By David Allen, Development for Conservation A few years ago, I added my speculation to everyone else’s about how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) would affect charitable giving in the U.S. (See How will Tax Reform Affect Donor Giving in the Future?) We don’t need...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation Start again. January of another year. 2018 is over. History. Fa, sol, la, ti, Done. And January brings us ‘round again “to Do.” 2019 yawns before us. It could be anything. What will it be for you? January is a good time for reflection....
Donors give money because of their belief in the mission and their belief that the organization can actually get it done. Efficiency rarely trumps actual results in donors’ decision-making. Projecting a successful organization will raise more money from more donors than projecting an efficient organization....
This is what I’ve been talking about as a missing step in Strategic Planning. Instead of including “resource development” in your exploration of various goals and strategies, and plugging in reasonable extrapolations of what you are already doing now – or worse, instead of paring...
Most of us are familiar with the basics of a gift chart – a list of gifts needed to make a specific goal with higher-level gifts listed first and smaller gifts listed below in descending tiers, sometimes called a donor pyramid. Gift charts are commonly...
The job of fundraising, then, is to build a program of interrelated strategies (membership, campaigns, events, planned giving, and so on) that delivers a net result large enough to meet the organizational need. The mission is perpetual, so the fundraising strategies must be designed to...
5. When cuts are necessary, have a very clear projection, activity by activity, of what will be spent and what the projected return will be. Instead of reducing expenses by some arbitrary percentage across the board, reduce them by eliminating a particular activity entirely. ...
Donors are NOT motivated to give because of how little you spend on fundraising. They are motivated to give because of how MUCH you accomplish. Focus on THAT in your communications and stop bragging about how little you spend on overhead. You’ll likely raise more...
People give money because they want to see something done. Strategic Planning is an opportunity to go ask them directly what they like about what you’re doing; what’s important to them. Including them in the process is a wonderful way to engage them in the...
Someone wise once told me that every once in a while, instead of trying to climb faster or smarter or more efficiently, it’s important to step back and make sure your ladder is still leaning on the right wall. I’ve written about this topic before...