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Outdated Fundraising Metrics Are Hurting You: Why It’s Time to Embrace a Risk-Adjusted Pipeline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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Why Legacy Programs Are Essential—And A Planned Giving Consultant Who Is Leading the Way Forward
Legacy giving is one of the most powerful ways for nonprofits to ensure long-term sustainability and deepen relationships with their…
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How to Use Fundraising Automation Emails for Raising Major Gifts
You’ve heard of marketing automation, and you’ve likely heard of fundraising automation too. And if you’re like many nonprofits, you…
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Low Dollar vs Major Gifts Fundraising – It’s the Underlying Strategy that Matters, not the Amounts
Low-Dollar vs. Major Gifts Fundraising – Strategy Over Amounts In the nonprofit world, leaders, board members, and staff are faced…
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The Power of Emotional Intelligence in Fundraising: A Lesson from Bill Crouch
Over the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of learning from Bill Crouch, the founder of BrightDot and a fundraising…
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8 Ways to Cultivate and Strengthen Your Mid-Level Donor Relationships
You know that your mid-level donor relationships matter. These amazing supporters have greater potential to become major donors. They have…
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The Truth about Wealthy People and Philanthropy Should Affect Your Fundraising… But Does It?
In your organization, it’s likely you have a bunch of people who make five or six figures interacting with people…
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3 Donor Related Fundraising Challenges Keeping Your Revenue Down
Major gifts fundraising faces many challenges. That’s not news, and those challenges come in many forms, from many directions. But…
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10 Traits to Look for When Hiring a Major Gifts Officer
Gift officer turnover is a major challenge for many nonprofit organizations. While there are many reasons for this, and we…
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Mastering Donor Outreach: 5 Mistakes to Avoid and 6 Best Practices to Boost Your Results
Donor outreach is hard. There’s no sugarcoating required. We all know it. But like anything, there is a skillset, and…
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Why Traditional Major Donor Assignment Processes No Longer Work As Well As They Once Did — And What You Can Do Instead
It’s amazing how many so-called best practices get fixed and set in place, and then never questioned from that point…
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Why Fundraiser Turnover Is So High
Fundraiser turnover is an epidemic. And that’s not just our opinion or an attempt to be dramatic. Actual researchers used…
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Debunked Fundraising Myth: The #1 Reason People Don’t Give Is Because They Weren’t Asked
It gets posted all over social media. Featured in books. Heard at seminars. Repeated on webinars. It’s hard to work…
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The 6 Core Elements of a Well-Told, Well-Executed Donor Fundraising Story
Before you think this is another post about how to tell great fundraising stories, read this: This article is not…
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Do low-dollar donors even matter?
It’s a sensitive topic considering the fact that the vast majority of revenue for nonprofits comes from major donors. The…
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Are Nonprofits Driving Gift Officers to Do Fundraising Activities that Don’t Work?
As a gift officer, do you sometimes feel like your administrators and leaders are directing you to perform fundraising activities…
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What Is Donor Qualification? Major Gifts Fundraising Fundamentals
Well done! You’ve identified some potential major donors! Maybe. You think. Well, you’re pretty sure. About some of them. But…
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Are You Spending Too Much on Low-Dollar Donors?
Low-dollar donor acquisition typically occupies a large share of the fundraising budgets for nonprofits, and a similarly large share of…
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Donor Levels – Why and How to Treat Your 3 Tiers of Donors Differently
When you look at your donor base, what do you see? Do you see a plain filled with stick figures…
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The 7-Step Donor Journey from Stranger to Philanthropic Partner
All your donors are on a journey, whether they know it or not. Some of them are on a journey…
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What Is Donor Identification? Major Gift Fundraising Fundamentals Series
As you begin scouring your donor and supporter databases for your next batch of major donors, where do you begin?…
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