P.S. look here!
Why the P.S. in a direct mail appeal letter? Asked the Executive Director...
And I say because it works!
Direct mail appeal letter writing is not your average writing and there just happens to be a technical science behind it.
For one,…
A day in a small fundraising shop
Often wonder what it is like to be in a small fundraising shop?
Exciting, exhilarating and yet tedious all at the same time.
You need to be a generalist rather than a specialist. So your skills need to be broad and you need to know a great…
Let’s talk about board of directors giving…
Does you board of directors give?
This all important topic that is so hard to broach.
First, lets start where it all starts...
Does your organisation have board of directors expectations that you share with them even before they are elected?
Do…
Your board of directors…whats up with them?
I know, I know. The BOARD...we all seem to cringe when we hear that word. The board is the way the board is because...
Perhaps the board is the way the board is because... we haven't done our jobs.
Whether as executive directors or development…
Do you have a fundraising procedure for handling gifts of securities?
Whether part of an existing gift acceptance policy or a separate written document, your organisation should prepare a written description of the procedures for handling a gift of securities.
Where is the organisation's brokerage account?
Who…
Is your fund development diversified?
“Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle.” - George R.R. Martin
Are you diversified?
If you have been a client of mine, you will know that I often talk about the need for diversity in fund development. organisations should not…
The fund development professional as a reflective practitioner
I find myself sitting comfortably at St. Mary's University of Minnesota waiting for the start of my second year Masters program in Philanthropy and Fundraising.
I wanted to arrive a day early before everyone else. Unpack, settle in, and get…
The fundraiser as a servant leader
Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term “servant leadership” through an essay that he first published in 1970. According to Greenleaf, “the servant leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to…
Your next capital campaign feasibility study should assess internal readiness
Before a capital campaign is conducted, it is imperative to determine an organisation’s capacity to succeed.
Commonly this is usually done through an external feasibility study.
However, I urge most non-profits that in tandem with conducting…
The professionalism of development
It is almost two weeks now until I go away to school to complete my second summer residency for my Masters in Philanthropy and Fundraising.
As I reflect back on my career, I am in awe.
When I first started in development back in 1994, it was…
Giving USA releases yearly findings and donations barely grew at all last year
Shared from the Chronicle of Philanthropy
For the second year in a row, charitable giving barely grew, rising by just 0.9 percent after inflation in 2011, according to today’s release of “Giving USA,” the annual yearbook of American philanthropy.…
No Stronger This Year
Slow fundraising growth in 2011 comes nowhere near to erasing record historic losses—the deepest ever recorded in the report’s five decades—caused by the recession.
Total charitable giving last year was still 11 percent below what it…
