M+R Benchmarks report a 32% increase in online giving in 2020. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project reports a 10.6% increase in giving compared to 2019. Organizations who were ready – or able to get ready, fast – were successful in the midst of the Covid pandemic. And that’s fantastic news! But it also makes the question more pressing: how […]
How to take your nonprofit’s annual report from chore to score
What purpose does your nonprofit’s annual report serve? Here in the US, the IRS requires you to file one every year. But what they have in mind is the 990… a financial form. Beyond that, your options are myriad. Too many organizations see an annual report as part requirement and part brochure. But if yours […]
You’re not too small to have a big year-end campaign
Year-end? Yes. I know it’s summer as I write. But it’s not too early to think about how you’ll make the most of your year-end campaign this year. Whatever your organization’s fiscal year is, the time from late November to the end of the calendar year is still year-end to your donors. And if you […]
4 excuses for not creating a donor newsletter
You don’t have a donor newsletter? Why not? Starting a new project can be scary, I know. It’s one more thing on the to-do list. But effective donor communications, including a donor newsletter, mean better and longer donor relationships. And that means more funding. So here are some excuses – and of course, the arguments […]
Fundraisers: use stories, not statistics
The human mind is a wanderer by nature. The daydream is the mind’s default state. Jonathan Gottschall What do you like to read? I read a scary book recently. Dystopic, feminist, infuriating. And compelling. (Gather the Daughters, by Jennie Melamed) But it did what I look to fiction to do. It took me away, to […]