Hands-On Fundraising

JANUARY 16, 2024

Empathy – the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else’s feelings While sympathy is compassion for someone else’s situation, empathy is feeling their pain. Sympathy keeps its distance. Empathy is a powerful connection to someone else. We’ve evolved to feel empathy because it’s useful in understanding […] The post Empathy: the key to better fundraising appeared first on Hands-On Fundraisi

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Fundraising IT 276

Clairification

JANUARY 29, 2024

M onterey Bay Aquarium shares the love with their donors. Last year, you posted about sending donors valentines, which I came across a bit too late in the game, so I sent emails. But, this year, I kept that idea and planned for it, and sent handmade valentines to my top level donors. I felt like I was in 2nd grade with my glue stick and doilies, but the response has been amazing!

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Nonprofit IT 278

Hands-On Fundraising

JANUARY 22, 2024

We humans are quirky. You know fundraising is never as simple as asking for donations. Behind your ask is a world of study. We think about our language. We consider exactly what we’re asking for and why. And we keep the language clear and simple. We’re straightforward about the need and use stories to illustrate […] The post 12 human quirks you can use to fundraise better appeared first on Hands-On Fundraising.

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Fundraising Donation 254

Hands-On Fundraising

JANUARY 30, 2024

You can improve your fundraising letter today Here’s what I know about writing good fundraising letters: You can practice and study for years. And still, you feel like you’re only scratching the surface. There’s always something new because we’re always learning something new. So perfection will always be out of reach. But don’t let the […] The post Improve your fundraising letters fast appeared first on Hands-On Fundraising.

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Fundraising 226

Clairification

JANUARY 4, 2024

Let’s begin with a question: What do you spend more time on? Asking or thanking? You’ve probably just completed a quarter hyper-focused on asking. I’ll bet you devoted a lot of time to this endeavor. Now… you should be devoting at least as much time to thanking the donors who responded to your appeals, with the goal of retaining and upgrading them over time.

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Retainer Template Donation Readiness 282

Lightning Fast Grant Writing

JANUARY 10, 2024

The grant innovator form is a simple document I use to organize an agency as it seeks grants. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this surprisingly valuable document by checking out the link at the end of this article. By asking your colleagues to fill it out, you will tactfully motivate them to help you get grant funding. The form also subtly calls upon you and your associates to think through why a program is needed by your clients in the first place.

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Grant Grants Funding Applicant 299

Ann Green's Nonprofit

JANUARY 11, 2024

Donor stories and testimonials help show appreciation for supporters and encourage others to get involved. Use these tips to write better donor stories. By Anne Stefanyk Donors want to know that their contributions matter to your nonprofit. According to Double the Donation’s donor retention guide , not receiving a proper thank-you is one of the top reasons donors stop giving.

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Nonprofit Engineering Donation Publishing 292

RBW Strategy

JANUARY 12, 2024

Building Out a Post-Award Grant Management Checklist After spending 100+ hours working on that federal grant where you were losing sleep (and potentially sanity), you received news from the federal…

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Grant Management Award Management Federal Grants 244

Hands-On Fundraising

JANUARY 9, 2024

Conversation?! Don’t worry. You don’t have to be a great talker to have this conversation. Today I heard from an excited client about an email. (I love getting celebration emails like this!) My client is a new theater here in Connecticut. And theater is where I started my nonprofit career… so I’m having fun. We’ve […] The post How are your conversation skills?

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Fundraising Nonprofit 267

Clairification

JANUARY 8, 2024

Trust defines the credibility and legitimacy not only of your organization, but of the entire social benefit sector. Yet too few organizations make the effort to operationalize this construct into their fundraising and marketing planning. You should. Without donor trust and confidence in philanthropy there’s no future for social benefit organizations.

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Nonprofit Fundraising IT 271

Lightning Fast Grant Writing

JANUARY 10, 2024

Parallel to the improvisation you do yourself as a grant writer, it is also important to know tools for helping your grant writing team improvise as well. Too often a lack of creative energy can be traced to the fact that various team members may be afraid of failing. With this motivation, they may be more creative in inventing reasons for giving up than coming up with solutions that will make it happen.

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Grant Writing Grant Grants Proposal 290

Pamela Grow

JANUARY 24, 2024

If yours is a smart nonprofit and you put your digital focus on email marketing, buckle up because changes are on the horizon from Google and Yahoo, and we’ve got the scoop. It’s estimated that Gmail and Yahoo represent 32.2% of all emails opened. Your numbers may be higher. Within my clients’ email lists, I typically find that Gmail and Yahoo users represent at least 50% of all emails on a list.

