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Summer round-up: free tools for you

(Originally posted in 2017… updated for you!) Did I say “free tools?” Yes, yes I did. It’s summer. It’s hot. So today’s post is an easy one: no heavy lift, and maybe a little help. Here’s a grab bag of free or cheap tools I use and like. Remember, sometimes, free isn’t so free – […]

Filed Under: Blog, Fundraising Tagged With: donor communications, Fundraising tools, writing for donors Leave a Comment

You have new donors. How will you keep them?

Keeping those new donors is critical M+R Benchmarks report a 32% increase in online giving in 2020. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project reports a 10.6% increase in giving compared to 2019. Organizations that were ready – or able to get ready, fast – were successful in the midst of the Covid pandemic. And that’s fantastic news! But it also […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: annual report, donor communications, donor retention Leave a Comment

How to take your nonprofit’s annual report from chore to score

What purpose does your nonprofit’s annual report serve? Here in the US, the IRS requires you to file one every year. But what they have in mind is the 990… a financial form. Beyond that, your options are myriad. Too many organizations see an annual report as part requirement and part brochure. But if yours […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: annual report, donor communications, donor love Leave a Comment

You’re not too small to have a big year-end campaign

Year-end? Yes. I know it’s summer as I write. But it’s not too early to think about how you’ll make the most of your year-end campaign this year. Whatever your organization’s fiscal year is, the time from late November to the end of the calendar year is still year-end to your donors. And if you […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor communications, nonprofit management, year-end campaign 1 Comment

Fundraisers: use stories, not statistics

The human mind is a wanderer by nature. The daydream is the mind’s default state. Jonathan Gottschall What do you like to read? I read a scary book recently. Dystopic, feminist, infuriating. And compelling. (Gather the Daughters, by Jennie Melamed) But it did what I look to fiction to do. It took me away, to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor communications, fundraising appeal, storytelling 8 Comments

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