You've only got so much time to cultivate major gifts, so don't waste it on donors who lack either the desire to give, or the wealth to give away. High-quality donors are the ones you'll find by combining your ideal-donor profile with sophisticated prospect research.
Ever have trouble opening that all-important conversation with a donor or prospect? Try these. They are foolproof, they establish rapport with your donor rapidly, and even your board members will enjoy using them.
How robust is your opportunity pipeline? Oh - not sure what a pipeline is or how to use it? Read this article, for a new look at a tried-and-true concept for keeping track of open funding opportunities, and keeping your team on task and on target. Hint: build your pipeline to track the donor's giving process!
There are things about your agency that make it appealing to the right funder. You simply have to figure out what they are. Hint: your need for income (even if it's desperate) probably isn't going to inspire people to give.
Don't waste your time trying to cultivate prospects just because they are wealthy, or they owe your board member a favor. Figure out why your BEST funders love you, and it's easy to clone them! This SMART Practices Report shows how.
What is it, how can you use it, why is it valuable? And most of all, can you show me an example? This is a really practical way to deal with that tricky issue of getting your board directors to give.
Should your board members be involved in fundraising? Most nonprofits would say yes, but many board members struggle with this issue. Learn five ways directors can contribute to fundraising, even those who cannot, will not and should not ever make the proverbial ask.
The Leaky Bucket Assessment of Fundraising Effectiveness measures the productivity of the fundraising staff by examining nine basic disciplines impacting their performance, first launched in 2011. This study is based on the 1373 responses we had received by the time of publication in June 2019.
Special events are great income generators - when used sparingly. Use this insightful template to evaluate recent and future special events, to decide if you've got the capacity AND the event offers good potential.
Figure out how much your fundraising time is really worth. Guess what - you're probably underestimating it by hundreds of dollars per hour.
We talk about fund diversification a lot, but can you visualize where your income comes from and in what proportions? This calculator shows where you stand today and lets you set new fund diversification goals.
