This BLOG is intended to help conservation organizations and land trusts pursue excellence in all aspects of their conservation endeavors. I welcome your comments and feedback to these posts.
If you don’t have a fundraising plan that is donor specific, consider this exercise: Make a list of all of your calendar year 2024 donors and what they gave cumulatively last year. Also list what they have given cumulatively this year to date. Take note...
In fact, for the vast majority of people you have met during the years since your actual “birth” day, your annual celebration doesn’t even register. Even for those who care about you a lot. They care about who you have become. What you’ve done. And...
Charity A’s letters remind them of what they gave last year and ask them to give a little more this year, even specifying a target amount. How does the land trust’s renewal and appeal letters compare? And how much is each organization receiving from them...
Board members should be asked to attend events to work. If they wish to buy a table, if they wish to buy tickets, if they wish to sponsor – so be it and thank you very much. But even directors who can’t or don’t pay...
If we had asked our donors to consider a pledge of $500,000, we might not have gotten it, of course, but we would have improved our chances of getting $250,000 or even $100,000. When we failed to give the donors a clue, they chose an...
For most people you will be soliciting, $100 should be requested in the letter. So $100 should be the second lowest amount with only one amount – usually $35 or $50 – lower than $100. (Do you EVER need to offer more than one option...
And frankly, that should be your priority list for solicitations – those you intend to ask in person, all renewals, and the more general audience appeal. You have plenty of time, but it’s time to start if you haven’t already. ...
When you get back home, write the several ideas you identified on a separate sheet of paper and start working on implementation. Also, flip through the cards you collected. Is there anyone you would like to follow-up with?...
But inevitably, you won’t be able to get or keep meetings with everyone on your list. Some you’ll just miss. Others will have other priorities – usually meaning well but somehow never getting back to you. And some will dodge you intentionally. Don’t let them...
“When your fundraising says, Give us money so we can do amazing things, you will raise less money,” says Brooks. “Because you’re missing the point. You’ll raise more if you say Do amazing things by giving us money.” ...