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The value of trust

Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking about the value of trust. This was spurred in part by a couple of pieces of mail I received. One looked like business mail from our garbage collectors. I opened it because you can never tell anymore what might be a bill and what might be another […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, donor appeals, donor retention, Nonprofit organization, trust 6 Comments

Are you caught in a dead-end?

I live on a cul-de-sac. Or as we used to say back in NJ, a dead-end. Every once in a while I watch a truck driver pull into the end of our street, hoping it will be a shortcut to another neighborhood. Then the driver has to perform truck gymnastics to get back out. It’s […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, jargon, Writing 2 Comments

Put it in writing

It’s fun when something you should do is also something you enjoy doing. I’ve grown to truly enjoy sending hand-written thanks (and other notes) to our donors. It’s partly the challenge. For instance, after the end of the year, I had more than 70 in a backlog. That was one marathon note-writing session! But I […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications, Thanks Tagged With: appeal writing, donor relations, donor-focused, thank you letters, thank you notes, writing for donors 4 Comments

A love song to the small donor

The small donor is not really small I’ve been trying to update and correct information in our database. It’s a chore. I’m going through everything line by line, gift by gift. I realize one thing as I work, though. While I’ve only been at my organization for a year, so many of the names I […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: loyalty, Nonprofit, small donors 9 Comments

The inspiration you crave, and how to get it

Sometimes, inspiration happens – out of the blue. This past Sunday we celebrated Epiphany in my church. A friend gave the sermon. She spoke about epiphanies of the religious sort, but also about the epiphanies we experience in our lives – moments of sudden insight or understanding. As I listened, I thought about how much […]

Filed Under: Blog, Caring for yourself, Donor communications Tagged With: creativity, epiphany, Fundraising, inspiration 2 Comments

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