Development for Conservation

25 Oct Comes the (Electronic) Revolution

Posted at 06:16h in Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Dr. Stan Temple was a board member with whom I worked closely at both The Nature Conservancy and Sand County Foundation. He shared with me that once upon a time, his doctoral students did all their research work in the Library. Today, virtually no one...

11 Oct Development Planning from Scratch – Corporate Funders

Posted at 06:01h in Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Foundations, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

I doubt there is any donor segment more confusing to plan for than corporate/business. It’s confusing because of the stories we make up about why particular companies SHOULD give us money. It’s confusing because of United Way. ...

27 Sep October Already?

Posted at 05:36h in Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Your whole fundraising year comes down to the next four months. Are you ready? Here’s what I’m thinking about in October. For a significant number of organizations, donors giving at least $1,000 as their membership gift account for less than 10% of the donor base...

13 Sep Development Planning from Scratch – Annual Giving Leaders

Posted at 06:16h in Board Development, Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

The planning idea behind segmenting is that you identify separate groups for separate consideration such that they are then removed completely from the larger prospect group. This is an important consideration because it forces you to plan in a way that is donor-centric instead of...

06 Sep Q&A from my In-Box

Posted at 05:14h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

When I start to describe a major gift development program to clients who do not have an active program already, I often use a pipeline analogy as follows. Imagine there are four “chambers” in a pipeline, labeled D, C, B, and A. You should be...

30 Aug Are You Ready for September?

Posted at 05:56h in Board Development, Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Thursday is September the 1st – where has the summer gone? As we cruise toward the Autumnal Equinox, here’s what I’m thinking about for September. What are YOU thinking about?...

23 Aug Development Planning from Scratch – Cultivating Top 100 Donors

Posted at 06:25h in Board Development, Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

One of the donor segments that should be pulled out for special attention is the Major Gift Prospect segment. I call it the Top 100, even though the actual number of donors you cultivate at this level may not actually number 100. Each donor in...

16 Aug Development Planning from Scratch – Cultivating the Board

Posted at 04:20h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

This week I want to look at the organization from the Board member’s point of view, and ask this question: Have we adequately laid the groundwork for asking Board members for significant or even stretch gifts?...

09 Aug Development Planning from Scratch – Soliciting the Board

Posted at 05:50h in Board Development, Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Make a fundraising plan for the first – and arguably most important – segment: the Board members. The first thing we need to do is to set a Goal....

26 Jul Are You Ready for August?

Posted at 06:17h in Board Development, Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Over the next several months, I will be focusing blog content on comprehensive fundraising planning. Last week’s post launched this series, and the next four will continue the series. Monday next week is August the 1st – where has the summer gone? As we cruise...

Communication