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A few months ago, William Rivas-Rivas (Director of Philanthropic Gifts at Animal Legal Defense Fund) posed the following question/challenge to the members of the Major… Read More
I have always felt that the word “fundraiser” stinks! As a donor, I feel like “fundraiser” screams “salesperson”. When a fundraiser calls me, I know… Read More
Question: Does more donations made over many years (longevity of giving) truly lead to an increase in the likelihood of leaving a gift or the… Read More
Too often people engage with charities but get very little in return. Yet, they keep trying. They’ll involve themselves with your charity over and over… Read More
Use family words (stories and simple, colloquial words) not formal words Use social examples/norms such as: Many of our donors like to make a gift… Read More
Most nonprofit websites really stink! There, I said it. Why? Because they are simply online brochures or, worse, filing cabinets of stuff you… Read More
You are not a fundraiser. You are, instead, an engagement facilitator. Tweet this! And, the purpose of your engagements with donors is to discover why… Read More
Hi-end hotels = Service is everything Amazon.com = Convenience is everything Hardware tools = Reliability is everything Home alarm systems = Security is… Read More
Ways to fail 1. Listen to your marketing staff, family, friends, board members, or your “gut” 2. Listen to your donors (even they do not… Read More
Fundraisers can learn a lot from private business experts and entrepreneurs. One of my favorite bloggers, Thomson Dawson, recently wrote a post about his strategy for… Read More
Promoting planned giving doesn’t have to be expensive. If you have traffic on your website, you have a chance to promote planned giving for pennies… Read More
Don’t get tricked into measuring meaningless stats. Here are the 4 email metrics that matter most for major and legacy gift marketing: 1- Click-thru rates… Read More
Effective planned giving marketing requires a solid strategy along with the following tactical steps: Building awareness Generating leads Cultivating those leads Closing gifts Stewarding your… Read More
Most planned gift marketing strategies are not effective. They miss the mark. They waste money. And they leave tons of opportunities on the table. Legacy… Read More
Sad but true. Many legacy donors simply don’t want to see their hard-earned money going to their relatives. Top reasons why? 1- Because they think… Read More
Commercial businesses and charities both have to fulfill needs in order to survive. But whose needs do they serve? You might think that commercial businesses… Read More
Recently I found myself wondering…. “why aren’t we promoting beneficiary designations more?” A beneficiary designation is by far the simplest way to create a… Read More
Getting a single email, letter or telephone call out to a legacy giving prospect isn’t always easy. In fact, with all we have to do… Read More
Recently on the Smart Planned Giving Marketers group on LinkedIn, a member of the group asked the following about making the initial engagement with a… Read More
From a marketer’s perspective (and based on my experience), I think fundraisers need to initially cast a wide net in order to secure more planned… Read More
At the 2013 Bridge Conference last week, you could walk through a wonderful “museum” of award-winning direct marketing fundraising packages. They were neatly on… Read More
In Ken Burnett’s awesome book titled Relationship Fundraising, he lists 18 reasons why people give. I love the list but there’s one thing wrong here…. Read More
Have you ever sold your home? If so, how many buyers did you need? Just one right? So if you put your house up for… 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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