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.
If you switch off your printed newsletters in favor of electronic substitutes, you will lose members and donors....
Last week I wrote the first half dozen rules for writing better fundraising letters this fall. I based it in part on an excellent book that Jeff Brooks wrote several years ago that I wish I had written: A Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications. This...
Jeff Brooks wrote a book several years ago that I wish I had written: A Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications. Based on his information, coupled with my own experience, I have a dozen rules to live by this fall. Here are Rules 1-6. Check back...
Raise money first. If you suck at raising money, investing time and energy in digital marketing will not help. It will only distract you from getting better at raising money....
You can get out ahead of this November stress factory. Plus, you can probably raise more money in the process. Here are four things you can do right now that will help: 1. Write your fall fundraising letter NOW; 2. Get your mailing list ready...
There’s a lesson here for land trusts. Instead of being limited by how few people we know or who support our current work, maybe we are getting the level of support our current vision will attract. Maybe if we put a bigger vision on the...
Highly Effective Fundraising Board Members: 1) Understand the goals; 2) Know the organization’s donors; 3) Interact with donors in person and over the telephone; 4) Support each other’s fundraising efforts; 5) Use personal stories; 6) Keep good records; and 7) Practice. ...
BEFORE you pay for Wealth Screening, ask yourself whether you are prepared to use the information. How? Are you prepared to “cold call” the donors identified by the screen? Build relationships with them? Discover their specific interests? Ask them for money? Do you have a...
Why do we ask people who do not support the organization to assume leadership positions and serve on the board?...
I don’t necessarily expect every board member to give $1,000, but it’s not unfair to ask. The world expects nonprofit board leaders to be among the most committed and ardent supporters of their organizations. Let’s stop settling for the ways people say “No,” and...