In January Inside Philanthropy interviewed legendary fundraiser Jerold Panas to discover his secrets of attracting wealthy supporters. Here’s his list: It isn’t about your organization or its needs. Rather it’s about the donor and their needs. Go big or go home because big projects tap into donors’ dreams. Go in person to get the most generous contributions. Avoid dining...

Thanks to the Education Advisory Board we now know what the ideal major gift officer looks like. Their Advancement Forum sought to understand what makes a top major gift officer tick. So they surveyed over 1200 major gift officers at 89 colleges and universities in the U.S.A and the United Kingdom. According to their study the ideal MGO is...

I was wondering who might have created the first survey ever.  My search led me to Charles the Great the “Father of Europe.” Apparently in AD 771 he created what might have been the first survey to help him understand his own kingdom. Interestingly he was searching for answers to questions we still struggle with today. I guess the more...

Recently I was reminded of a blog post I wrote four years ago that got a lot of attention. Some of the reactions were not so kind. Here’s what some said about the blog article I wrote back then: “Your assertions demonstrate that you clearly ARE from outside the fundraising world.” “It seems that you are confused about what “planned giving” means.” “I...

Huh? Sales managers? But we don’t sell anything! Actually you do! You’re selling value. Any exchange of money occurs because a person sees value in giving away their hardearned cash. The private sector usually has sales managers for their teams. The nonprofit sector usually doesn’t. Instead they have Directors or CDO’s. But too many of them don’t know how...

Too many nonprofits fail to inspire people to give because they don’t understand value. An exchange of money from supporters to nonprofits only occurs when a clear value proposition is presented helping them justify the expense. People will pay to feel good. It is essential that donors see that they will feel good as a result of their giving. The warm glow...

Getting a donor to see you might actually be the hardest part of your job.  In fact some fundraisers feel that once they get the meeting set they are 80% of the way there! Thanks to Claire Axelrad here’s some help. She’s provided 9 useful proven strategies for getting the major donor visit on her blog. Here are my favorites...

1. Dialogue. Major donors expect to be able to have a dialogue with an organization and its staff. 2. Permission. Major donors expect to maintain power over whether or not they grant permission for dialogue to happen. 3. Convenience. Major donors expect their engagements to be convenient for them. 4. Focus. Major donors expect you to focus on them...

If you don’t know where you are going you will never get there. Here’s how to start with the end in mind so you can be resolute in finding the best fitting job for you and your dreams. First dream. Grab a pen and a blank sheet of paper sit in a quiet room and write everything down about what you...

I always hated when my staff sent me an Excel file showing our astounding growth. You might be thinking “Why would you hate getting an Excel file that reflects astounding growth?” But the reason is that numbers in little rectangles in Excel don’t excite me. I like charts! I did something about it. So about 18 months ago I...