It’s personal. Fundraising, that is. Picture this: you walk to your mailbox. Inside, you find an envelope with a return address you recognize. “Real mail!” you think. You open that envelope first and in a hurry. Then you begin to feel confused. Disappointed. “Dear Ms. LastName” it begins. “Because I am a caring person, I […]
Stop thinking about money!
Do we need to stop thinking about money? I was at a meeting the other day. A local foundation offered training about soliciting major donors. It was a small enough group that we had time to hash out a few hypothetical situations. A good session and well worth the hour or so. As is often […]
Has your donor reached her limit?
Imagine how a donor feels when she’s reached her limit “No, we can’t do that. But it’s a good idea. You should definitely offer that suggestion.” “I can’t. I’ve run out of allowed suggestions.” “Oh, well, they limit them to make it easier on them.” Had enough yet? The above was a real conversation I […]
The value of trust
Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking about the value of trust. This was spurred in part by a couple of pieces of mail I received. One looked like business mail from our garbage collectors. I opened it because you can never tell anymore what might be a bill and what might be another […]
Are donors tired – or just tired of you?
Your donors are tired… Were they for real? I was at a meeting with a number of organizations the other day, along with some fundraising consultants. During the course of the meeting, I was surprised to hear the respected counsel suggesting that the organizations cut back on their communications and solicitations with their donors. Why? […]