How do we build an individual donor base for our organization? Step one Last month's article outlined the first steps that are necessary for your charity to build its individual donor base by starting with "the family". The energy you...
The intense competition for donor dollars creates a difficult enough environment for fundraisers. Unfortunately, certain gift acceptance issues add innumerable obstacles to the already challenging path of finding and retaining donors. The topic was recently explored at a conference, Good...
How do we build an individual donor base for our organization? I’m glad that you want to strengthen your approach to individuals because statistically, they are the most engaged and generous source of donors. According to Giving USA 2009 (with...
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...
