14 June 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Two core fundraising ideas come together in this post. The first is that we raise money from people who already give us money. Marketing efforts to bring in new people frequently cost more money than they raise. The second...
3 May 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Note: Most of this post was originally published in 2017. My workshop was about major gift fundraising (of course), and I had come to the part where Board members need to give themselves first. How can we ask...
19 April 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been writing about communicating with donors. We’re Outreaching; Are We Succeeding? Communicating with “People Who Give Money” Four Common Communications Failures I See Too Frequently And as I explained last week, communication has been on...
22 March 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Somebody out there is going to laugh at this, but I just heard about Kaye Sprinkel Grace’s “AAA” Board a few weeks ago. And fell in love with it. Every Board I’ve ever met has been populated by a majority...
1 February 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation A: A donor continues to give when the event is cancelled. I’m noticing a number of Board members recently who have seriously curbed their giving in 2020 and 2021 or who have stopped giving at all. When I’ve asked...
14 December 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Tomorrow is the 15th of December. Which means that today is the day for an annual reminder that all fundraisers should be available all week this week for the people you serve. Hopefully, this is all review! Sorry about...
10 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation If you are a Board member of a land trust or any other nonprofit, this post is directed at you. If you are on staff, please send it to your Board members. In my workshops and seminars and even...
20 April 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation HAPPY EARTH DAY! Before I start this week, I want to put in a plug for donor stories. I am beginning to hear heartwarming stories about gifts that have been motivated in part by how much the land...
6 April 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I have been privileged to work with many different land conservation organizations since I started consulting full-time in 2009. Many of them have been run by so-called “Working Boards,” which means that they either do not have paid...
30 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Imagine this scenario: A Board member recruits a $5,000 donation from one of their friends. The actual event took the Board member completely by surprise. (This story really happened!) The donor simply called out of the blue and announced her intention...