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 who 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 makes the question more pressing: how […]
Donor identity: you should care about how donors see themselves
Understanding donor identity will strengthen your fundraising. My daughter recently 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, that Oberlin has a strong sense of […]
How to make #GivingTuesday more than a gimme
Soon it will be #GivingTuesday. My inbox, and yours, will overflow with messages from every nonprofit we’ve had contact with in the past. Too many of the messages will be the same: Send us money, because… #GivingTuesday! Let’s remember what this day was meant to be: Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) […]
Dear Fundraiser: Things we shouldn’t do
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 […]
What are you doing now to welcome new donors?
Are you welcoming your new donors well? If you’ve been busy fundraising this year, you may have found what many have: donors are being generous. They’re responding to emergency campaigns. They want to do something… and those organizations that provide something good to do are benefitting. So you may have attracted a group of new-to-you […]