Dr. James explains why identifying with others is so powerful in a donor’s hero story
Effective fundraising starts with identity. Compelling fundraising story connects the donation story with the donor’s story. When does a story…
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How Enhancing a Donor’s Moral Identity Can Advance their Donor Hero Story
Effective fundraising can deliver real value to donors. For example, it can enhance public reputation. This external identity has tangible…
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Dr. James explains why the feeling “People like me make gifts like this” is so powerful in major gifts fundraising
Verba docent, exempla trahunt. “Words teach people, examples compel them.” – Latin proverb[1] It’s simple. We want the donor to…
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Giving vs. Sharing: The Power of Community in Major Gifts Fundraising
Giving vs. sharing Are we asking people to give? Or are we asking them to share? This might feel like…
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Why you must deliver value in fundraising, not just take the money and run
The noble dream Small nonprofits have needs. Often, it’s obvious. The furnishings are a bit ragged. The space is cramped.…
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Dr. James explains how to harness friendship reciprocity to unlock heroic donations
Biologists model sustainable giving in nature with a simple game.[1] The heroic donation comes from an extreme version of this…
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The Power of Heroic Philanthropy: Understanding Donor Motivations
Something’s missing. You might have noticed. The last few posts played the primal-giving game.[1] But they didn’t focus on heroes.…
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The importance of expressing impact and gratitude in fundraising
The “one big thing” in fundraising is this: Advance the donor’s hero story. The previous article set in this series…
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Dr. James explains the power of giving: why leading with a gift always wins
Lead with a gift: The primal-giving game Biologists model sustainable giving in nature with a game.[1] This primal-giving game models…
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How transactional donor relationships kill generosity
In nature, giving to unrelated others can be sustainable. But it requires some form of reciprocity. This need not be…
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Dr. James explains why sustainable giving starts by answering, “Do we have a shared future?”
It starts with a question In nature, sustainable giving to unrelated others does occur. But it happens only with reciprocal…
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How fundraisers can help their cause resonate with donors
Story works In fundraising, story is powerful. Story works better than formal descriptions. Story works better than facts and figures.…
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How to build deeper connections with your donors using surveys
Socratic fundraising asks questions. It’s easy to think of this as face-to-face, one-on-one conversations. But sometimes that isn’t feasible. The…
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How to Make the Ask of a Gift in a Will Less Scary
Sure, asking for money is hard. But asking for an estate gift? Even experienced fundraisers can get squeamish. As Anne…
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Dr. James explains why “No” often leads to “Yes”
Disaster! We put in the work. We put in the planning. We carefully execute each step in the cultivation process.…
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Dr. James’ 3-step formula for making a compelling major gifts ask
Making the ask can be the scariest part of fundraising. Setting up social events is great fun. Being friendly with…
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Dr. James Explains How Asking Permission Sets the Stage for “The Ask”
Before the ask, one step remains. Asking for permission to ask. The request is to present a challenge. This is…
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Finally, the questions you should ask that have been proven to lead to gifts from wealth
Let’s talk about wealth We want the donor to talk about assets. Why? Because 1. It creates a setting of…
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How to establish “the land of wealth sharing” for major gifts donors
The “one big thing” in fundraising is always the same: Advance the donor’s hero story. That’s the right story. But…
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How questions uncover meaningful victories in the donor’s hero story
A compelling fundraising challenge will connect with the donor’s identity. This begins with backstory. Backstory connects the cause, charity, or…
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The Importance of Asking Permission to Ask More Questions
The missing piece in the story A novel can have a perfect story. But it will still fail without one…
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Questions to ask to advance the donor’s hero story
Socratic fundraising Socratic inquiry uses questions. But just asking questions isn’t enough. To be Socratic, the questions must guide toward…
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Why Questions are Important to Advance the Donor’s Hero Story
“It’s very important not to know all the answers. Often we don’t know, and if we did it would be…
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Why answering “no” to these four questions guarantees failure in your fundraising efforts
The right metrics Fundraising metrics can’t do everything. But they can answer four key questions:[1] Are we focused on the…
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