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Arts Fundraising: Engage and Inspire Your Donors

Art – in all its forms – is meant to move us. And it’s meant to be experienced – to create a reaction that is body-and-soul deep. Donor experience matters – a lot – to every nonprofit that needs donors. But arts fundraisers have an advantage. Their mission is an experience. If yours is an […]

Filed Under: Arts Fundraising, Donors, Fundraising Tagged With: donor experience, donor relationships 3 Comments

Please don’t go! 5 ways to win donor hearts again.

A lapsed donor is a donor who hasn’t given in a while. (And of course, that’s insider talk. But you’re an insider, so we’ll use the term here.) But how do you define that period? How long do you consider a donor active? Experts tell us that after a first gift, you need to thank […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donors Tagged With: donor care, donor retention, lapsed donors

Can we stop this in its tracks, please?

Okay, I admit it might already be too late. This nonsense is out there and may be growing in the wild. But if I can persuade you not to jump on this bandwagon, I’ll be very happy. What am I talking about? Appeals made to look like bills. Yup, instead of a warm and genuine […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Donors Tagged With: appeal writing, donor communications, donor relationships

What are you doing for your loyal donors?

Your loyal donors matter My friend Barbara O’Reilly is that wonderful combination of truly caring and brilliant. And this post is thanks to an important point she raised in one of her emails. (You can get yours here… well worth it!) She wrote about how often fundraisers think in terms of moving donors into larger […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor retention, Donors Tagged With: donor care, donor relationships, thank you letters

Donor identity: How do your donors see themselves?

Understanding donor identity will strengthen your fundraising. My daughter graduated from Oberlin College. At the ceremony, speakers repeatedly encouraged the grads to go change the world. They were greeted with loud cheers. It was obvious that from alumni to faculty, to graduating students and their younger friends, Oberlin has a strong sense of self. It’s […]

Filed Under: Blog, Branding, Donors Tagged With: donor identity, donor retention, donor survey

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