How to Ride the Wave of Generosity with #GivingTuesday
Annual Giving A wonderful day for fundraising is coming up - GivingTuesday! We think GivingTuesday is a wonderful initiative. There are plenty of major gift pundits out there who think Giving Days are a distraction and a dead end, but we take issue. From…
Take Heart: Donors Are Still Giving to All Sorts of Causes
Annual GivingShould you be actively fundraising right now? Yes or no? If you are a no – then you have company. Many organizations are officially holding off on gift conversations or asks, even if their donors are ready have a gift discussion. We think…
Penelope Burk’s Favorite Wealth Screening Tool (Video)
Annual Giving, Donor-Centered Fundraising, Major Giftshttps://vimeo.com/352765737/f252bfdbc3 Here's a hot tip from fundraising guru Penelope Burk. Kathryn Gamble and I had lunch with her at the NC Philanthropy Conference in Charlotte, NC this week. Kathryn and I had a packed room for our…
Trend #7: Monthly Donors Are Going UP!
Annual Giving Great news - more and more people are becoming monthly donors to their favorite causes! Thank goodness. After so much dismal reporting about small donors dropping off, overall rates of giving going down, and retention rates declining…
Trend #4: 5 Ways to Overcome Declining Trust and Wary Donors
Annual Giving This is the fourth installment in my series on major trends that will impact your fundraising results: the huge issue of declining trust and wary donors. Donors are losing trust in nonprofits - and giving less. So how do we deal with the…
Strengthen Your Fundraising Appeal With the “IPM” Formula
Annual Giving, Asking for Donations, Major Gifts Here’s a very smart, efficient way to present your fundraising appeal. It forces you to be crystal clear about the three fundamental parts of any formal Ask: What impact it will make (I) What project it will fund…
Three Quick Ways to Snag Last Minute Online Gifts
Annual Giving, Year-End Fundraising Campaigns We're approaching the last week of the year. You know what that means! Hopefully - it means a flood of online gifts and donations through your digital donation portal. There’s a lot of money in play for deserving nonprofits in these last…
Thanksgiving is a Great Time for DonorLove!
Annual Giving It's the week of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and we are counting our blessings. Your donors are a great blessing to your cause because they make your organization's work possible. So, why not take advantage of the season and send loving…
Don’t Make These 5 Mistakes In Your Fundraising Appeal Letter
Annual Giving, Asking for Donations, Fundraising Strategy, Marketing & Communications, Year-End Fundraising Campaigns Fundraising appeal letter mistakes - 5 key items to avoid Your year-end appeal letter just might be missing the boat. Here are some common fundraising appeal letter mistakes I see so very often: 1. Your call to action is weak. Lots…
Creating a Donor-Centered Appeal Letter: A Makeover
Annual Giving, Asking for Donations, Donor-Centered Fundraising, Marketing & CommunicationsWant to create a donor-centered appeal letter? It's more difficult than you think, it's not very intuitive. It doesn't come naturally. When we actually sit down to write a letter, our natural inclination is to remind our donor how worthwhile…
What are the 3 Most Boring Words in Fundraising Appeals?
Annual Giving, Asking for DonationsWhat fun! Today I'm ranting a bit about what goes WRONG with so many fundraising appeals. I’m sharing my thoughts on the most overused, most boring and least useful words ever to be used in fundraising appeals. And I want to know YOURS! What…
Do’s and Don’ts for Your Annual Fundraising Plan
Annual Giving, Fundraising PlanIt's the (hopefully) slow time of mid-summer, and it's time when you can can step back from your day-to-day work for a breather. AND - It’s the time when many fundraising shops look ahead and create a detailed, annual fundraising plan for…
Why You Need a Formal Fundraising Plan To Raise The Money Of Your Dreams
Annual Giving, Fundraising Plan Summer is here, and it's time to get organized with a well-thought-out formal Fundraising Plan for the year. Why not take time right now - while things may be slowing down? Use this time to create a blueprint for a smart, well-oiled fundraising…
Top 10 Tips to Make More Money, Have More Fun at Your Fundraising Event
Annual Giving, Events Fundraising event tips are here! May is Party Month here at Fired-Up Fundraising. Today I'm sharing how to make more money and have more fun with YOUR own fundraising events. We all have events, so let's make them fun and also highly profitable. First:…
Questions and Answers about Monthly Giving
Annual Giving As you know, we've been talking about monthly donors for the past few weeks. And you may have seen my Facebook Live interviews here and here with monthly giving guru Erica Waasdorp. It’s been tremendously fun and exciting to get…
7 Tips to Create a Wildly Profitable Monthly Giving Program
Annual Giving Monthly giving is a huge untapped revenue source for so many nonprofits. We are still trying to wrap our heads around the vast potential monthly donors offer. If you have 300 monthly donors – just how much overall revenue would these 300…