- What are the key characteristics of a successful fundraiser?
- Are these characteristics inborn or can they be acquired?
- What can I, as a fundraising professional, do to acquire or strengthen these characteristics within myself?
- What do I look for when hiring development staff people?
Many...
Close your eyes and try to imagine the differing ideas and perspectives that various stakeholders have about your organization’s future. Does your board think about the future the same way your staff thinks about it? What about your clients and consumers? And, what do your funders,...
Corporations and Businesses:
If the corporation has a foundation they may be approached in a similar way as you would approach a private foundation. When you are dealing with a small business, however, the owner or decision maker may not have the time to search your website or read through tons...
I’m sure many of you are too young to remember Willie Sutton, but you may have read about him. Willie was an infamous bank robber who robbed hundreds of banks back during a forty-year “career” beginning in the 1930s. Willie is reported to have had a smart answer when someone...
Okay, I’m going to start a huge firestorm here by questioning a revered source of fundraising statistics.
Giving USA has been around a long time and is one of the most respected sources of giving statistics in the United States. But I’d like to question the statistics, and maybe the...
Sometimes getting all the information you need to plan is the hardest part of the process. People who have never been involved in development might not understand why this information is important. Or, they might be protecting their turf. Or they are too busy to worry about “that...
Good Listener
Good listening is definitely a quality that can be learned. A class in communications can help emphasize that listening is the most important part of good communication skills. (There may be a very good reason why human beings were created with one mouth and two ears!)
Active...
Let’s discuss your organization’s strategic plan. If you’ve gone through the strategic planning process recently, the following components are probably in place. If not, you might need to work on your strategic plan. Carefully review the following list and determine what you...
One way to build capacity for your organization is by strengthening the fundraising ability of your board. Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “We can’t get our board to help with fundraising; they aren’t the ‘movers and shakers’ in town.” If this is a...
First, we’d like to stress the importance of having one author of your case. That staff member or consultant should be the same person interviewing others, reading all source material, and then synthesizing everything. In other words, ensuring that all of their information is first-hand.
If...
Telling the reader who you are is a key component of your case for support. Although the case for support is not the same thing as the strategic plan, much of the information you need can usually be found in your strategic plan. Your case, as your plan, should start with mission, vision, and...
Businesses give in many ways, not just cash! Of course, cash is good. We can all use cold, hard cash. But many businesses support nonprofits in other ways as well—gifts-in-kind, multiyear pledges, grants, employee volunteer programs, sponsorships, cause-related marketing, and matching...