16 November 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation In Wisconsin, one of the coveted event venues is the Governor’s mansion. Non-profits from all over the state, but especially from Madison, compete for open calendar slots. And more than one organization has had their event pulled in...
5 October 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’m working on a Rally Workshop with two fabulous colleagues. The workshop is called Using Donor Software to Help Raise More Money, and it will be virtually presented this afternoon. (Please make plans to join us!) Along the way,...
17 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Consider the following two paragraphs: The Conservancy celebrated the opening of its 9th nature preserve on Saturday with a brief ceremony and ribbon-cutting. At 264 acres, the Sykes Ridge Preserve is now the Conservancy’s largest preserve. It is home...
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...
27 July 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation We are environmental organizations! We need to STOP sending so much stuff to our donors. They feel overwhelmed! Especially in the mail. Think about this: the average American household receives 2,000 pieces of “junk” mail every year! If we...
22 June 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation For several years running, I had the great privilege of helping raise money for Nature Conservancy projects on the Door County Peninsula. We would meet people a small county airport (Cherryland Airport), load them up in a van,...
4 May 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Wisconsin Spring is something to behold. A week ago, on the dog walk, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and the day had struggled to crest 50 degrees. I was defiantly wearing shorts and...
9 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Several years ago, Vu Le (Non-Profit AF) wrote a critique of donor-centric fundraising. In the several weeks that followed, I wrote a critique of his critique, arguing that Le’s definition of donor-centric fundraising was based on several inaccuracies....
10 November 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation OK – Election is over – time to return our attention to fundraising. Think back to the last time you spent (or at least committed) a great deal of money on something you really wanted. A car for example. And...
11 August 2020 By David Allen, Development for Conservation It’s Election Day in Wisconsin – the Partisan Primary. We’ll be voting for our party’s candidates for everything from Congressional Representative to State Senator to County Clerk of Deeds. So, I’m off early to work the polls. So, I’ll need...