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.
4 May 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Wisconsin Spring is something to behold. A week ago, on the dog walk, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and the day had struggled to crest 50 degrees. I was defiantly wearing shorts and...
27 April 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I started raising money as a canvasser in Eugene Oregon. It was to be a summer job in 1983, and it turned into a career. It’s safe to say I had no idea what I was getting myself...
20 April 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation HAPPY EARTH DAY! Before I start this week, I want to put in a plug for donor stories. I am beginning to hear heartwarming stories about gifts that have been motivated in part by how much the land...
13 April 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Dear Board Director: Does your organization have a Conflict-of-Interest Policy? Do you – specifically you – know what it says and how to use it? Could you provide evidence that it is being used? How about a Gift Acceptance Policy, an Investment...
6 April 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I have been privileged to work with many different land conservation organizations since I started consulting full-time in 2009. Many of them have been run by so-called “Working Boards,” which means that they either do not have paid...
30 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Imagine this scenario: A Board member recruits a $5,000 donation from one of their friends. The actual event took the Board member completely by surprise. (This story really happened!) The donor simply called out of the blue and announced her intention...
23 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I started fundraising by going door-to-door on a political canvas. We were asking for and collecting $15 donations to support any one of a half-dozen laws that the group was promoting in the state legislature. And I saw the...
16 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I’m developing a new workshop this year on fundraising basics. I feel like one of the most important lessons of 2020 was that fundraising basics still matter. Organizations that had – and trusted – good fundamentals tended to...
9 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Several years ago, Vu Le (Non-Profit AF) wrote a critique of donor-centric fundraising. In the several weeks that followed, I wrote a critique of his critique, arguing that Le’s definition of donor-centric fundraising was based on several inaccuracies....
2 March 2021 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Much is made of the “evolution” of nonprofit Boards – from Working Board to Transition Board to Governing Board. The way the process is described – using words like “maturing” and “progressing” – one might assume that the...