Hurricane Katrina. The Indian Ocean Tsumani. The Haiti Earthquake. These are but three of the more recent natural disasters to devastate different regions on the planet. And throughout, Canadian citizens, charities, and nonprofits have responded with true north compassion, aid,...
My wife can still remember the name of her math teacher from grade four. You know why? Because he, um, paused every few words, and ah, ahhhhh, you know, ahh, added an ahh to what he was saying, ah, so...
How long should your next fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages? What is the correct length for a direct mail appeal? I'll tell you in a minute. But first, let me tell you how you should not...
It's not every Christmas Eve that one finds oneself in the remote village of Cusco, Peru stirring up vats of Peruvian hot chocolate and handing out mug-fulls to the local street children. But that's exactly how Ari and Jennifer Zainuddin...
Sometimes you just have to take a chance and see what happens. This philosophy applies to many of us who like a little risk in our lives, especially when the gambling bug bites us. So it's little wonder that some...
You mean I have to talk to them?! This question came up in a discussion about cultivating donors and prospects. Last month, our inaugural Fundraising Q & A focused on advice for tough times. We explored a variety of options...
Last Thursday, the Bank of Canada predicted a steep, short-term recession for the country ending sometime early next year; this despite economists at Canada's major financial institutions predicting a more protracted, difficult decline. Maclean's magazine published an article predicting that...
In the best of times, many nonprofits struggle with donor acquisition, retention, and, worst of all, lapsed donors. Now, with the North American financial markets imploding from the sub-prime mortgage fallout in the US, experts predict that voluntary sector organizations...
In the ultra-competitive world of charitable enterprise, the communications quest for donor dollars often takes a path that circumvents focus on the pocketbook and instead appeals to the area just behind the breast pocket: the heart. Getting your attention Sandy...
On the surface, the difference between a corporate and an individual gift might seem quite negligible. However, it is important for charities to be aware of the differences between these two types of gifts so that they can ensure they...
