As a fundraiser, who do you consider to be your most important stakeholder? Think about it for a while. Actually, you probably didn’t need to think about for very long at all. You said donors, Read more…
Many fundraisers are aware of relationship fundraising. Ken Burnett’s famous book Relationship Fundraising has opened many eyes over the last 25 years. There aren’t many fundraisers who haven’t read this book. However, its vision and Read more…
2016 is ending not completely without marvel for me. Two great things happened last week. First, on December 16, the family of Canadian philanthropists Larry and Judy Tanenbaum donated $20 million to create the Tanenbaum Read more…
I’d be shocked if there were any, or many, Trump supporters among this community of fundraising hipsters. But how many otherwise great people inadvertently emulate him as fundraising practitioners? What do I mean? Well, if Read more…
I remember volunteering for Childline. Kids would phone, text or e-mail with all sorts of questions and stories – from horrific cases of abuse to completely nonsensical banter. Many calls were pranks…groups of kids phoning Read more…
Sometimes it’s the simple things that transform the relationship with a donor into something magic. As part of my quest for examples of the best donor-centric fundraising for The Commission on the Donor Experience I Read more…
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in my pajamas, slowly adjusting back to Eastern Standard Time after a week in the Netherlands. I just had the incredible honour of attending the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) Read more…
Rockstar Amanda Palmer said it in the opening plenary of the #IFC2016 : “A relationship is not a trick“. And it came back to me throughout the conference. The best donor relations are based on authenticity and reciprocity. If that’s Read more…
Ever heard the joke about the statistician who put his head in an oven, feet in a freezer and confidently claimed “On average, I feel fine”? It came to mind as I read the recent Read more…
I’m proud to call myself a Fundraiser. It’s who I am, it’s what I do, it’s kind of in my core. But there is a challenge. A donor really, really doesn’t want to be ‘fundraised’. Read more…
You already know the importance of asking strategic questions and listening to understand (rather than to respond or even worse not listen and only react). Having strategic conversations with your donors, helps you establish rapport, Read more…
As professional fundraisers we often feel like fishermen. We dangle our best case messaging like bait over a pool of potential donors and wait patiently (or not so patiently) until they take it and make Read more…
Last week Jeff Brooks reminded his readers how to write an effective thank you to your excellent donors. In order to “thank your donors so they really feel thanked” you need to know the following Read more…
Stop for a moment. Forget any fundraising crisis. This might be hard considering recent blogs which have included headlines such as: “When fundraising hurts” “Relationship fundraising: It’s complicated” “Have we reached boiling point?” “The price Read more…
Christmas is coming and during the next month or so the final edits of this year’s TV appeals will be finished, cold mailings will be sent to fulfilment houses and telephone banks will be priming Read more…
A couple of years’ ago, a wise and brilliant friend, also a fundraiser, said to me over coffee: ‘Relationship Fundraising only needed to be written because the invention of databases meant fundraising could be done Read more…
Good news for major gift fundraisers: major donors feel (way) more engaged than NGOs think. Apart from giving money, major donors want to invest their time in, and share their network with, NGOs. Also, the Read more…
Think of some things that you would consider unethical for a fundraiser to do. You probably came up with stuff such as putting pressure on donors, making them feel guilty, targeting vulnerable people, using shock Read more…
~Numerous Jedi Masters have translated this post from Yoda’s unique way of speaking to improve reading ease.~ There is much Dark Side fundraising being done in our sector. Yet no one fundraiser is to blame. Read more…
With so much concern about how the charity sector treats donors and those it hopes will become supporters, suddenly the donor is right there in the spotlight. What do donors want? How can we meet Read more…
One of my long term mantra’s has been to ‘use windows, not mirrors’, a simple way of reminding myself that truly to move forward, be in line with the market place and to have any Read more…
Sooner or later, you’re going to get a donor like me. I’m that awful donor who expects to be thanked immediately, is quick to take offense, and won’t hesitate to contact you if I’m unhappy Read more…
Omar Mahmoud, Chief of Market Knowledge at UNICEF International, and I are running a Big Room session at IFC on The Science of Decision Making and Behavioural Economics. We’d love to see you there. The Read more…
You are writing about upgrading, cross selling and cash gifts. Why these three? I covered retention separately in my two blogs (here and here) on relationship fundraising and (here) on recruitment. These three are the Read more…
For almost as long as I’ve been a fundraiser, I’ve struggled with the disconnect between the notion that more donors equals more funds raised and the reality – that I’ve seen too often – that the Read more…
