We’re looking for rich people who already know us and understand why what we’re doing is important. And on whatever economic scale our current supporters represent, we’re looking for the top 10 percent (or so)....
If you organize your work around weekly systems, you end up with months like this one – April – with five Wednesdays instead of just four. (We also have five-Wednesday months in July, September, and December this year.) I suggest you have a plan for...
The most persistent barrier to successful major gift fundraising is that board members do not know the donors and donors don’t know the board. Two underused strategies for overcoming those barriers are Good News and Save the Date events....
Let’s nominate April as “Foundation Month” – the month where you lay out all your plans for the next twelve months related to foundations and corporate foundations....
I once read that organizations should thank their donors seven times. How do you even do that? Here are some ideas to get you thinking:...
Fundraiser’s Almanac: January Happy New Year! For 2015, I am creating a week-by-week guide to organizing a fundraising program. My ambition is to provide strategic ideas for approaching your work more so than providing some kind of overlay to what you might be doing already. Some of...
A Top 100 (or T-100) is simply a list of top donor prospects. These are people who warrant and deserve your special cultivation attention. This is the list of priority donor prospects that the board members should be working with. ...
My Board is considering adopting a resolution that stipulates that 20% of every grant will be used for admin ...
“Hi. My name is David Allen, and I’m on the board of The ______ Land Trust. I’m calling to ask that you consider renewing your membership before the end of the year. You have been a supportive member for several years now, and I noticed...
Now is a good time to think back on all the best things that were made possible because of the appeal donations you received last year, and collect the best ones and share them with your donors in January. Call them....