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All of us have been there. Sometimes we find ourselves stuck in situations that just plain suck! Think yours is worse than someone else’s? Think… Read More
Last year I worked with Dr. Russell James to present his findings on what words work to raise money (Check out the ground-breaking webinar titled… Read More
Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” I recently saw that quote and it got me thinking that… Read More
Einstein once said: “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”We all know that measuring performance is essential… Read More
# 10. Too much rapport building (not enough alignment of organizational needs with donor passions and interests) # 9. Talking too much; listening too little… Read More
“Content is money!” That’s what Abila says. Here are 6 big recommendations from Abila’s donor loyalty study: 1. Spend time on content and your content strategy:… Read More
Everyone says the number one reason why people give is because they were asked. I think this axiom might need a bit of a… Read More
Infographics Short, “self-contained” emails (with no hyperlinks) that include very brief updates Short letters or online articles (2-3 paragraphs) Highly relevant and targeted medium length… Read More
I’m sure you’ve run into a bunch of “show up and throw up sales people” in your lifetime. “Show up and throw up selling” is often… Read More
Great Gift Officers have common traits. Here they are: Genuine curiosity. They ask donors questions and they truly care about the answers. They don’t sound… Read More
Here are some of the most powerful words used frequently in advertising: finally suddenly now FREE SALE NEW announcing introducing improved amazing sensational remarkable fantastic… Read More
The private sector knows all about responding to leads. They know that: The odds of calling to contact a lead decrease by over 10 times… Read More
So I’m out having lunch with one of my fellow CEO buddies. I do that a lot. It’s very lonely being a CEO so I… Read More
Want more interesting research from Dr. James? Here you go: News from the Ivory Tower: Webinar Words that Work: Webinar Words that Work: eBook… Read More
We really need to thank our lucky stars for Dr. Russell James! He painstakingly reviewed 20+ years worth of data from a federally funded,… Read More
First, a really quick story. I was flying home from a speaking engagement last week when I found myself sitting next to a very sweet,… Read More
1. Are you really doing direct mail well? I like to say, “Be donor-centric. Be personalized. Be relevant. Or be gone!” If you’re sending tons… Read More
I like populism because it gives regular people control over their government. But populism has no place in major gift marketing. To generate more major gifts,… Read More
If you’re concerned that you might be getting marketing advice from a firm that’s behind the times, ask yourself the following questions: Do they use the… Read More
I’m not sure the old-fashioned estate planning seminars really work to generate legacy gifts. Here’s why: They’re expensive (since time is the same as money)…. Read More
I’ve always been a bit baffled by Legacy Societies. Here’s why: Oddly, many nonprofits try very hard to get people to “join.” Yet, the benefits of joining kinda’… Read More
Everyone wants planned gifts. But so few invest the time and money necessary to inspire them. Events, annual fund mailings, operation meetings, and tons of other… Read More
That’s right. Most planned gift prospects actually don’t ever want to meet you. They’ll even go so far as to tell you that they will… Read More
The funny thing about fundraising is that just about every nonprofit has plenty of data, plenty of prospects, and some even have wealth screened data—… 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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