22 Nov AHA Moments from the 2011 Land Trust Alliance Rally
I thoroughly enjoyed your seminar at the recent Rally and wanted to share with you an "AHA" moment that I have had since returning from Milwaukee. ...
Donor Cultivation
08 Nov Anonymity isn’t Necessarily Friendly
Nonetheless, anonymity rarely serves the organization, and that is increasingly true as the value of the gift grows. Anonymity, in the case study above, robbed the organization of the donor confidence that comes when 75% of the money for a particular project has been raised....
18 Oct Are we there yet?
Here’s the bottom line: There are far more people are willing to make gifts than there are Board members willing to ask. You will hurt your organization more quickly by failing to ask than by asking for too much. ...
11 Oct Donor Loyalty Programs
Several clients have asked me recently about establishing donor clubs based on cumulative giving. In general I recommend against it, unless the organization already has a well-established system for recognizing annual donors....
20 Sep Recruit Advocates; Be a Storyteller
A couple of things jump out of Read’s article for me. The question of how to recruit advocates instead of “merely donors” is interesting and speaks to the need for fundraising to be seen as relationship-building. ...
30 Dec Gift Giving Season is Over – Disappointed?
In my house, as in most, the day after Christmas can be a low day on the emotional scale. The brightly papered boxes under the tree that only a few days ago could have been anything are now known. Every once in a while we...
09 Dec My Favorite Donor Filing System
I ran into yet another land trust the other day that does not keep donor files (paper files). This is a HUGE mistake, and if you’re a land trust in this position, one that you will want to correct right away. WHY? Because perpetuity is a long...