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The top qualification and prioritization data points you should consider before you reach out to your supporters to build a caseload

Greg Warner

October 5, 2021

We surveyed a few hundred fundraisers to find out what they felt were the most (and least) important data points…

Isn’t it time you leveraged technology so you can be the fundraiser you always wanted to be?

Greg Warner

September 30, 2021

Let technology do what you don’t do well. Everyone knows that technology has been the key for innovation in the…

What-to-do-when-a-supporter-wont-accept-your-outreach

What to do when a supporter notifies you that they left your organization in their estate plan but won’t take your calls

Greg Warner

September 28, 2021

I know, it’s frustrating. You want to thank them but they won’t respond to your outreach. First things first. There are…

16 Simple Things Your Best Donors Want

Greg Warner

September 23, 2021

Here’s my list of essential major donor needs that you must aim to fulfill: Your best donors want you to…

Are you ready for the 24/7 donor?

Greg Warner

September 21, 2021

Accenture – the world’s largest consulting firm – says that we’re in the era of the “nonstop consumer”. According to…

Top-10-Reasons-Major-Gift-Officers-Wont-Make-Outbound-Calls-to-Donors

Top 10 Reasons Why Gift Officers Won’t Make Outbound Calls to Donors

Greg Warner

September 17, 2021

The reasons why fundraisers won’t make outbound calls to donors are because they are: FEARFUL: They fear rejection. CONFUSED: They…

The 8 core components of engagement fundraising and why you desperately need them

Greg Warner

September 15, 2021

Most fundraising is based on what I call “single shot” strategies. For instance, it’s an event, gala or golf outing.…

Engagement Fundraising in 7 simple bullet-points

Greg Warner

September 10, 2021

Focus- Focus your marketing (especially your expensive marketing like face-to-face meetings) on people who have a lot of money Generate…

Why you should worry less about reducing overhead and more about delivering value

Greg Warner

September 8, 2021

Fundraisers and donors are in a pickle. They have been unfairly subjected to a broken system for decades. It isn’t…

Why most of your marketing should appeal to donors in the WHY stage of the consideration continuum

Greg Warner

September 3, 2021

Instinct. When I first started helping nonprofits raise major gifts for less, I instinctively knew that the traditional planned giving…

Why your donor prospects lie to you and won’t accept your outreach

Greg Warner

September 1, 2021

If you’re like me, you hate being sold. You can sense when a salesperson is trying to get you to…

Is your annual fund tail wagging your major gift dog?

Greg Warner

August 27, 2021

I always find it stupefying when a major gifts team tells me they need to get permission from the direct marketing…

3 big reasons why nobody talks about the single most important fundraising tactic on earth

Greg Warner

August 25, 2021

Let’s jump right in…. The single most important fundraising tactic on earth is appointment setting. There! I said it! Don’t believe…

Why Response Rates Don’t Matter

Greg Warner

August 20, 2021

It always frustrates me to hear fundraisers or their consultants concern themselves with vanity metrics like response rates for lead…

Apple will be changing how their products report your email marketing metrics… but does it matter?

Greg Warner

August 18, 2021

Apple will be driving change yet again. Yep! You know Apple. In addition to all the wonderful products they create,…

Donor target ask amounts offend me

Greg Warner

August 13, 2021

I keep seeing software or wealth screening companies providing fundraisers with target ask amounts. I don’t get it. How on…

The difference between wealth screening and wealth appending

Greg Warner

August 11, 2021

First, wealth screening. Over the past 10 to 20 years, wealth screening has become a common practice for fundraising shops.…

10 reasons why donors and fundraisers like Rollover IRA giving

Greg Warner

August 6, 2021

We’re getting pretty good at marketing rollover IRAs here at MarketSmart. Here are some of the things we’ve learned as…

Stop SPAMMING your supporters with planned giving e-newsletters

Greg Warner

August 4, 2021

Wiz-bang tech? I was talking to a fundraiser and he said, “We’ve got this cool system that includes pre-written estate planning…

Don’t survey your donors unless you have cultivation ready to go

Greg Warner

July 30, 2021

Let’s start at the beginning. Almost 10 years ago, when MarketSmart was a marketing agency for private sector businesses and…

Why you should never get a job and go to work

Greg Warner

July 28, 2021

I taught my kids to avoid using the words job, work and can’t. To me a job is what some people get so they can work to get money; and if they fail to…

Top 2 cringeworthy things some fundraisers say to major donor prospects (and what they might want to say instead)

Greg Warner

July 23, 2021

1. “I’d like to meet you to update you / tell you what we do / tell you what we’ve…

A powerful new way to deliver value to your future supporters

Greg Warner

July 19, 2021

If you work for a college or university, you already know that many of your donors give because of the experience…

7 big reasons why capacity is so hard to uncover (how the rich hide their wealth)

Greg Warner

July 16, 2021

Here’s how the ultra-rich make sure you can’t figure out how much money they really have: They figure out ways…