Hands-On Fundraising

Donor Communications

  • About
  • Hands-On Fundraising Blog
  • Services
  • Contact

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 5 Comments

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 Leave a Comment

5 Ways to Center Donors In Your Marketing Strategy

As the years go by, donors’ expectations evolve. For nonprofits looking to connect with their audiences in 2025, this means tailoring your outreach experience to their expectations and centering them in your marketing strategy.  But how can your nonprofit speak to every individual donor? Nonprofits use individualized strategies for forging relationships with major donors. But […]

Filed Under: Marketing Communications Tagged With: donor care, marketing communications Leave a Comment

Choose Humanity: Why Real Conversations Beat Automation

Don’t automate your communication Every day it seems there’s another shiny new toy, based on AI, to make fundraising faster and easier. It’s surely tempting for an overworked nonprofit staffer with scary-big goals to hit. But while there are certainly areas that might be turned over to automation, communicating with the people who support your […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: AI, donor care, donor communications Leave a Comment

5 Donor relations tips for shy people

Does wading into a room full of strangers terrify you? Are you sure you’ll have nothing to say? Afraid you’ll embarrass yourself with your tied-up tongue? Never fear. I’m an introvert who likes people, but I find the idea of glad-handing, networking or otherwise behaving like my extroverted colleagues intimidating. And I’ve been doing this […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donors Tagged With: donor care, donor relationships, introverts Leave a Comment

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 9
  • Next Page »

Fundraising advice served fresh to your inbox

Get yours here:

Search

Recent Posts

  • Please don’t go! 5 ways to win donor hearts again.
  • Can we stop this in its tracks, please?
  • Do you want to really connect? Show, don’t just tell me.
  • Are you making it hard to give?
  • How to raise money for an arts organization

Work with me!

Let's talk about how I can help your organization raise more money.

Contact

  • Donor communications
  • Fundraising Strategy

Copyright © 2026 · Mary Cahalane · Hands-On Fundraising · 847 S. Main Street · #183 · Plantsville, CT 06479