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.
19 October 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation In an ideal world, an organization would hire development staff in the Fall – in October or November. This is true regardless of whether the staff person was a new member of an existing team or whether it...
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...
5 October 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’m working on a Rally Workshop with two fabulous colleagues. The workshop is called Using Donor Software to Help Raise More Money, and it will be virtually presented this afternoon. (Please make plans to join us!) Along the way,...
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...
21 September 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation The organizations I am working with are generally going ahead with plans to host Fall events in person. Some have moved their events outside while others are requesting proof of vaccination for admittance. I’d be interested in some feedback...
14 September 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation There was a moment in time when I thought writing appeals letters would be a substantial part of my consulting work. I felt like I was good at it, and my letters seemed to hold their own and...
7 September 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Development for Conservation is on vacation this week and next, so I have repurposed a couple of posts that have gotten the most interest in recent years. This one was originally posted in August of 2017. It seems...
31 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation In 2019, I received an appeal letter from a client. The letter was two pages, 12 pt. type, black text on white paper, and illustrated with two attractive photographs. As a fundraising letter, it probably did well in...
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...
17 August 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Consider the following two paragraphs: The Conservancy celebrated the opening of its 9th nature preserve on Saturday with a brief ceremony and ribbon-cutting. At 264 acres, the Sykes Ridge Preserve is now the Conservancy’s largest preserve. It is home...