8 August 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation If you think about it, you will ask every person connected with your land trust to make a gift between now and year’s end. HOW that happens and WHEN that happens are still changeable. SOME people will be...
13 June 2023 By David Allen, Development for Conservation July is just a few short weeks away – Yikes! – Are you ready? What’s on your list for July? Annual Meetings? Summer field trips? Donor visits? Here’s what I’m thinking about. Plan the Fall Appeal – If you follow...
4 October 2022 By David Allen, Development for Conservation That doesn’t work here. We tried a four-page letter, and it bombed. The two-page letter we did this year did much better. I tend to take these comments at face value. No one wants to believe that four-pagers...
9 November 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I was informed last year that one of my clients had raised $6,000 from Giving Tuesday, which turned out to be 20% or so more than in 2019. Woohoo! Given the work they put into it, I estimated...
2 No0vember 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’ve heard from many land trusts around the country that 2020 was a banner year in several respects, at least from a fundraising perspective. In fact this is true for many other land conservation / Nature-related organizations, too. ...
12 October 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Note: Most of this post was originally published in 2015. One July, my board chair came to me with a request that I “forecast” where we would end up on December 31st in each of our revenue targets. He...
28 September 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation There are two case arguments that have never been particularly successful in raising money. The first is the Field of Dreams argument: If we build it, they will come. In this argument, the idea is that people will...
24 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation It’s been years since I last tested different ask amounts, and I’m not in a position this year to test them now. Maybe this post will inspire someone to do so this year and share their results. What is...
13 July 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Every year about this time, I start thinking that we will be asking just about every one we know for a gift between now and the end of the year. Some will be renewals. Some will be asks...
6 July 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Every year about this time, it occurs to me that we will be asking just about every one we know for a gift between now and the end of the year. Some we will ask for renewal gifts....