Everyone wants new major donors. Most nonprofits spend a lot of time and money noodling their data to find them.…
Everyone wants planned gifts. But so few invest the time and money necessary to inspire them. Events, annual fund mailings, operation…
1. Major and planned gift donors want to engage on multiple channels. Tweet this! They want to involve themselves with and…
These days, many nonprofits are seeing their lists erode. Oddly, for each organization, they are losing more donors than they…
That's right. Most planned gift prospects actually don't ever want to meet you. They'll even go so far as to…
The funny thing about fundraising is that just about every nonprofit has plenty of data, plenty of prospects, and some…
According to an article in the Journal of Economic Psychology, saying thank you can actually have a negative effect on…
You may have heard that the reason why people give is because they were asked. For many years, this saying…
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas A. Edison - “Success is stumbling from…
I was tired of waiting. When I was just a donor, I was frustrated with the letters, newsletters, and emails…
At MarketSmart, we get super-excited when a new organization signs up to work with us. And why not? It is,…
Give until it hurts? Like so many other things I dislike about traditional fundraising axioms, this one has always rubbed…
There's a ton of information out there about how to ask for a donation. Here's a 52-page report from AFP…
Do you donate to your employer? If your answer was, "No, I donate my time... I work here!" I think…
Mark Zuckerberg's big $100 million gift in 2010 In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder and CEO) gave $100 million to…
Popular opinion is wrong. Usually, it is believed that extroverts make the best sales people (and fundraisers). But, according to…
Does your organization really appreciate its supporters? Many private businesses have customer service departments because they want to increase the…
Fundraising IS marketing and selling Yet some fundraisers think it’s different from other forms of marketing and sales when it isn’t.…
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has spent the past 120 years advising one of the worlds most philanthropic families— the Rockefellers. Today they…
I hope you will. I'm what you call an open networker. I love meeting new people on LinkedIn and I…
If you've been reading my blog for a while you probably know that I don't really like conferences that much. …
Believing that you are imposing on your supporters by asking them for money. Remember, they want to give. The key…
I created Engagement Fundraising and invented our software because I'm really a donor, not a fundraiser. In fact, I have never been a…
Each year I like to review which blog posts were viewed most by my subscribers (and which were viewed least).…