategy. In this article, we’ll walk you through the basics of donor identification so you and any other new gift officers on your team will make good use of your time and only reach out to supporters who could become act ..read more

The Great Obstacle To Professional Growth, Fulfillment and Sound Decision Making It’s the need to be more honest with ourselves. It’s more than self-knowledge. It’s too easy to say, “Yeah, I’ve got that.” In fact, none of us ever fully attain it. Only those with the most self-knowledge realize the length and arduousness of the journey ahead. It’s self acknowledgements of personal, painful truths. The more painful they are to acknowledge, the more likely they are to be true, but when acknowledge to liberate us the way we were programmed in past and to propel us toward fuller self-discovery. It ..read more

As a large or perhaps mid-size nonprofit organization, you probably know the general value of marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot and Salesforce. You may have looked into using one or more of them, or even purchased and used one. But there’s one thing most of these have in common – they were designed for businesses, not nonprofits. And business marketing automation platforms simply can’t deliver what nonprofits need. We’re going to look at several reasons why in this article. What Are the Benefits of Marketing Automation? There’s a reason businesses and nonprofits often end up usin ..read more

To be philanthropic is to acknowledge that we are in this together; that: Your misfortune is mine because I have been lucky and you have not My opportunity is yours because the more doors I can open the more we all share and benefit from each other What threatens some of us, threatens us all; if I help mitigate it, we will all be safer Our joys, be they in the form of art, learning, spirituality, or entertainment, are the most exquisite when most widely shared because of the vast and deep oneness we feel at such moments Yes, philanthropy is defined as the love of humanity but is practiced t ..read more

Do you know what they don’t teach in fundraising school? The situational realities of fundraising, such as: You’re given a goal far greater than any previously achieved at your institution. Your boss chose that goal because other organizations have raised that amount, never mind they had a hundred-year start on you, twelve times the staff, are considered much more prestigious, and have long-established relationships with highly wealthy donors. If other organizations did it so should we, your boss reasons. Setting that unprecedented goal may be the reason your boss got the job, got the board o ..read more

Should you work on building and sustaining long-term donor relationships that lead to major giving, or should you prioritize winning low-dollar gifts as quickly as possible? When it comes to major gifts, the question is a big one. For the most part, focusing on relationships will likely lead to slower initial growth but more big gifts down the road obtained with less effort. And trying to win near-term gifts could possibly lead to more money initially, but the future will be less certain. Which is better? The question itself is much more complex than it seems. It would be better phrased, what ..read more