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Archive Layout

Aug52012
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Why You May Be Dull at Work: What You Can Do to Change

Remember when summer used to mean time for play?  Have you lost that playful feeling?  Before fall rolls around, let’s see if we can get a bit of it back. Hugh McLeod of Gaping Void recently reminded me that there is no purpose without play. As anyone familiar with nursery rhymes knows, all work and…

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August 5, 2012Leave a commentStrategy & ManagementBy Claire Axelrad

5 Tips to Becoming a Legend – And Not Just in Your Own Mind

Full confession. Seth Godin is getting to me.  Every day he inspires me and I just have to act (aka blog).  A recent post goes to the heart of what makes a business brilliantly successful.  And it’s not the strategy or the product. It’s Feet on the street.  And, I would add, it’s not just…

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August 1, 201212 CommentsDonor RetentionBy Claire Axelrad

Purely Practical SMIT for July: Never Forget People Want Their Latte

You think I’d prefer peanuts? It’s often said that people give to people.  So true.  And people are funny. Our behavior is ruled by emotions much than logic (remember the difference between irrational humans and logical Vulcans on Star Trek?). With most of us, hope springs eternal.  We seek a brighter future. A better…

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July 30, 20122 CommentsAnnual GivingBy Claire Axelrad
Jul262012
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How to Lift Up Your Donors With Their Olympic Moment

Give me one moment in time When I’m than I thought could be When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away And the answers are all up to me Give me one moment in time When I’m racing with destiny Then in that one moment of time I will feel I will feel…

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July 26, 20122 CommentsDonor RetentionBy Claire Axelrad

Why If It’s Not Broke Don’t Fix It No Longer Applies

Just because you’ve always done it one way doesn’t mean you should continue to do so. This week Seth Godin exhorts us to adopt a new paradigm in Strategy Matters More Than Ever.  It’s not what you do (the potentially bren thing) but how you do it (the potentially bren process/attitude) that separates winners from…

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July 24, 20128 CommentsStrategy & ManagementBy Claire Axelrad
Jul222012
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The Secret to Finishing Projects: How to Balance ‘Done Enough’ with ‘Overdone’

Does this box need anything else to fill it? Or is it good to go? A recent post by the inimitable Seth Godin poses the question What’s in the box? The point of the post is to make us question our quest for perfection and all the needless worrying we put into imagining every thing…

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July 22, 20122 CommentsStrategy & ManagementBy Claire Axelrad
Jul192012
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The Easy Way to Solve Your Content Marketing Challenges

Embrace the centrality of content marketing to your success; then simply tell stories. Stories draw us in.  They make us want to be transported. That’s all there is to it.  Duh! I don’t see a lot of articles I wish I’d written, but Why content marketing will make your small business sexy is one of…

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July 19, 20121 CommentContent MarketingBy Claire Axelrad
Jul182012
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ONE Simple Way to Get More Done in Less Time: Stop Being a Perfectionist

Go down the road of ‘good enough’ Do you suffer from ‘term paper syndrome’? Do you mean to revise your website or write a funding proposal, but don’t because you feel you don’t have enough well-researched, referenced content? Do you mean to post to your blog regularly, but don’t because the several half-finished articles…

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July 18, 20126 CommentsStrategy & ManagementBy Claire Axelrad

Get Rid of ‘Failure to Communicate’ Once and For All: Music to My Ears

Without music, life would be a mistake. – Nietzsche   Today I’m thinking about voices. And how we “give voice” to our feelings and values.  And how we “voice our objections” and/or our support. And how, together, we can “make beautiful music.”  And how, apart, we feel disconnected. When we’re separated from a d one,…

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July 15, 20121 CommentContent MarketingBy Claire Axelrad
Jul122012
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Why Donor Cultivation is a Waste of Time

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there” – Lewis Carroll When we simply engage in incidental cultivation and stewardship – a meeting here, a party there – the only place we get to is the meeting or the party. Is that our goal? If at the end of the…

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July 12, 20129 CommentsMajor & Legacy GiftsBy Claire Axelrad
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Raves for Claire

Claire is a fundraising ninja

Joanne Fritz
Nonprofit Charitable Organizations Guide, About.com

Engaging your help was such a huge pivot moment for me and the Board.  We would never – not in a million years – have even dreamed of doing a significant challenge at our event without all of the teaching, support, resources and guidance that you brought to us. Sometimes there are these moments in life that you only realize in retrospect were miracles – and that is exactly how I look back at that decision to work with you on our fundraising engine!

