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A giving revolution has already occurred. So, the longer you wait to adapt to it, the farther behind you will fall. Even the healthiest, highest… Read More
What results in a bigger gift? A) Being convinced to give B)Deciding to give on your own? Your job as a fundraising gift officer isn’t… Read More
At some point in your engagement with donors and supporters there comes a magical moment when you realize a person trusts you. At that moment,… Read More
Making outreach to major donor prospects requires a set of skills that too often get shoved to the back burner. And yet, outreach is one… Read More
For the record, I don’t like the idea of using SUGGESTED ASK AMOUNTS. Do you? I don’t believe in presupposing what amount someone might give… Read More
Not as many people give according to our “strategic pillars” as we would like to believe or as our fundraising reports suggest. In fact, we… Read More
The more you can learn about major donors before you meet them, the more effective you will be at that first meeting. A good first… Read More
Getting that initial engagement from a major donor prospect is a big hurdle. Yes, we all want to meet with donors, have great conversations, build… Read More
I used to be TERRIFIED of scheduling visits. Here are 10 things I did to build confidence in a system that allowed me to schedule… Read More
I hear it often. I ask an advancement leader how a particular fundraiser is doing or ask a president how an advancement leader is doing… Read More
Giving vs. sharing Are we asking people to give? Or are we asking them to share? This might feel like a trivial choice of synonyms…. Read More
The most important part of advancement is something we can’t measure. It’s the problem with all fundraising systems and process charts. They depict human decision-making… Read More
In 2007, after listening to a lot of donors and conducting a lot of research, I advised, “Don’t just ask you donors to give to… Read More
It gets posted all over social media. Featured in books. Heard at seminars. Repeated on webinars. It’s hard to work very long in fundraising without… Read More
As turnover in the nonprofit sector continues to plague so many organizations, and not just with major gift officers, it’s time to face a difficult… Read More
Lead with a gift: The primal-giving game Biologists model sustainable giving in nature with a game.[1] This primal-giving game models reciprocal altruism.[2] What’s the best… Read More
I didn’t know I should be asking this one question when talking to donors: “When would be a good time for me to follow up?”… Read More
Why do gift officers quit their jobs so frequently? Gift officer turnover is holding so many nonprofit organizations back. And not just in terms of… Read More
Every single human being in every single society on earth subscribes to an unspoken rule when it comes to reciprocation as follows: If someone does… Read More
Nobody gives when they feel the professionals working for an organization or institution dislike them. I’m writing this today because I’m constantly befuddled when I… Read More
Everyone Is entitled to their own fundraising opinions but not their own fundraising facts. That’s what the brilliant Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, without the reference… Read More
Story works In fundraising, story is powerful. Story works better than formal descriptions. Story works better than facts and figures. Simply, story works better than… Read More
Wealth screening data gets a lot of attention and usage from nonprofits looking for a quick way to identify people more likely to make a… Read More
I began noticing the disparities early in my fundraising career. Much of the fundraising advice shared at professional conferences did not seem to accurately reflect… Read More
Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
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