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.
by David Allen, Development for Conservation As I quipped several weeks ago, you will be asking just about everyone you know for a gift to your land trust between now and Christmas. Most will be asked in a letter, which means that you will be needing...
by David Allen, Development for Conservation Dear Mary, We opened the Trillium Trail today. In the grand scheme of things, it was a little thing. There were about 30 people there, mostly the volunteers who worked on building it these last three years. Frank was there,...
by David Allen, Development for Conservation The new website is here! The new website is here! After weeks of promising, the new version of Development for Conservation’s website is complete. Take a look around. I hope you like it. The new site is still subject to Spam, but the...
People should not give money to an organization because they serve on the Board. They should give money because they believe in the work enough to give money. Doing so shows the kind of passion for the mission that inspires others – especially other donors....
by David Allen, Development for Conservation At some point between now and Christmas, you will be asking just about everyone you know for a gift to your land trust. Some will be asked to “renew.” Some will be asked to make an additional gift this year. Most...
The reason to do all this to inform your planning – to reverse engineer the process and project what kind of marketing budget would be required to achieve a certain specific “more.” Let’s say, for example, that your land trust wanted to go from the...
Whether you are an Executive Director, another staff member with fundraising responsibilities, or a Board member, giving yourself permission to make these stories personal by visiting the sites for which you need to raise money will help you a lot. It will make you more...
We all have a role to play in re-educating the public about overhead and fundraising costs. Maybe this type of graphic can help you....
This implies that once someone has been “assigned” to a segment, they stay there for at least this year. To be most helpful, your database system should be able to handle this level of complexity – the segments to which prospects are assigned based on...
The basic idea of the system I prefer is that you mail (using envelopes and postage) a sequence of four letters. The first three are one-page, straightforward renewal letters. They contain three important pieces of information: How long they have been a member, how much...