A common refrain in fundraising is how important it is to engage donors before asking for a gift. And yet, engaging donors is easier said than done. Engaging Major Gift Donors, Campaign-Style Experienced fundraisers know they are supposed to ask donors for advice. In other words, ask them for something other than money. Asking for advice … [Read more...]
How to Determine the Right Ask Amount for Each and Every Donor
Although you should be asking for major gifts all year long, Q4 is a prime time for raising major gifts. So, there’s no better time to think about how to determine an ask amount than right now. While there’s no exact scientific formula to determine an ask amount, below are some guidelines to help you start thinking about your ask amount in … [Read more...]
How to Use Your Database to Identify Your Best Donors
Your donor database can be a great resource if you know how to use it to identify your biggest and most loyal donors. How to Identify Your Largest Donors Finding your largest donors can be trickier than you think. You'll need to open your donor database and look at three key reports: Run a report of the largest single gifts given over … [Read more...]
3 Critically Important Ways of Measuring Fundraising Success
The most obvious way of measuring fundraising success is dollars raised. However, when your boss and board only focus on dollars raised, they miss a huge piece of the picture -- and that can have serious consequences. Let’s take the example of a new Development Director named Sasha. Sasha's Story: Is She Doing a Great Job? In her first … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 4: Stewardship
Stewardship is the fourth and final stage of the fundraising cycle. (Step 1 is Donor Identification, Step 2 is Cultivation and Step 3 is Solicitation.) What is Stewardship? Everything that happens after a gift is made is a part of stewardship. In other words, all forms of expressing gratitude and letting the donor know how their gift was … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 3: Solicitation
This is part three of my “back to basics” series on how to raise major gifts during Covid and beyond. Part two looked at cultivation (step 2 in the fundraising cycle). Although there aren’t very many silver linings when it comes to COVID, there is one important change for fundraisers in terms of how we ask for gifts. A key result of forced … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 2: Cultivation
This is part two of my “back to basics” series on how to raise major gifts during Covid and beyond. Part one looked at donor identification (step 1 in the fundraising cycle). Remember, there are four steps in the fundraising cycle: Identification – Who you will raise money from Cultivation – Building relationships with potential … [Read more...]
Raising Major Gifts Post-COVID – Part 1: Donor Identification
Over the years, I’ve written a lot about how to raise major gifts, but it's been a long time since I’ve gotten back to basics. As the pandemic is winds down, it's helpful to consider how things have changed as we review the basics. With that in mind, here’s part one of a 4-part series on how to raise major gifts in a post-pandemic … [Read more...]
Christmas in July: The Best Time to Prepare for Year-End Fundraising
If your fiscal year ended on June 30th, as is the case with many nonprofits, you may be taking a well-deserved week off after closing out your “year-end” last week. And after some much-needed rest and relaxation, it’s time to start planning for the calendar year-end (regardless of when your fiscal year-end is). 3 Steps to Prepare for … [Read more...]
AFP ICON: Fundraising Trends, Data, Interactive Meetings, and More!
This week is the Association of Fundraising Professionals' International Conference (aka AFP-ICON). I’ve attended this conference every year for over a decade, in addition to speaking nearly every year. While many of us (loyal attendees) had hoped this year’s conference would be in-person, it is fully virtual for a second year due to the … [Read more...]
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