Hands-On Fundraising

Donor Communications

  • About
  • Hands-On Fundraising Blog
  • Services
  • Contact

No fundraising plan? Don’t worry. Here’s what you can do.

No fundraising plan? So, it’s October and you still haven’t gotten around to making a plan for your fundraising through December. Yeah. You’re screwed. No, just kidding. You can still make this work. But you need to start today. Why not just wing it? Just do what you always do, right? Who has time to think […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Planning, Thanks Tagged With: appeal writing, fundraising plans, year-end plan 2 Comments

So, Hands-On Fundraising is a thing…

Just a quick mid-week post to share with you that Hands-On Fundraising, LLC is formed and ready for business. I think this is where my long nonprofit career has been pointing. It’s time to share what I’ve learned over those years. Time to reach more organizations and help them do great work. Thank you for […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications, Fundraising, Planning Tagged With: appeal writing, donor retention, Fundraising, nonprofit consulting 2 Comments

Trade Secrets

Do we have – or want – trade secrets in fundraising?

Is the pie limited? Are we really in fierce competition with every other nonprofit for scarce donor dollars? Or could we all learn more from each other – and translate that into better communicating our specific missions?

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Fundraising Tagged With: copywriting, experience, Red Cross, secrets, sharing, trade secrets 3 Comments

Are you making these fundraising mistakes?

Are you making these mistakes? As a consultant, I work with some smaller nonprofits. To begin, I try to get a sense of how they’re fundraising now. I see similar problems across different organizations. But here’s the surprising thing − I see these same problems in my mailbox every day, from national and international charities. So these aren’t […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, nonprofit fundraising, solicitations 9 Comments

Who cares about donors, anyway?

Who cares about donors, anyway? Do you? The Agitator hosted what became a heated conversation about the value of focusing on relationships in fundraising a while back. The heat came from one commenter in particular. The Agitator recommended a post by the esteemed Ken Burnett, called Keeping the Right Fundraisers. In his post, Ken offered the […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor retention, fundraisers, relationship fundraising 8 Comments

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • …
  • 13
  • Next Page »

Fundraising advice served fresh to your inbox

Get yours here:

Search

Recent Posts

  • Write a better fundraising appeal
  • So you want more active donors and more income…
  • How to help people feel connected
  • Is this any way to treat a friend?
  • Size matters. But don’t be too rough on the big guys.

Work with me!

Let's talk about how I can help your organization raise more money.

Contact

  • Donor communications
  • Fundraising Strategy

Copyright © 2026 · Mary Cahalane · Hands-On Fundraising · 847 S. Main Street · #183 · Plantsville, CT 06479