Julia Wilson, E.D.
OneJustice

Your piece on attrition, Claire, is dynamite. Amazing. It’s precisely on target. Congratulations.

Jerry Panas
CEO / Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners

Brilliant summary of the whole “story v. stats” thing, Claire. Thank you.

Tom Ahern
Principal / Ahern Donor Communications

Claire Axelrad has been a highly effective fundraiser for over 30 years and her blog is just a wealth of wisdom.  What’s particularly notable about Clairification is that although the work is based on decades of past experience, Claire is always looking forward as well.  She was the first among her veteran fundraising peers to embrace online and social fundraising and is now one of their most sensible and insightful proponents.  She’s a great resource!

Keith Heller
CEO / Heller Consulting

You have been absolutely terrific to work with. Your roadmap and assessment of where we are and where we can go has been so instrumental in having the board stop and think about our future.  Your audit is allowing us to move forward in tangible ways to improve our work so that we may help more clients in need of our services. I will count you among my many blessings throughout the year.

Silvia Argueta
E.D. / Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation

I’m subscribed to a million fundraising blogs and the one I consistently open and read most of, is yours. The content is always carefully curated and helpful, not just sales pitch after sales pitch for your own stuff. You stand out, in a good way.

Juliane McLean
Development Coordinator / Bridgercare

You are one of the few fundraising experts that I read faithfully, and we have no shortage of those who publish regularly. But your material is always thoughtful and realistic. Thank you for your candor and good advice.

Richard Ajulani
, Senior Director Individual Gifts / LifeMoves

We have been loving the work of Claire Axelrad since we came across her work, every blog of hers is insightful, well thought out and enlightening.

Good Eggs Storytellers

Most lucid, most succinct checklist I have read on the engagement process. This is the best. Should be required reading for all concerned with major gift solicitation.

Giles Pegram, CBE
Fundraising Consultant / London, England

You are a forever flowing fountain of enormous information and a wealth of ideas. Thanks for being there for all of us small non-profits

Sharon Coleman
St. Francis House

I read your newsletter all the time and find your advice “spot on” and always usable. I pass it on consistently to the staff and other board members. I really appreciate all you do to help nonprofits. Thanks.

Hal Leeds
, Partner Global Sales & Marketing Consultancy / Working to Eliminate Poverty and Educational Inequality

You remind me about what is most important and why I love this profession. I just discovered you and your blog about three weeks ago and I wanted to write today to say thank you for sharing your wisdom and expertise. I find your posts, new and old, so spot on. You nail it.

– Heather Wardle CFRE
Vancouver BC

Everybody involved in philanthropy should read these articles slowly and with a very opened mind and a willingness to take from them the necessary components to change the manner and techniques we presently use in order to embrace what philanthropy is all about “Love”. I have no doubt it would be transformational.

Tom Walsh
Business Development Exec / Active Retirement Ireland

Suggest subscribing. Thanks, Claire! I am a regular- and I have forwarded your thoughtful and inspiring column and as well. Keep up the good work.

Margot Harrigan
Corporate Development Officer / Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley

I came across your website and I hit the goldmine! I was asked to join a board and found I need to understand how to build a donor base from the ground up. I searched, only to find expensive consultants or free info that didn’t offer any helpful information.  Thank you for sharing so much valuable information!!

Erica Martinez

Claire, you consistently remind me of the proven basic facts of fundraising!! Thank you!! I consistently share them with our team and with the newbie fundraisers I am mentoring.

