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.
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...
If a board member is not showing signs of getting progressively more involved after the first term, they may not be asked to stay for a second. If they are unavailable or incapable of taking a leadership position with the land trust after six years,...
Cultivation is easy to say and easy to understand. But sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to do. Here’s something tangible: board members can help by becoming the conduit through which donors receive information about the land trust. Be the bearer of news. Be...
Never – ever – turn an unrestricted gift, into a restricted gift. Try simply saying “Thank you” instead....
In the end, fundraising is about personal relationships. Done well, the relationship is between the donor and the organization, but every relationship begins between two individuals. And 90 percent of fundraising comes down to how well you’re doing at building those relationships. Maybe instead of “fundraiser”...
I had a great time in Pennsylvania last weekend presenting at the Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference. One of the sessions I presented was called Secrets of High-Functioning Development Committees. I had originally envisioned this as a Rally session featuring a cast of actors who would play...