This is not sponsored content The article title on Charity Navigator’s blog is bold enough: “The Death of Conventional Fundraising.”  Well, I’m on record saying that any article proclaiming the Death of X is going to be overblown.  But let’s see: maybe they have some compelling evidence. When you read the post, however, not only...

Five updates for an ever-changing time It’s time for an update speed round to catch you up on our unique times… 1. It wasn’t the end of the world for mail fundraising.  In March, we talked about how direct marketing generally survives even in negative economic conditions.  We now have more than a quarter of...

Read this blog post for less than the cost of your Starbucks coffee Support the Winter is Coming fund with a silver stag a month — less than the price of your Starbucks! OK, you got me.  This blog post is free. But it’s a phrase you do see fairly often.  In fact, it had...

The next next best thing to being there “You had to be there.”  It’s a cliché because it’s true: there is no real substitute for going and doing a thing. For nonprofit, this influences our donors’ giving decisions.  People who have seen your mission work are more likely to give and more likely to retain....

Will the 2020 presidential campaign impact charitable giving? No. But I’m guessing your board or boss want a bit more rationale than that, so let’s dive in. First, political contributions from individuals isn’t all that big.  Politico estimates that in the 2020 cycle in total, $6.7 billion will be spent on media (with $2.2 billion...

Creative in the time of COVID-19 Our latest webinar, Alone & Together: Breakthrough Creative in Troubling Times, is now available for view on YouTube. Today, we will be doing a breakdown of some of the case studies covered in this webinar as a supplement to the video. Responding in Real Time — Durham Rescue Mission...

Monthly subscriptions swallow the world Monthly subscriptions make sense for companies and nonprofits.  As we talk about in our Sustainer Revolution white paper: They provide ongoing predictable revenues You can build a relationship with a donor/customer where you are continuingly learning and improving Consumers are increasingly accepting of monthly subscriptions. In the business world, everyone...

The language that gets you gifts in wills First, you may ask, is it the direct marketer’s job to get legacy gifts?  After all, that’s a different person in a different department who sits a few offices away from me, back when we had offices.  And I worry if I ask for bequest gifts, I’ll...

Donor-advised funds: the good, the bad, and the profitable by Angel Shi, Strategy Consultant For many organizations, 2020 so far has been a remarkable year for individual giving, thanks to the collective responses of donors to the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, many organizations have seen their donor-advised funds (DAFs) donations in the first half of the...

What you say isn’t what you get Humans are excellent at telling you what they think.  We are abysmal at telling you why we think what we think. A great example of this came up recently regarding the trust that individuals have towards nonprofits.  It’s an excellent survey from Independent Sector. Some top-line data: 1)...