By David Allen, Development for Conservation Three weeks ago, I asked you for data related to the value of your donors: Isolate the members and donors you have who made a first gift to your organization at some point – any point – during the calendar...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation Yesterday was December 17th. I marked the day, because there are exactly 14 days left in the charitable giving year. So this post will serve as a reminder that these two weeks are NOT weeks you should be taking off. Just as...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation From my In-Box this week: I still get a lot of one-page letters with graphics and donation tear-off sections at the bottom. In fact, I donate to these groups and lean towards this letter because it is short, concise and to...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation Among the notable passings in 2018 was one Jerold (Jerry) Panas. Jerry’s was one of the most recognizable names in fundraising. Author of twenty books on fundraising, Panas was also a regular contributor to blogs and magazines about the topic....
By David Allen, Development for Conservation Last year at Thanksgiving, I wrote about the differences between gratitude and gratefulness. (See Gratitude and Gratefulness) The word grateful is not necessarily focused on a source. We are grateful for stuff – health, material gifts, sunshine, rest – that is...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation I have spent quite a bit of time recently pounding on the We-Need-To-Be-More-Scientific-In-Our-Fundraising drum. That was a primary message in the Rally workshop on Fundraising Metrics, and I’ve written about it often on this blog. Here’s a concrete example related to...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation If you’re like me, you won’t be mailing your appeal letters and/or renewals after this week and until after the election. If you’re like me, you will calculate that the national mood will be seriously distracted by the election. I...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation In my groups and workshops, I always ask how many people are First Timers. It gives me a chance to repeat my best advice for newbies: Rally (and any conference) can be overwhelming the first time. Your job then is to...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation I spent a lovely week last week in McAllen, Texas, at the Summit conference for Nature Center Administrators. I learned a lot and met some terrific folks involved in nature education all over the country. Among the many stories I heard,...
By David Allen, Development for Conservation OK, so let’s talk about Fundraising Metrics. As I mentioned last week(See On Metrics, Data, Information, Science, and How We Use Them – Part 1), I will be doing a workshop on Fundraising Metrics this year at Rally. What to count....