I’ve been seeing a disturbing trend of late: a sharp rise in what I call are BFFs: blunt force fundraisers. Nonprofit leaders willfully skipping planning to jump straight to asking. As the author of Ask Without Fear!®, you know I am an advocate for asking. But the number of BFF’s I’m seeing of late –
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Continue readingIn this morning’s note to my weekly Fundraising Kick coaching email subscribers, I offered two ways to respond to a tragedy like the devastation people are experiencing in Texas because of Hurricane Harvey. This message is so timely, I am sharing it here as well. If you turn on any news channel, you have undoubtedly
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Continue readingCapital campaigns are a wild roller coaster ride of vision-fueled excitement followed by long stretches of slow. slogging. work. The slow parts require incredible discipline to stay on course. I know because I’ve helped run 18 capital campaigns at schools, universities, and hospitals. Most were at organizations that felt they didn’t have “the right” donors.
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Continue readingOnline giving definitely is growing. And if you listen to the growth statistics, you may feel you can fully fund your organization using online giving tools. If that’s you, stop. Seriously. When something grows from 1% to 2% it’s 100% growth, but it’s still not the other 98%. According to a recent GivingUSA webinar, online
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Continue readingI recently blogged about a storytelling tip for nonprofit leaders that I learned from Kindra Hall. The tip is especially powerful in nonprofit fundraising. Kindra took the millenia old story structure – beginning, middle, end – and reframed it as normal, explosion, new normal. One of her lessons for us was that as storytellers, we
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Continue readingToday, the fundraising think tank Rogare published “Less Than My Job’s Worth.” In this important “green” paper – a paper created for discussion – Rogare’s director Ian MacQuillin exams the questions “is fundraising a profession?” and “does it matter if fundraising isn’t a profession?” Does fundraising have the hallmarks of a profession? I’ve long been
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Continue readingYears ago, I wrote about Zig Ziglar teaching that nobody wants a drill. He said millions of drills are sold every year. But no one wants a drill. They want a hole. The same is true with donors. No donor wants to make a donation. Donors want the value the donation will make. So tell
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Continue readingYears ago, I wrote about Zig Ziglar teaching that nobody wants a drill. He said millions of drills are sold every year. But no one wants a drill. They want a hole. The same is true with donors. No donor wants to make a donation. Donors want the value the donation will make. So tell
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Continue readingLast week, I was able to listen to a terrific discussion from business leaders about how their organizations make corporate gifts to charities. It’s always good to hear the thought process of donors. But it sometimes raises more questions than it settles. Seeking corporate gifts? Don’t be “that” guy At one point in the conversation,
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Continue readingLast week, I was able to listen to a terrific discussion from business leaders about how their organizations make corporate gifts to charities. It’s always good to hear the thought process of donors. But it sometimes raises more questions than it settles. Seeking corporate gifts? Don’t be “that” guy At one point in the conversation,
The post The conundrum of corporate gifts appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.
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