Dear Fundraiser, Here are the things I wish we wouldn’t do. I’m cheering for our success. So in a helpful spirit, I offer you my list below. So, putting on my donor hat, I wish we wouldn’t: Send an automated thank you message for an online gift and assume that’s enough Forget to thank […]
Don’t invoice me when you want a gift
Don’t confuse a gift with an invoice. I’ve been stewing for a while about a certain kind of gift solicitation I’ve been seeing. I’ve hesitated to write about it. But I get more annoyed the more I think about the damage these things can do. Want some examples? This is an email I got last […]
Are you making these fundraising mistakes?
As a consultant, I work with some smaller nonprofits. To begin, I try to get a sense of how they’re fundraising now. I see similar problems across different organizations. But here’s the surprising thing − I see these same problems in my mailbox every day, from national and international charities. So these aren’t only small organization problems. I’ll […]
Say it again!
Today I found myself hunting for an idea I’d seen for a lapsed donor appeal. My search took me to some letters I’d written years ago. I wrote the letters at my former organization. With a few years’ distance, I definitely found a few things I’d change. But one thing struck me – how consistent […]