02 Jan And that brings us ‘round to Do, oh, oh, oh……
January is a good time for reflection. Where have we been? How did we get here? What could we have done differently? What have we learned? ...
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.
26 Dec How will Tax Reform Affect Donor Giving in the Future?
What we know about most charitable giving is that people give first because they want to see something done and second because they believe the recipient organization can do it. Tax deductions are something donors take advantage of later more so than something that actually...
19 Dec Planning for Year-End
This year, both Christmas and New Years land on Mondays. That means someone (you?) needs to be in the office next Tuesday through Friday, picking up the mail and answering the phone. Here are several other things you might plan for that week: ...
12 Dec Privacy Policies
The internet and the advent of e-marketing has changed the rules a lot, and there are different expectations now. One big change is the call for regular disclosure in all media. Instead of simply being responsive to donor requests to be removed from various lists,...
05 Dec The Search for Renewal
By David Allen, Development for Conservation Among the data points I get back from my website each week is the number of “page hits” I get from the top twenty or so most popular pages. The most popular page right now is a 2015 post of Writing...
28 Nov Gratitude and Gratefulness
There is a real person behind every gift – most of whom are giving from their hearts, motivated by an interest in supporting the work and commitment we have to our organizational mission. Their gifts are freely bestowed and not necessarily earned or even deserved....
21 Nov How’s that YouTube Channel Coming?
The trend in all communications is toward the use of very personal stories and testimonials. This trend – first person accounts of real people, their motivations, and emotional connections to the land – also makes for effective fundraising. Testimonials, once captured, can be used (with...
31 Oct Getting Your Money’s Worth from Rally
I’m convinced there is a land conservation gene that will be isolated at some point in the near future – hitch-hiker’s thumb, black hair, land trust. This means that somewhere, someone has asked the same question you are asking. And they will be happy to...
17 Oct Five for Five at Five
Give five times your annual gift – $125,000 – each year for five years. The land trust will pull the first $25,000 each year as a continuation of your annual gift. And they’ll invest the rest. After five years, they will have a $500,000 endowment...
10 Oct Because Words Matter
"Major gift" is donor-centric and describes how the decision gets made. It is independent of the denomination of the gift. One donor’s $5,000 is an annual gift; the decision is made to some degree because of the donor’s giving history. For another donor, the same...