Back off, Old Man. It ain’t your time yet. This year we didn’t even make it through Halloween before you could see decorations for sale, toys being stocked, and Christmas music playing…poor Thanksgiving doesn’t stand a chance. I get it. After all, Christmas time is make-or-break for retailers and, boy, are they ready to get your money. But does your nonprofit have the same mentality? I get it. End-of-year fundraising time is make-or-break for nonprofits and, boy, are they ready to get those donations. Unfortunately, while Target can get away with Christmas displays and Hark! The Herald Ange ..read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought plenty of obstacles to the nonprofit sector. In some ways, however, we did see growth. Charitable giving increased from a record high of $471.44 billion in donations made in the United States by individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations (Giving USA 2021: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2020) to the formal and informal mutual aid groups that formed.  However, all funding is not equal. I’m a fundraising coach and consultant, and I’ve seen many organizations receive grant funding in the past two years specifically for Covid-19 reli ..read more

November has arrived, and with it, an increasing flurry of communications ranging from political ads to door-busting holiday sales to year-end giving requests. If you are anything like me, if opening social media apps or checking my inbox didn’t already feel daunting, this avalanche of communication makes me want to leave my devices with my seven-year old (who learns through destruction).  Even if our message is meaningful and brilliant, how can we ensure that we will connect with our key audiences, especially during peak fundraising season? Our friends at NeonOne report that a third of ..read more

When it comes to fundraising, we often strive to use storytelling and tugging of heartstrings to appeal to potential donors. But there is a science behind doing this well. Research conducted on effective marketing tactics and donor psychology are extremely beneficial to crafting communications that engage donors. When data drives our decisions we get better results – and our causes benefit. Many consultants share what works for them, and often have helpful data they’ve been able to collect based on their experience. Think tanks, such as Rogare, the Fundraising Think Tank, also produce researc ..read more

Thinking about your nonprofit’s next annual report? Annual reports were the first topic we developed training on here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide way back in 2008. So we have lots of great best practices, examples, and templates to share with you as your plan, write, design, and publish yours. We even have an online course on short annual reports. Let’s get into it! Planning Your Nonprofit Annual Report First of all, if creating your nonprofit’s annual report is a dreaded chore, take heart and read this case study: How I Came to Love My Nonprofit’s Annual Report — and How You Can Love Yours ..read more

Based on some questions we got during last week’s webinar Getting People to Click: How to Write (Ethically!) for Opens, Clicks, and Conversions (recording available with an All-Access Pass), many of you still aren’t maintaining healthy email lists even though we’ve been talking about this for over 2 years now. This is concerning any time of year, but believe it or not, year-end giving is right around the corner and a clean email list is essential for making it through the more rigorous filters inbox providers put up to handle the influx of holiday messaging. See more in Here are 6 things you ..read more

As a grant writing coach, sometimes I think that I have heard it all between my own personal experiences and the stories that my students relay to me. “Sheleia, I need a grant writer; how can I guarantee they will win an award before I hire them?” Or, “I’ve paid this grant writer thousands of dollars, It’s been almost a year, and they never sent me a submission receipt or let me know if I won anything. What should I do? In starting my own company, I’ve had to learn my boundaries and identify not only what I do but what I don’t do as well. I, a young, Black, woman, have had to ensure that my t ..read more

Follow Gladiator Consulting on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Storytelling is a powerful tool. It not only connects our donors with the individuals we are serving. It also allows those we serve to see themselves reflected in the stories of others. It gives real-life examples that can live alongside quantitative data. Long story-short, storytelling connects our work in meaningful, transformational ways to our community members. It is a powerful tool that, when used with an equity and justice lens, can honor the stories and experiences of those you serve and invite others into your movement ..read more

Follow Gladiator Consulting on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. At the end of 2021, your organization went through many painstaking weeks and months drafting (and re-drafting, and re-drafting) an organizational budget that is fiscally responsible, grows capacity, and allows mission fulfillment. It required a lot of negotiation and compromise. There might be some risk, like big revenue goals or requiring increased frugality AND programming. Or perhaps, you had hoped for more budget for technology or additional staff that you did not get. But, here we are in January, and the budget has been ap ..read more

After my college internship at a national performing arts nonprofit was complete, I landed my first salaried job at a large financial services holding company that housed more than 80 different brands. We had a marketing team nearing 30 people, our own in-house print shop, photo studio, plentiful project budgets, and regular tech upgrades. Not to mention the weekly happy hours and fully stocked snack bar just for our department. We even had access to a private gym, complete with a personal trainer and fitness classes.  Despite all of these perks (and much to my mother’s dismay) in the sum ..read more