Donor Cultivation

11 Aug Saturation Mail

Posted at 05:44h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

The Town of Bolton, Connecticut has 1,998 residential addresses. The Bolton Land Trust has just fewer than 300 members. That’s a 15% penetration rate, or about 1 member for every 7 addresses. How do they do it? …..mailing to every household in Bolton several times...

04 Aug Take a Hike!

Posted at 06:07h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

In fundraising for land conservation, we often say that “the land sells itself.” By this we simply mean that if you can get a potential donor out on the land to see, smell, touch – feel – for themselves, often that’s all you need. This...

07 Jul Fall Appeal Planning

Posted at 04:23h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

For many organizations, as much as seventy percent of operations funding is raised in the fall, and a healthy percentage of that comes from the fall appeal campaign. Planning NOW will help you get the most from your campaign and will help you from going...

16 Jun Good News

Posted at 05:54h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

June is a good time to share Good News as a specific strategy for advancing donor cultivation. Find something that has recently happened and that hasn’t yet been publicized otherwise. Something that you can share with your donors that they won’t have already heard elsewhere....

10 Jun Annual Report DOs and DON’Ts

Posted at 20:15h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

The most important value for an Annual Report is as a sales piece. Keep that in mind and make sure it tells your story in the way you want it told. Here are some DOs and DON’Ts for Annual Reports....

03 Jun Plan the Board HandWriting Event for August

Posted at 05:46h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Donor clubs are a perfect group to solicit using a letter that is entirely written longhand. If you want to mail these letters in late September or early October – which would be ideal – you need to have the letters written in August. And...

27 May Spring Appeal 2nd Drop

Posted at 04:29h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Now that Memorial Day is behind us, there’s still time this week to mail a reminder letter for the Spring Appeal. But hurry, before school lets out and vacation season starts in earnest. There are several competing theories about second appeal letters. The first suggests...

19 May Taking Stock

Posted at 05:37h in Board Development, Communication, Development Audit, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

There’s a problem with measuring your year in twelfths. It works for expenses like rent, which is the same each month. But it doesn’t work for insurance which sits at 0% of budget until the month it’s due and then zooms all the way to...

12 May Donor Event Planning

Posted at 05:32h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Donor events can take many forms, from field trips to coffees or luncheons, house parties, open houses at the office, and so on. In general, I separate them functionally as follows: Introductory Event, Cultivation Events, and Appreciation Events....

05 May Direct Mail Lists

Posted at 05:51h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

May is a month when you turn the corner from the campaigns of the spring to outdoor activities in the summer and plans for the fall. Build in some time for reflection for sure, but realize that it’s not too early to begin planning for...