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People are people… even donors

Let’s talk about donors. We fundraisers seem to have complex feelings about donors. Are they your boss? Do you need to worry about a “savior complex”? Or are they a source from which you extract money? Are they friend or foe? People are people… and donors are people, too. To borrow from Depeche Mode, donors […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donors Tagged With: donor care, donor communications, donor relationships, donor retention

A guide to donor segmentation

What you want to know about donor segmentation We all know the golden rule: “Treat people the way you’d want to be treated”.  However, as a fundraiser, this doesn’t always make sense. You simply don’t have time to meet with every donor in-person or write thousands of handwritten thank you letters.  Instead, it’s better to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donors, Fundraising Tagged With: donor communication, donor relationships, donor segmentation

Lapsed donors: you don’t really want to say goodbye, do you?

Are you thinking about lapsed donors right now? We’ve been living through a few years of crisis, calamity, catastrophe… you name it. From Covid to conflict, it’s been a heck of a ride. This climate has been good to some organizations. Human services and international aid – these are needs that are ever-present in people’s […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donors Tagged With: appeal writing, donor relationships, lapsed donors

The big question your donors want you to answer: WHY

WHY? Why should I give you money? Why should I care about your work? Why will this matter to someone? Too often, we focus on HOW We love to talk about how we do the work. All the cool ways we accomplish great things. A new process. A unique way of tackling a problem. All […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Donors Tagged With: donor communications, what donors want

Fundraising isn’t easy

Fundraising isn’t easy. And there are no magic shortcuts. My friend Ephraim reminded me of this recently. Nonprofit board members or even staff leaders suggesting fundraisers just… call Oprah. Or Bill. Or whats-his-name with the spaceship… That’s not how it works. Really. I’ve witnessed this firsthand, too. An arts organization, talking about the budget. And […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donors, Fundraising Tagged With: fundraising programs, fundraising staff

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Recent Posts

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