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.
23 December 2025 “We must remember that our sense of entitlement to the natural world is not only a matter of ownership, but of stewardship.” Richard Louv Thank you for your stewardship. Thank you for remaining optimistic. And thank you for the role you play in the conservation of our nation's most special spaces. Peace, -da PS: Your...
16 December 2025 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Fifteen days left in 2025 – two weeks. Take out weekend days (4) and Christmas Day and you’re left with just 10. How will YOU use them? Regular First Thing Tuesday readers will know that I strongly encourage fundraisers NOT...
9 December 2025 By David Allen, Development for Conservation I would say that a fundraiser with enough experience to matter will take several months to learn their way around, a year or so to learn the donor base, and another year or even two to build the...
2 December 2025 By David Allen, Development for Conservation Due to a combination of factors including weather and family changes, my wife and I (and Development for Conservation) are moving from Wisconsin to western North Carolina. We are at once saddened to leave long-time friends and the...
We should all stop using first-person possessive determiners in our writing. And they are so easy to avoid. Avoiding “my” is a no-brainer. Avoiding “our” is only a little more difficult, because “our” could theoretically include the reader. Avoid using “our” when you mean the...
People give stuff and do stuff around every one of us all the time that is neither earned nor necessarily deserved on our part. They do it because, in some way, it makes them happy....
Every donor who responds with a gift – regardless of size – represents a win, because you are not only raising money for this year. You are making it more likely that they will give again next year, and again and again....
In the absence of a five-year mission budget, supporting fundraising goals have no context. As a result, Marketing, Membership, and Fundraising goals often end up vague, arbitrary, and insufficiently supported themselves....
Save the impact specifics for a mid-term report to your donors. Reports back all the great things – from loppers to newsletters, to educational workshops, to easements and direct land conservation – that they did with their money. You will engender loyalty. You will improve...
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...