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Nonprofit CRM Training IT 229

Ann Green's Nonprofit

JANUARY 25, 2024

Monthly giving is one of the few types of fundraising that did well last year. If your organization doesn’t have a monthly/recurring giving program or it’s fairly small, what’s keeping you from starting or growing your monthly giving program? Whether you’re a big or a smaller organization or you had a good fundraising year or you didn’t, monthly giving makes so much sense (or cents).

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Donation Electronics Fundraising Calendar 180

RBW Strategy

JANUARY 23, 2024

Strategic Insights: Building Success in Your Non-Profit In the dynamic world of non-profit organizations, success is often measured by the impact they make on their chosen cause.

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Hands-On Fundraising

JANUARY 2, 2024

Years ago, on vacation, as I read 2312, by Kim Stanley Robinson a phrase stopped me cold. I had to dog-ear the page. “Reason can’t work without emotion. People who are cut off from their emotions can’t decide.” Reason can’t work without emotion. People who are cut off from their emotions can’t decide. So, ok, […] The post Want some action?

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Fundraising 223

Clairification

JANUARY 14, 2024

I have a dream… Today would have been Dr. Martin Luther King’s 95 th birthday. During his lifetime he challenged us to recognize the privilege of being part of the struggle for goodness to prevail. He did not live to get to the promised land, yet he saw it from the mountain top. And in his famous speech he mused on the question of what he would say were he to be given the extraordinary opportunity to live in any moment in history.

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Fundraising Grant Grants IT 263

Tony Martignetti

JANUARY 28, 2024

Edgar Villanueva: Decolonizing Wealth Edgar Villanueva’s book, “Decolonizing Wealth,” takes an innovative look at the purpose of wealth. His thesis is that the solutions to the damage and trauma caused by American capitalism, including philanthropy—can be gleaned from the values and wisdom of our nation’s original people. He’s a Native American working in philanthropy.

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Nonprofit 177

Wild Apricot

JANUARY 22, 2024

With peer-to-peer fundraising, you can leverage your existing community of supporters and tap into their networks to increase revenue. We'll show you everything you need to know to get started.

Fundraising 149

Fundraising 149

Ann Green's Nonprofit

JANUARY 4, 2024

Happy New Year! I hope you had a nice holiday. My vacation went by way too quickly. I also hope 2023 was a successful year for your nonprofit organization. If it wasn’t, you can work to make 2024 a better year. As with personal New Year’s resolutions, you want your goals to be realistic and attainable. If you’re a small organization, you may not have much luck pulling off a huge gala.

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Nonprofit Finance Calendar Fundraising 177

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

JANUARY 9, 2024

I was dean at UNC-Chapel Hill when a donor pressure campaign blew up the appointment of the 1619 Project author. Clearer donor guidelines would have prevented this. By Susan King I was dean at UNC-Chapel Hill when a donor pressure campaign blew up the appointment of the 1619 Project author. Clearer donor guidelines would have prevented this.

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Critical Fundraising

JANUARY 31, 2024

In the face of a “generational time bomb”, the recent ‘Tomorrow’s Donor, Today’ research challenges fundraising norms and advocates for radical changes. However, Giles Pegram takes issue with the research’s fundamental assumption, and asks if it risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. There couldn’t be a more significant and existential issue faced by all fundraisers as how will donors act and behave in the future.

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Fundraising Donation Goals Award 126

Clairification

JANUARY 1, 2024

What will you hope for in the coming year? Recently a college classmate asked me and others this question, ruminating on how hope and optimism are similar yet different. It struck a chord with me You see, I’m not generally an optimist. Yet I’m often hopeful. I’d just never taken time to actively consider how these concepts are different. Now I have, and I think it matters in the times we’re in.

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Nonprofit IT Management 257

Tony Martignetti

JANUARY 21, 2024

Kiersten Hill: Team Engagement Tips The company Firespring uses unusual and fun strategies to engage their 185 employees, so everyone lives and celebrates the Firespring values—each day. We’re talking Firestarter meetings; Culture Club; Power of Three; and more. Kiersten Hill shares her employee experience to spark your thinking about team engagement.

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Nonprofit 173

Wild Apricot

JANUARY 25, 2024

Learn how to plan a fundraising gala from start to finish. These charity fundraiser ideas will elevate your event, engage donors and maximize impact.

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Fundraising 156

Ann Green's Nonprofit

JANUARY 18, 2024

Why does making a donation often feel like a transaction? Organizations get so caught up in the raising money part that they forget about building relationships with their donors. Giving Tuesday is the worst example of this, with Year End close behind. Generally, it happens way too often. Remember this – Building relationships is just as important as raising money.

