31 October 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation BOO! Happy Halloween! Here’s a scary thought: What would happen if your primary fundraiser were to leave suddenly? It’s almost cliché to say that fundraising is about relationships, but the truth is that few of us have really embraced what...
24 October 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation A question I often ask clients preparing for an individual donor visit is: “Why will this person say Yes to the request?” It can be helpful to ask the same question when writing appeal letters and emails. Why will...
17 October 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation One of the serious problems with consulting is that no one is around to help you manage your workload at a “reasonable” level. It’s all too easy to realize way too late that you have taken on too...
10 October 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’ve noticed a number of hits on old blog posts related to writing Fall Appeal Letters, and a couple of folks have even called asking specific questions. It appears that some of you are looking for last minute...
3 October 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation OK – so call me a purist. I think that capital campaign fundraising should be about private, charitable gifts for specific project outcomes. It’s not a $5.0 million capital campaign if $3.0 million comes from taxpayers. That would be...
26 September 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Nonprofits have been running capital fundraising campaigns for as long as there have been nonprofits. And (thank goodness!) the land trust community has become increasingly bold and sophisticated in their approach to campaign fundraising. Indeed, campaigns with goals...
19 September 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I have my own ideas, of course, but I also did a little research into the current data on recurring giving. And discovered that there’s a lot of crap out there. I looked at Network for Good, Classy,...
12 September 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Perfect weather. Great food. The largest gathering of land trust staff and Board directors ever. How was your Rally? I always recommend measuring conference experiences by finding one idea that you can bring back and make a difference right...
5 September 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation It’s Rally week! And I hope that you will find a way to visit me at my table and/or attend my Fundraising 101 workshop. See you in Portland! Instead of writing something fresh, I’m going to reprise a theme...
29 August 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation So what is your retention rate? Count the number of unique households who gave money in 2021. And count the number of THOSE households who gave money again in 2022. Divide the 2022 number by the 2021 number and...