The 50 best blog posts of 2015!

Happy new year! We wish you the best 2016 you can imagine!

Before we share the Top 50 best blog posts of 2015, we want to thank our readers, bloggers, donors and 101 team.

First of all, let’s start with you, our readers! There were 144,000 of you this year, from 128 different countries. Our community keeps growing every year! Thank you for coming back every week. We love you. Looking at your reading behaviour we can only assume you love us too. Also on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Thank you!

Then, our bloggers, we have so many bloggers, sometimes there is a waiting line! But they are all very special to us. Thank you bloggers for sharing your wisdom, for giving us your opinions, for your voluntary contribution to our for-change sector. The fundraising profession is getting smarter everyday and that’s because of you. Thousands of amazing charities are raising more funds than before, and that’s because of you. We even want to go this far: the world is becoming a better place, because of you. Thank you!

Third, we want to thank our very own donors! Recently we launched a crowdfunding intitiative to support our mission to share fundraising insights on a global scale. Many loyal fundraisers have responded already, as you can see in our 101 Hall of Fame. That’s really heartwarming! Thank you! But, we could use more help. So, if you also want to be part of our 101 family please consider giving 101fundraising a small donation. Thank you!

Then, last, but certainly not least, our 101 team. We run 101% on volunteers. Ever since the creation of 101fundraising in 2010, we have an amazing team of volunteers who spends countless hours in getting your weekly portion of fundraising insights. At the same time we are all fundraisers with a very busy job. So, join me in thanking this awesome group of dedicated fundraisers who loves fundraising, but above all, loves sharing fundraising knowledge. Thank you Reinier, Jeroen, Sarah, Marjolein, Victor, Elsbeth and Rebecca!

And now… it’s time for the best fundraising blog posts of 2015…

If you haven’t read these posts yet, drop everything you’re doing and start reading right now. From top to bottom. And special congratulations to Giles and Charlie this year!

Please share this list with your own networks. Thanks and enjoy…

1) If you want more money, stop asking for it! – Giles Pegram
2) How to reduce attrition 50% by doing (almost) nothing – Charlie Hulme
3) The State of Relationship Fundraising – A Conversation – Giles Pegram
4) How to be relevant to your donors – Charlie Hulme
5) Are we really going to pretend it didn’t happen? – Charlie Hulme
6) Trustees/Board Members: Best friends or worst enemies? – Richard Radcliffe
7) Mid-level donors and the element of surprise – Maeve Strathy
8) How to nurture happy fundraisers – Sarah Clifton
9) The State of Relationship Fundraising – A Conversation, Part II – Giles Pegram
10) Think, Feel, Do Major Gift Magic – Karen Osborne
11) A tale of two donors – Charlie Hulme
12) Fundraisers: you need to be one to hire one – Reinier Spruit
13) Why I’m Not a Fan of Welcome Packs – Margaux Smith
14) Can you create a culture of increased giving? – Karen Osborne
15) The curse of the 20:2 principle – Lucy Gower
16) Five big reasons your fundraising results could be better – Rachel Beer
17) Why so many organisations fail at Facebook – Beate Sørum
18) How we Raised the $ to Sponsor a Large Refugee Family from Syria – Rebecca Davies
19) Does being donor-focused have to mean giving donors choice? – Matthew Sherrington
20) Four Things from #IFC2015 That Will Help You be a Better Fundraiser – Rory Green
21) Making and KEEPING Major Gift (and Personal) New Year’s Resolutions – Karen Osborne
22) A retention vision like Billie Holiday – Reinier Spruit
23) Why use the ‘WHY’ in 2015? – Vera Peerdeman
24) Blue Ocean Strategy – a new approach to strategy and an opportunity for fundraisers? – Angela Cluff
25) How we destroyed our most important asset – and how we’ll mend it – Charlie Hulme
26) Relationship Fundraising: It’s complicated – Rachel Beer
27) Can we expect an Airbnb or Uber in charity land? – Vera Peerdeman
28) Are You Addicted to Acquisition (AA)? – Ece Ünver
29) The Future of Fundraising – Tim Hopkins
30) I Premium Direct Mail!!!! – Sean Triner
31) Apples and Pears: The Curse of the ROI Fundraising Ratio – Matthew Sherrington
32) Vive la fundraising révolution – the time is now – Richard Turner
33) Yesterday’s Trail-blazing and pointers for tomorrow. Listen up. – Matthew Sherrington
34) Have we reached boiling point? – Why we need fundraising to change – Richard Turner
35) Silver bullets and cross stitch – Lucy Gower
36) You’re bound to blow it with a donor or two… – The Whiny Donor
37) Donor-centred fundraising – are you prepared to take a leap of faith? – Jackie Fowler
38) How to ‘WOW’ your trustees by reducing your ROI – Giles Pegram
39) Storytelling – it’s more important than you think – Richard Turner
40) Where now for fundraising? – Ken Burnett
41) Are you representing or stereotyping the people you serve? – Matthew Sherrington
42) Your Inner Fundraising Voice – Fundraising Yoda
43) The price we pay for losing sight of the donor – Giles Pegram
44) Lessons in Corporate Giving from the Maple Syrup Mafia – Rory Green
45) Peer-to-peer: fundraising without borders – Rebecca Davies
46) “Ah, Integration: If Only …” Whether you Will or Whether you Won’t, it’s All in the Mind – Matthew Sherrington
47) For major gifts success: rely on proven systems. Not luck, hope, or willpower – K. Michael Johnson
48) 8 Recommendations to optimize F2F – Daryl Upsall
49) Announcing: Top 20 Peer-to-Peer Events in the Netherlands – Jillian Stewart
50) Things to Know Before You Tackle Your Next (Fundraising) Writing Project – Anne Melanson

You are more than welcome to re-publish these blog posts elsewhere. If you do, please add that it “has been published prior on 101fundraising – Crowdblog on Fundraising” with a link to our crowdblog. We’d also appreciate it if you inform us. Thanks!

[Source: Google Analytics 1 January – 30 December 2015. Questions? E-mail us.]