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03 Mar Spring Appeal Planning

Posted at 05:57h in Communication, Featured, Membership, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

First, think of a Spring Appeal as more of a member communication than a fundraising letter. Spring Appeals tend to be more challenging, but sending them and making them attractive enough to get opened can have significant communications benefits beyond simply asking for a donation....

24 Feb Writing Appeal and Recruitment Letters

Posted at 16:45h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Unlike renewal letters, appeal letters ARE complicated. Writing good appeal letters takes TIME. So why not start now – in February? Be creative. Make it FUN. But start writing it NOW to give yourself time to write it well....

17 Feb Writing Renewal Letters

Posted at 09:59h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Unlike recruitment and appeal letters, (See A Dozen Rules for Writing Better Fundraising Letters), renewal letters aren’t complicated. They are short and to the point. The essential “case” for giving is that they gave last year and the year before. It is good practice to...

10 Feb Writing Thank You Letters

Posted at 10:31h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

February is a month I’m devoting to writing well and with that writing, connecting more with the donors who sustain us. I invite you to join me....

03 Feb Take the Time to Write Well

Posted at 14:56h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

This year, I invite you to join me in writing differently. Let’s commit ourselves to anticipating more often. Getting ahead of the curve. Let our writing steep more. Write in such a way that our audiences will read it. Be more effective communicators....

27 Jan Do You Say Thank You Enough?

Posted at 05:49h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

I once read that organizations should thank their donors seven times. How do you even do that? Here are some ideas to get you thinking:...

13 Jan Working with a Top 100 List in 2015

Posted at 05:11h in Board Development, Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

A Top 100 (or T-100) is simply a list of top donor prospects. These are people who warrant and deserve your special cultivation attention. This is the list of priority donor prospects that the board members should be working with. ...

30 Dec Happy New Year!

Posted at 06:04h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Plans and Budgets, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Don’t talk about your overhead. Don’t graph it in your annual report. And above all, don’t brag about it. Be the organization that always seems to be getting something done. Find and invite those outside the organization to tell your story for you....

17 Dec Board Policy on Grant Administration

Posted at 08:39h in Board Development, Development Audit, Featured, Foundations, Plans and Budgets, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

My Board is considering adopting a resolution that stipulates that 20% of every grant will be used for admin ...

26 Nov A Special Thank You

Posted at 06:10h in Communication, Donor Cultivation, Featured, Membership, Staff Development, Uncategorized 0 Comments

If you’re like me, you get more and more Thank You messages about this time each year. Somehow, by taking a little extra time with the writing, by seeing this exercise as more than a chore to get done on schedule, they managed to capture...

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