Advice

  February 16, 2024 Dear Friend,     I recently had the privilege of speaking with Reverend Dr. Vance P. Ross of Central United Methodist Church in Atlanta, and I…

Before asking for programmatic financial support—writing a proposal—you should have a well-developed description of the program—a Goals Grid. I say this for three reasons: 1) It gets all of the…

Communication with mid-level and major donors is key to an organization’s fundraising success and long-term sustainability. The more personal with the highest levels of leadership—executives and board trustees—the better. This…

Often, when I’m presenting on fundraising to religious organizations and educational institutions, “How do we get current donors to give more money?” is a common question.  The conversation usually goes…

The need for strong donor connection is evident—it creates sustainability, increases size of gifts, creates donor loyalty, and establishes long-term credibility. Without deep donor connections, most nonprofits fail over time…

Called one of my clients' donors just to say hello. He asked how are things and what are we working on. I gave him an update of the school and…

Often, donors only receive communications requesting their support. Never an acknowledgement of support unless immediately after a donation. Intelligently, one of my mentors, John Baker, realized this and taught me…

I managed my first virtual gala. It was quite a bit of upfront work. We raised just over $515K, but only $30K the night of the event. We didn’t have…

At Verbum Dei, one of their long-time donors passed away last year. So, I suggested we put together a memorial video on what he meant to the organization, with the…

https://youtu.be/fEheBFAVtJU