wild-horses

First Thing Tuesday

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.

  30 August 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   One of the more frustrating parts of a fundraiser’s job happens when people don’t actually do what they said they would do. OK – any job. Donors promise a reply by Tuesday and Friday rolls around without a word. ...

  23 August 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   I was recently forwarded a blog post from Cross & Crown, a digital marketing firm based in Pennsylvania whose tagline says they “strive to help educate, advocate, and thrive in a digital world.” The post, Conservation Land Trust...

  16 August 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   Every so often I get significant pushback from readers either questioning or taking exception to something I have written. I love it when it happens. It causes me to re-examine something I may believe so matter-of-factly that I...

  2 August 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   This week I’m thinking about what someone might need to know to make a major gift. In this sense, I am staying with my soapbox premise that the word “major” should describe the decision to give and not...

  19 July 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   It’s a common lament. All-volunteer organizations looking to hire their first staff position. Much larger organizations feeling everything would balance out if they just had that administrative position, or another land steward, or a Fundraising Manager, or …   Well...

  5 July 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   Many nonprofit conservation organizations have their long-term stewardship funds invested through a local community foundation. And why not? Community foundations are usually conservative in their investments, but they are very good at it – often getting better returns...

  28 June 2022   By David Allen, Development for Conservation   It’s a conundrum as old as the oldest land trust out there. How do you raise money for projects that haven’t happened yet? And when they do happen, how do you raise money fast enough to close without...