C.R.I.B. Notes
C.R.I.B. Notes: 10 Steps critical to launching (or enhancing) a Comprehensive, Responsive, Integrated, Balanced fundraising program. More frequently, nonprofits are taking a step back and evaluating their fundraising programs. Philanthropy has become an essential income line for nonprofit organizations. No longer is it looked upon as an “Oh, and we have fundraising, whatever it brings […]
SHIFT: Meeting Corporate Philanthropy Where It’s Headed- An Introduction
This is the start of a four week series on corporate philanthropy, based on research, best practices and personal experience from the field. We’ll keep it entertaining and packed with good useful information that will help you develop your own Corporate Giving program. To follow along, bookmark and check back daily, or subscribe to the […]
Use these mid winter months to GROW, not slow, your organizations philanthropy
Most nonprofits experience a significant lull in donations and donor activity in the months of January and February. The post year end doldrums. Donors are slow to give, having distributed their 2010 charitable contributions during the ebullience of the holiday season. Consumers are recovering from gift purchases. The weather makes for hermits, with snow, ice […]
Engaging Your board In Fundraising: Framing Your Perspective
So in my last post we talked a little bit about Passion in your Board being the driving force for Philanthropy. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Lets bring it back to the beginning. In order to be open to new ideas, its essential we frame our own perspective on the boards involvement in […]
Passion, in the boardroom, gives birth to a fundraising high
Fundraising for an organization on which a person serves as a board member is a core component of their role. Why? Because a boards role is to govern and act as fiduciary authority for the protection of the organization. According to a Grant Thornton report from 2008, boards spent 30% of their time on Strategic […]
On Hiring a Consultant
You’re experiencing problems in your organization. Maybe you’re losing donors. Maybe your board is not working together, not working at all, or maybe you’ve lost board members. Perhaps you are experiencing high turnover of staff. Or maybe you don’t think you are getting as much out of your staff as you think you should. Or […]
An Undeniable Truth
Data Rich $$$
In philanthropy management, data is the key to godliness. And accurate, complete and usable data is the food of Gods. When I began in fundraising…many years ago…our data on donors was kept on index cards. Yes, little white cards, or color coded, depending on your offices level of sophistication. We kept demographic data: name, address, career related information […]
The revolution in ‘fundraising’ EVENTS – how not to raise money
Nonprofit fundraising has become known to the common masses for its ‘fundraising’ events and its sale activities. Talk to any layperson about being in ‘fundraising’ and they respond “Oh, you must be good at planning events!” or “I was never good at selling cookies”. Events are commonly misunderstood. Possibly the misunderstanding comes from the saturation […]
Visionary Leadership
I’ve been asked to speak on visionary leadership. I’m still deciding if I have anything cogent to say on this topic. The term “visionary leader” is tossed out like so much corporate slang today. But is it an accurate representation of the sentiment hoped to be communicated? The encyclopedia defines leadership as an individual’s capacity to motivate others […]