2014 overview: The 50 best blog posts!

Happy new year! We hope you have a terrific 2015! And we wish you health, happiness and heaps of fundraising success!

Before we share the Top 50 best blog posts of 2014, let’s have a brief look at the 2014 highlights.

• We have 60+ active bloggers! And together they published 100+ posts in 2014 with awesome insights! Thank you bloggers, you are the best!
• Around 135,000 fundraisers from practically all over the world visited our blog. That’s 69% up from last year! And you viewed 284,000 pages. And that’s 60% up from last year. Thank you readers!
• Top 10 countries: USA, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, India, Germany, Ireland, France, New Zealand.
• Top 10 cities: London, Toronto, Amsterdam, Sydney, New York, Dublin, Melbourne, Vancouver, Chicago, Washington.
• Mobile visits grew with 124% and tablet with 94% (while desktop only grew with 57%.)
• We now have 15,867 followers on Twitter, 5,246 connections on LinkedIn, 3,863 fans on Facebook and 2,175 newsletter subscribers… Thank you for connecting, following and sharing!

It’s not surprising that we’ve grown so much, because we’ve put more of our time and energy in 101 than ever before, with an even bigger team. We’re doing everything we can to deliver the best fundraising insights!

• We also launched the #101webinar initiative this year, and there are plans to do more in 2015!
• Thank you IFC for having us as your official blog partner!
• Thank you SOFII for partnering up with us and spreading our blog posts even further!
• A big thanks to all fellow fundraising blogs and websites for your traffic: Fundraising Detective, The Agitator, Fundraising Success Magazine, Future Fundraising Now, SOFII, fondsenwerving.org, Top Nonprofits, AFP, Think and Osocio!

And last, but certainly not the least, give it up for the 101fundraising team! We run 101% on volunteers. Thank you 101 team!

And now… it’s time for the best fundraising blog posts of 2014!

If you haven’t read these posts yet, drop everything you’re doing and start reading right now! Please share this list with your own networks. Thank you!

1) Why I Don’t Donate To Charity:Water – Simon Scriver
2) 25 awesome fundraising quotes – Reinier Spruit
3) The BIG 5 in fundraising performance metrics – Reinier Spruit
4) To CFRE or not to CFRE – that is the question – Rory Green
5) Are communications departments the enemy of fundraisers? – Richard Radcliffe
6)  Double your digital fundraising – by fixing donation forms – Beate Sørum
7) How to Get Prospects to Call You Back – K. Michael Johnson
8) ASKphobia: How To Overcome Ask Aversion – Rory Green
9) Wake up to the new rules of fundraising! – Richard Turner
10) Relationship Fundraising needs a brand re-fresh. How about Engagement Fundraising? – Matthew Sherrington
11) “I am calling you, because …”  10 reasons to give your donor a call – Chantal Visser
12) Are you answering the right questions if you don’t want to bore people? – Matthew Sherrington
13) Not relationships VS results – relationships FOR results – Rory Green
14) 4th Annual Fundraising Growth Analysis – Reinier Spruit
15) Retention Fundraising: adapt or die! – Reinier Spruit
16) What Crowd-funding can teach Fundraisers about Winning – Matthew Sherrington
17) Good donors, bad donors – Francesco Ambrogetti
18) What you must know (and a few things you probably don’t) as an international fundraiser – Sarah Clifton
19) Who Would You Rather Ask for a Gift: a Woman or a Man? – Rory Green & Tom Ahern
20) If It Were Easy To Do, We Wouldn’t Need You – Karen Osborne
21) You just gotta love older people – Sean Triner
22) My Top 5 Takeaways From the International Fundraising Congress – Rory Green
23) How effective is your welcome program? – Erik van Dorp
24) Relationships vs. Results – Margaux Smith
25) Strong fundraisers, weak bosses? – Rebecca Davies
26) Interviewing for a job? Here are the top 5 questions that you should be asking – Joe Matassino
27) Even for a charity there’s no such thing as a free lunch – Ken Burnett
28) Are you in danger of becoming a robot fundraiser? – Rachel Beer
29) Treat donors like the superheroes they are – Laura Iancu
30) Fire Your Donors – Josh Bowman
31) How Much Money Will You Waste This Year? – Charlie Hulme
32) The donor pyramid is no panacea – Ken Burnett
33) December “Glass Balls” for Major Gift Teams – Karen Osborne
34) How Philanthropic are Fundraisers? – Joe Matassino
35) Olympic Edition: fundraise like a bobsledder – Rebecca Davies
36) Is it me you’re looking for? The sad extinction of the donor sapiens – Francesco Ambrogetti
37) Evidence and Ideas:  The scientific approach to fundraising? – Alan Clayton
38) Where my girls at?* – Margaux Smith
39) Everything that is wrong with our retention programmes and how to put them right – Charlie Hulme
40) What I Learned At #IWITOT – Georgia Bridgwood
41) A few words about Ebola and you – Francesco Ambrogetti & Derek Humphries
42) Shouldn’t ‘Best’ Practises Do Better? – Charlie Hulme
43) What’s it like to be old? (By Richard Radcliffe, aged 60) – Richard Radcliffe
44) Brand awareness is King! Or is it? – Sean Triner
45) Who do you think you are? – Rebecca Davies
46) Can anyone write a good direct mail pack? – Lucy Gower
47) Fundraisers need to ask themselves why, at least five times each day – Giles Pegram
48) The Call for Leaders – Margaux Smith
49) Fundraising Lessons from a Con-Man – Matthew Sherrington
50) A Crisis in the making – Tony Elischer

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 2014. Questions? E-mail us.]