Donor Communication

  By David Allen, Development for Conservation   Last year at Thanksgiving, I wrote about the differences between gratitude and gratefulness. (See Gratitude and Gratefulness)   The word grateful is not necessarily focused on a source. We are grateful for stuff – health, material gifts, sunshine, rest – that is...

  by David Allen, Development for Conservation   Dear Mary, We opened the Trillium Trail today. In the grand scheme of things, it was a little thing. There were about 30 people there, mostly the volunteers who worked on building it these last three years. Frank was there,...

The trend in all communications is toward the use of very personal stories and testimonials. This trend – first person accounts of real people, their motivations, and emotional connections to the land – also makes for effective fundraising. Testimonials, once captured, can be used (with...

"Major gift" is donor-centric and describes how the decision gets made. It is independent of the denomination of the gift. One donor’s $5,000 is an annual gift; the decision is made to some degree because of the donor’s giving history. For another donor, the same...