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Fundraising Donation Electronics Goals 173

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

JANUARY 25, 2024

In an exclusive guest essay, CEO Mark Suzman calls on megadonors to change and deepen their giving to preserve hard-fought gains in health and prosperity. By Mark Suzman In an exclusive guest essay, CEO Mark Suzman calls on megadonors to change and deepen their giving to preserve hard-fought gains in health and prosperity. Plus: An ode to Chuck Feeney sets the tone for the billion-dollar grant maker.

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Grant Grants 141

Candid

JANUARY 2, 2024

As the saying goes, “knowledge is power.” At Candid, we believe that sharing and learning from one another helps empower our sector’s collective success.  Candid’s Issue Lab is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing social sector knowledge. This vast library contains more than 34,000 freely available philanthropic resources authored by organizations in our sector—including reports, case studies, surveys, toolkits, and more.

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Policy Policies Education Demographics 119

Clairification

JANUARY 11, 2024

The upcoming Martin Luther King Day holiday in the U.S. has me thinking about freedom. And also the push/pull between freedom and responsibility. Freedom without responsibility (i.e., being held responsible for your actions) doesn’t work well for anyone but one person. Responsibility without freedom is stressful. To work well, they need to play well together.

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IT Nonprofit Template 200

Tony Martignetti

JANUARY 14, 2024

Bryan Shane: Performance Measurement There’s a systematic method for you to get feedback on your nonprofit’s finances; programs, clients; and employees. It’s both art and science. Bryan Shane explains this management and decision-making tool. He’s co-author of the book, “The Leadership-Driven Method to Performance Measurement.” Listen to the podcast Get Nonprofit Radio insider alerts!

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Finance Nonprofit Management 169

Wild Apricot

JANUARY 30, 2024

The moves management process is what guides your donors through the giving cycle. Learn the top moves and strategies to boost your next fundraising campaign.

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Management Nonprofit Fundraising 127

Qgiv

JANUARY 10, 2024

At Qgiv, we’ve been helping people fulfill their passion to make a difference in the world for nearly 15 years. Over the years, our fundraising technology has grown to include a full suite of event and online giving tools—supporting thousands of changemakers just like you. Today, I’m excited to announce the next step in our growth as a company—joining Bloomerang !

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Fundraising Education Management Nonprofit 111

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

JANUARY 26, 2024

A new study finds that aspiring leaders, especially those of color, aren’t being pulled into leadership through support and positive role models but are more often pushed into top positions to escape difficult work circumstances. By Frances Kunreuther and Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Getty Images A new study finds that aspiring leaders, especially those of color, aren’t being pulled into leadership through support and positive role models but are more often pushed into top positions to escape difficult

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Nonprofit 132

Candid

JANUARY 25, 2024

Last year, we shared our crowdsourced list of red flags that funders look for in grant proposals—the things that immediately reveal the weak points in an application and raise questions about the organization’s credibility. Not surprisingly, the question we got most in response to that article was: What are green flags for funders? A green flag is anything that would immediately signal to a funder that the nonprofit is a strong candidate for funding.

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Proposal Grant Grants Budget 111

Clairification

JANUARY 25, 2024

It’s been pretty cold in my neck of the woods, so let’s warm up with a cup of cocoa, coffee or tea and some good reads. I’ve got a lot of great stuff for you this week, so let’s get right to it! The Clairity Click-it exists to bring you a range of voices from across the nonprofit world so you can resource, learn and digest at your own pace, coming to your own decisions.

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IT Nonprofit Template Goals 180

Get Fully Funded

JANUARY 1, 2024

If you’re starting a new nonprofit, you already know that you need to raise money. What you might not know is that the right fundraising plan template can make the job much easier. In the beginning you may self-fund your fledgling organization. (Many founders do.) Or you may ask your friends, coworkers, and family to give a few bucks. But long term, you can’t run an entire organization from the generosity of only a handful of people.

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Template Fundraising Nonprofit Goals 111

NonProfit PRO

JANUARY 16, 2024

Supercharge your peer-to-peer fundraising this year by joining hundreds of nonprofit professionals at P2PForum24 in Philadelphia from February 21-23. Whether you’re a senior leader or staff member, this is the place to learn from experts and your colleagues at other organizations. Join us for a gathering that will help you improve your program’s performance in this critical year.

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Fundraising Nonprofit 109

Grant Writer Team

JANUARY 11, 2024

One of the most important details to remember when writing a winning grant proposal is to show passion. It goes without saying that skilled grant writing requires strong writing skills. However, what is more important to funding sources is that nonprofits really care about the work they are doing. Successful grant writers have passion for each client’s ideas.

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Proposal Grant Grants Grant Writing 109