We had Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Today nonprofits will take to the digital world for #GivingTuesday – a day to include giving in our celebrations. #GivingTuesday was developed to create a national day of giving at the start of the ...
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Category Archives: Fundraising
Unappealing Year-End Appeals
Nonprofits are consumed this time of year with year-end appeals. With all of the time and energy that goes in to appeals, I expect my email inbox and mailbox to be filled with inspiring, donor-centered requests for support. Most appeals have yet to live ...
Philanthropy Phriday: Black Friday Edition
Philanthropy Phriday is a special PhilanthropyInk weekly blog series featuring an individual or organization doing great things in the nonprofit sector. This week’s edition highlights Black Friday campaigns. Give something that has meaning. Hoping Black Friday shoppers have ...
It’s Not About the Money
Truly successful fundraisers focus not on the money, but on the impact the dollars they are working so hard to raise have on those they serve. It’s about changing or saving lives, not dollar signs. In January, I blogged Don’t ...
Nonprofit Shark Week: More than Great Whites in the Fundraising Sea
There are 440 species of shark. With such diversity, it is surprising that media coverage is centered on the great white. Or is it? This same phenomenon exists in fundraising. There is a diverse pool of donors. There is an equally diverse pool of nonprofits. Too often, nonprofit focus is on the great whites ...
Five Secrets of Fundraising Success
There is a standard response I receive when people learn that I am a fundraiser: “It must be so hard to ask for money!” It’s not. Fundraising at its best is simple. Fundraising brings joy and hope to ...
Inspire Nonprofit Lightning Strikes
Guest post by Matthew Smith As a writer, professional fundraiser and lifelong admirer of effective communication, I abhor clichés…perhaps none more so than “lightning never strikes twice in the same place.” That’s just plain wrong (even Wikipedia says so). That’s why I have similar ...
A New Era of Fundraising
In reviewing my charitable deductions for 2010, a new giving pattern emerged. Large gifts remained relatively consistent, but “smaller” gifts varied quite drastically from years past. I gave to new organizations. I did not give because of the cause itself, I gave ...
Don’t Sell Your Mission to the Highest Bidder
The philanthropy world was a buzz this week when University of Connecticut donor Robert Burton demanded the return of $3 million. Burton sent a six-page letter outlining complaints, including his request to be involved in UCONN’s search for a head football ...
When You Expect Rejection
Yesterday’s announcement was a part of work that has been many years in the making. In launching something of such significance, there is much fear involved. I was selling a new concept that does not have a clear road map or defined ...
