How To Identify Hidden Major Donors Your Wealth Screening and Prospect Research Will Never Find
For too many nonprofits, the search for hidden major donors often misses a large swath of potential revenue in the…
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What Fundraising Organizations Can Learn From Trusted Leaders
The most productive philanthropic partnerships are built on trust. Trust is built on shared convictions and candor, not self-promotion or…
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1 Fundraising Finding: Permanence and Death Reminders
Today’s experiment highlights a key legacy-fundraising concept. Mortality reminders trigger two responses: avoidance and/or pursuit of symbolic immortality. The second…
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How to Use LinkedIn for Outreach to Major Donors and Prospects
You may not realize it, but LinkedIn is often the most effective social media channel for making initial contact with…
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The Big Bequest Misunderstanding: Why You Can’t Ignore Your Oldest Friends
Half of all charitable bequest dollars will come from people passing at this age and older: 89. The big wealth…
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5 Fundraising Stats on Major Gifts of Assets: 2.3%, 60%, 77%, 6X, and 50X
2.3% of household wealth is held in cash and checkable accounts; stop ignoring the other 97.7%. 60% of the largest…
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Why Your Board and Wealthy Donors Don’t Send You Any Referrals
We all know the value of networking. We also all know that some of your best and most valuable donors…
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The Key to Improving Fundraising Results: Improve Your Posture
So many ill-conceived ideas about metrics and other means of evaluating fundraising performance are rooted in the terribly false notion…
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What Is Preliminary Qualification for Major Donors and Prospects?
For decades, major gifts fundraising has revolved around a process for working with wealthy donors to raise money. It involved…
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A Fundraising Process That Builds Donor Trust
The “ambush ask”—luring donors to meetings under false or veiled pretenses, then asking for “a gift”—has done significant damage to…
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What’s Your Strategy?
If you’ve ever cracked open a book on how to play chess, you know the feeling: A swirl of foreign…
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Why A Gift Officer’s Actual Job Is NOT to Raise Money
From the nonprofit’s perspective, the job of the gift officer often seems to be to convey wealth from supporters. But…
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