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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...

28 Apr Spring Appeal

Posted at 09:39h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

This is the week you should send out your Spring Appeal. I’ve been asked by several clients about timing of the appeal. You can send out an appeal letter until the Tuesday before Memorial Day (the 19th) and still do relatively well. Every day you...

21 Apr Donor Screening

Posted at 05:40h in Board Development, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

We’re looking for rich people who already know us and understand why what we’re doing is important. And on whatever economic scale our current supporters represent, we’re looking for the top 10 percent (or so)....

14 Apr Renewing Lapsed Members

Posted at 15:37h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

If you organize your work around weekly systems, you end up with months like this one – April – with five Wednesdays instead of just four. (We also have five-Wednesday months in July, September, and December this year.) I suggest you have a plan for...

07 Apr In Defense of Paper Filing Systems

Posted at 06:19h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

In our zeal to reduce paper and digitize everything, we have made it harder to “know” anything about our donors. I think there should be a place where you can go and relatively quickly learn the key points about a donor and their entire...

31 Mar Donor Strategies: Good News, Save the Date

Posted at 05:59h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Staff Development, Uncategorized 1 Comment

The most persistent barrier to successful major gift fundraising is that board members do not know the donors and donors don’t know the board. Two underused strategies for overcoming those barriers are Good News and Save the Date events....

24 Mar Researching Foundation/Corporate Grants and Calendaring Due Dates

Posted at 05:23h in Board Development, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Foundations, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Let’s nominate April as “Foundation Month” – the month where you lay out all your plans for the next twelve months related to foundations and corporate foundations....

17 Mar Print the First Renewal Letters Now

Posted at 05:59h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Right now, you know every member who will be renewing this year (assuming, of course, that you have members who renew every year). You know what they gave last year about this time. And you know what you will be asking them to give this...