I’m finding that there isn’t much to say that I haven’t already said many times in many ways. So here are two things, beautifully said by others, that will help make and keep your spirit bright....
This year, New Years is on a Friday. That means someone (you?) needs to be in the office Monday through Thursday, picking up the mail and answering the phone. Here are several other things you might plan for that week:...
From your solicitations to your newsletters, to your updates and thank you letters, the importance of communicating warmth, openness, and a sense of momentum is magnified during this important season of giving....
One client, who reacted skeptically to my suggestion that he consider trusting the science and mailing a four-page appeal letter, is organizing a classic A/B test. He will write a letter that fits on a single page. I will write a letter that carries on...
If you’ve managed your work well this year, you should get to spend a great deal of time between Thanksgiving and the Superbowl party writing Thank You letters. As a refresher, here’s what I suggested way back in February: Remember that your thank you...
Regardless, as you consider the parts and pieces of your fundraising plan for 2016, it will help you to use a calendar approach. Calendar not only the due dates, but also the work. ...
Your major donor cultivation work is arguably the most important work of your year. Make sure you create space on the calendar to do it well. 1) Assign donor responsibility to board members. Let them choose their own donors within reason, but make sure...
By November, you should have most of your fall fundraising pretty well dialed – hopefully, anyway. So now it’s time to start looking ahead to 2016. BEFORE your program people come to you asking if you can raise X or increase giving by Y%, here...
OK, so as a practical matter, this is the last week you can drop the first letter of your Fall Appeal if you intend to drop three letters. (I actually prefer that the first letter get dropped in early October.) Mailing this early means that...
The forecasting question is simply this: Given what I know right now about what foundations, corporations, and individuals have committed, and what I know right now about what requests are still out there, and what I know right now about the requests I will yet...