Dazzle Your Donor Prospects with an Upgraded LinkedIn Headline
Many major gift officers don’t realize that one of the things some wealthy donor prospects do after receiving a first…
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Why AI and Machine Learning Fail to Help Fundraisers Build ‘QUALIFIED’ Major Donor Portfolios (or Caseloads)
AI and machine learning are the new buzzwords in the prospect identification field proposing yet another solution to the challenge…
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How to Help Your Wealthiest Supporters Solicit Themselves
What results in a bigger gift? A) Being convinced to give B)Deciding to give on your own? Your job as…
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Why what you do is called ADVANCEMENT
Ever wonder why what you do is called ‘advancement’? Here’s the answer: Your primary role is to help donors move…
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Two Powerful Types of Questions You Should NOT Ask Major Gift Donors Until Trust Is Established
At some point in your engagement with donors and supporters there comes a magical moment when you realize a person…
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5 Essential Tips and Strategies for Improving How You Make Outreach to Major Donor Prospects
Making outreach to major donor prospects requires a set of skills that too often get shoved to the back burner.…
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Why I Don’t Like Recommended Ask Amounts
For the record, I don’t like the idea of using SUGGESTED ASK AMOUNTS. Do you? I don’t believe in presupposing…
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5 Data-Driven Strategies to Increase Donor Survey Response Rates
The more you can learn about major donors before you meet them, the more effective you will be at that…
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6 Reasons Why Donor Surveys Work at Engaging Wealthy Supporters and Prospects
Getting that initial engagement from a major donor prospect is a big hurdle. Yes, we all want to meet with…
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How to Hire the Right People for Raising Major Gifts
Are the people working as major gift officers at your organization in the right role? Do they have the best…
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Why Propensity Fails at Helping You Pre-Qualify Major Donors for Outreach
Here’s the situation: You’ve been tasked with finding a fresh batch of potential major donors to engage. You’ve been given…
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How Predictive Analytics in Fundraising Fails to Deliver Accurate Caseloads
Every industry loves to predict the future. We predict stock markets, sports outcomes, educational outcomes, climate change, weather, and performance…
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FOR FUNDRAISERS ONLY: Read this whenever you feel beaten down by people who don’t understand what you do for humanity
If you are a fundraiser…. You are not a beggar or manipulator who twists arms. Rather, you are a caring,…
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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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It Takes Two to Drive Success: How Rethinking Nonprofit Leadership Can Solve Your Gift Officer Turnover Problem
As turnover in the nonprofit sector continues to plague so many organizations, and not just with major gift officers, it’s…
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7 Ways Bad Leadership in Fundraising Drives Away Your Best Gift Officers
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so…
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10 Reasons Why Major Gift Officers Quit to Look for New Jobs
Why do gift officers quit their jobs so frequently? Gift officer turnover is holding so many nonprofit organizations back. And…
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Why reciprocity must be an essential tool in your fundraising toolbox
Every single human being in every single society on earth subscribes to an unspoken rule when it comes to reciprocation…
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If you don’t like wealthy people, it’s time to think about a career change
Nobody gives when they feel the professionals working for an organization or institution dislike them. I’m writing this today because…
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6 Reasons Pausing the Solicitation Process Can Increase the Amount of a Major Gift
Patience is powerful. When pursuing major gifts, it’s tempting to want to go fast, and to accept the first gift…
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Why Wealth Screening Data Fails to Identify Your Most Generous Donors
Wealth screening data gets a lot of attention and usage from nonprofits looking for a quick way to identify people…
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The Ultimate Source for Fundraising Questions – From Permission to Confirmation
Questions are the most powerful tool in a fundraiser’s toolbox. More than anything else, asking good fundraising questions will build…
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Planned Giving Language – Words to Use and Avoid in Your Legacy Fundraising
There are two languages in fundraising – donorese, and organizationish. And, as often happens when people speak two different languages,…
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Why RFM Fails at Populating Fundraising Caseloads
Many nonprofits use RFM as a means to fill their fundraising caseloads with supposedly qualified prospects – people who have…
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