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Have you failed today?

Have you failed today? I hope so! Because when you fail, you have the chance to learn something. And often, it’s the only way we really learn. When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. George Bernard Shaw If you’re […]

Filed Under: Blog, Caring for yourself, Fundraising, Nonprofits Tagged With: failure, learning, Nonprofit

Essential components of your fundraising appeal

Your fundraising appeal needs a strong case You must have a compelling, urgent problem the donor can help solve. You need an emotional story People make giving decisions with their emotions. Stories are the best way to ignite those emotions. Tell a story. Go ahead and use some statistics – they can help support the […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal, appeal writing, fundraising appeal

Is your board making you crazy?

Is your board making you crazy? Driving you right up the wall? You’re not alone. A committed and inspired board leads to a strong organization. A dysfunctional board or one that’s not inspired makes it almost impossible for the organization to succeed. Development staff often spot any board problems. To succeed in our work, we […]

Filed Under: Blog, Boards, Fundraising Tagged With: Board of directors, Fundraising, Nonprofit organization

Are you available to donors?

Are you available to donors? Can they reach you when they want to connect? I’ve written about a few badly done gift acknowledgments, here and here. I didn’t want to shame the organizations, so I omitted their names. But after each post, a colleague urged me to contact the offending organization. These organizations deserve to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor retention, Fundraising, stewardship, thank you letters

People, this is NOT a thank you!

People, this is NOT a thank you. This is a poorly done appeal badly disguised as a gift acknowledgment. There’s no gratitude here. And there’s no reason to give, either. Two sentences. That’s what’s spared for the donor. Fifty percent of the front page is about asking for another gift. One hundred percent of the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Thanks Tagged With: donor relations, stewardship, thank you letters

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