What’s up with wealth screening? Everyone does it but few find the data trustworthy.
Many nonprofits depend on wealth ratings to supply new leads and prospects for their major gifts fundraising program. Gift officers…
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Why Nonprofits Should Use Donor Surveys
Major gifts fundraising begins and ends with trusting relationships. No one gives large gifts if they don’t trust the organization.…
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Why We Rebuilt the Fundraising Report Card — and Why It Matters Now More Than Ever
It started 10 years ago. Back in 2015, I stumbled onto something that changed my life — and, I believe,…
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Automate These 4 Fundraising Tasks and Keep Your Gift Officers from Quitting
Gift officer turnover continues to plague so many outstanding nonprofit organizations. We’ve been writing about this for several years, but…
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The Secret to Major Donor Inspiration Lies in These 7 Challenges
Major donors give more when they’re inspired to give. Inspiration is emotional, not logical. It’s very difficult to inspire powerful…
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3 Reasons Why Wealthy People Won’t Give to Your Nonprofit at a High Level
Let’s jump right into it. I believe there are three primary reasons for the major donor disconnect most gift officers…
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Should Nonprofits Ask for Money Less Often?
It’s a question nearly every nonprofit wrestles with now and then. We have to raise money, and if we don’t…
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3 Types of Marketing Automation — Which One Do You Really Need to Raise Major Gifts?
Marketing automation software automates repetitive marketing tasks, like email campaigns and lead nurturing (cultivation), allowing businesses to efficiently manage and…
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How to Help Major Donors Give More By Knowing Their Own Motivations for Giving
Dr. Russell James (the foremost researcher in our field) often speaks about the primal motivations for giving, emphasizing that donors…
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Fundraisers Share What Obstacles They Encounter When Making Outreach Plus How to Overcome Them
Have you ever wondered, “Why won’t they accept my outreach? Why won’t they return my calls? And why do donors…
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Why Nonprofit Fundraising Gift Officers Quit Their Jobs
What is it about gift officers, who continue to quit in droves after short tenures at nonprofit organizations that hire…
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Seeing Through the Donor’s Eyes: Introducing the Simplest Way to Understand the Fundraising Process from the Donor’s Perspective
Why do so many major gift fundraisers struggle to connect with donors and motivate them to give? There are lots…
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Dollars Up, Donors Down: How You Can Buck the Trend
If your revenue seems to be holding steady or even increasing year over year (dollars up), good for you! That’s…
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FREE Whitepaper: Fundraising Automation
Fundraising Automation The Nonprofit Leader’s Guide for Optimizing Fundraising Operations with Technology Imagine hiring someone to boost your fundraising efforts…
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Why Do Donors Fill Out Surveys?
If you’ve hung around MarketSmart for any decent length of time, you know that at the heart of our approach…
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5 Ways Major Gifts Fundraising Differs from All the Others
For the illusion of efficiency, it can be tempting to use buzzwords like streamline and aggregate as you work to…
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6 Costly Ways Turnover Cripples Major Gift Fundraising Operations — and 5 Ways You Can Reduce It
The investment of time, money, training, and expertise required to run a successful major gift fundraising program is immense. You…
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How to Win More Major Gifts by Understanding the Donor Hero Journey
Don’t believe what you hear in the news. The truth is, everyone still wants to be a hero. Deep down,…
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Strengthening Donor Relationships at All Levels
If we had to pinpoint just one issue as having a greater influence on the future health of nonprofit fundraising…
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What’s Wrong with Donor Journeys: The Hidden Costs of a Misguided Approach
Automated donor journeys are everywhere. Nonprofit leaders, seeking efficiency and hoping to do more with less, are often encouraged—sometimes pressured—to…
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Why the Nonprofit Trust Deficit Is Getting Worse
When trust declines, giving craters. While there are numerous reasons for nonprofits to worry about their budgets in the coming…
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Useless Donor Outreach Metrics That Lure Everyone Else into Time-Wasting Oblivion
They’re captivating. They’re alluring. They promise the pleasure of percentages, trend lines, and bar graphs. They are your donor outreach…
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How to Deepen Your Major Donor Relationships
For most large and even mid-size nonprofits, your major donors contribute the great majority of your revenue. According to the…
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Outdated Fundraising Metrics Are Hurting You: Why It’s Time to Embrace a Risk-Adjusted Pipeline
If you’re still counting calls, visits, and solicitations to measure fundraising success, it’s time to rethink your strategy. Those traditional…
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