Author: David Allen
02 May Excellent Newsletters
As a consultant, I end up seeing a lot of newsletters. Many are excellent. Some are good. A few need help. Along the way, I have assembled the following list of aspects I find common to many newsletters I consider excellent. Excellent newsletters use line drawings...
19 Apr The Importance of Donor Files
I just got back from Columbus, Ohio, the site of this year’s Land Trust Alliance’s Midwest Land Conservation Conference. Meeting and working with practitioners and Board members from the twelve states represented there inspired me to pick this blog up again. As a relative newcomer...
10 Feb Newsletters, Envelopes, and New Members
Last week, I posted about looking at gift memberships and member-get-a-member campaigns in a new way, and I offered some ideas about how to get the most out of these activities as “acquisition” tools. You can find that post here. This week, I have another...
27 Jan Conduct Your Board Campaign First
The first quarter of each calendar year is the best time to run your annual Board campaign. Doing so: opens the door for quarterly or monthly pledges, making larger gifts possible, assures 100% participation early in the year, establishes the “moral authority” for Board members asking other donors...
20 Jan Gift Acceptance Policy (and Another Suggestion about Policies)
I’ve been writing about year-end tasks that seemingly always need to be done, but also seem to quickly fall off the table in favor of more urgent activities. Things like taking time to thank the donors who make your organization’s work possible, reviewing 2009 giving...
13 Jan Housecleaning
In my last few posts, I’ve written about year-end tasks – making sure your donors feel appreciated and doing some first-level analysis of your giving data to better understand the trends within your own organization. Here’s another bit of January housework: Cleaning. Phyllis Diller was famously...
06 Jan Happy New Year!
Last week, I posted about making sure your end-of year donors get thanked in a personal way – this being one of the most important, and most pleasant, of fundraising tasks. Do you have a New Year’s resolution? If you’re like most, getting your Board...
30 Dec Gift Giving Season is Over – Disappointed?
In my house, as in most, the day after Christmas can be a low day on the emotional scale. The brightly papered boxes under the tree that only a few days ago could have been anything are now known. Every once in a while we...
16 Dec Handling Year-End Giving
If you’re like most non-profit fundraisers, you are looking forward to opening the mail the first few days in January. You may even be busy right now getting that last appeal out to help your members make a decision in your favor during the last...