Margie McCurry
Fund Builders Alliance

Could not make it any easier…  Claire Axelrad straightforwardly tells social media/marketing managers of nonprofit organizations that they need to change how they communicate with

UMV
Charity Chatter

Many thanks – this is terrific, impressive data! You are an impressive source. And I’ve been around a long time.

Sara Becker
Oakland Zoo

Wow! Inspiration out the wazoo! Many thanks — I keep up with trends and lots of blog-posts to stay on top of my game. This goes way beyond technique and reaches deep inside to remind me why I’ve done this work for 40 years!

Pam Montgomery
Executive Director / Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley

Thank you for your brilliant blog. I have been a follower for many years and learnt so much from you. Ultimately, it translates into many more families getting the support they deserve. You help me raise more money for my UK charity. Please never stop bringing the best out of me! You’re special.

Anna Henry
Eric.org

Exactly what our profession can use – clarification –- the title of your blog. You help us keep faith with the past while making sense of the present and future. You have a balanced and respectful understanding of what this is all about. Thanks.

James M. Schaffer
Partner / Charity Springs

I’d recommend you sign up.  I signed up for about a dozen blogging fundraiser consultants, but have since canceled most.  She’s one of two left standing.  I like how she organizes her thoughts about fundraising, and her conversation planning techniques are very familiar to me from my work as a prosecutor.  I believe that she was a practicing attorney and who changed careers like I have, and my best guess is that she was a litigator as well. This is a very good article and there are several other blogs (her own) that she links to within it, so even though this is a small article you could spend some time here.

Cole Eason, J.D. ’92
Office of University Advancement / Rockhurst University






As Seen In

Accelevent

Bloomerang

Candid

Double the Donation: 35 Excellent Fundraising Consultants

NonProfit Pro

NonProfits are Messy

Soapbox Engage Top 12 Fundraising Blogs

SOFII

TopNonprofits

Top 100 Nonprofit Blogs

Bloomerang
Created by fundraisers for fundraisers, Bloomerang makes it easy for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes to build and manage donor relationships key to long-term success.
-Claire
When Claire speaks, we listen. There are few consultants in the nonprofit sector who so closely align with Bloomerang's focus on donor stewardship and retention. The Clairification School provides too much value to ignore!
 
Veritas Group
Through training and consulting, deliver a joyful, creative, disciplined step-by-step major gift fundraising approach that assures sustainable, transformational funding.
-Claire
Claire knows her stuff from years of experience!  The resources she provides in her Clarification School are invaluable and are tools you can execute immediately to take your fundraising to new levels of success.
NextAfter
What works can be proven! NextAfter takes an experimental, data-driven, analytic approach to digital-first strategies designed to optimize fundraising results.
-Claire
We most appreciate Claire’s heart. She’s driven to equip all fundraisers with tools and ideas they need to grow generosity, assuring the best ideas in fundraising are not held captive to a select few experts and agencies.
 
Auctria
Auctria’s powerful tool to run your auction and fundraising events makes it easy -from the first donation to the last receipt, and all the activity & bidding in between!
-Claire
Clairification’s comprehensive fundraising and nonprofit management insights are the best. We happily refer organizations to Claire for expert philanthropy strategy, tips, and ongoing assistance. Highly recommended!
 
Eventgroove
Your one stop shop: custom event & fundraising hub, promo tools, ticketing, print integration, virtual check-in, live streaming, seating, plus sales & referral tracking.
-Claire
Claire’s breadth of experience in the nonprofit sector helps connect all the dots. Clarification School offers an invaluable mix of perceptive ideas, relatable advice, and practical action tips – it’s so worth joining!
 
Momentum
Helps fundraisers manage portfolios using a human-centered AI interface that prepares custom donor plans, integrates with your CRM, and assures a seamless fundraising flow.
-Claire
When you find someone who is just a cut-above, it's obvious right away. That's how we felt about Claire - it took just a few minutes for us to want to work more closely with her. Thank goodness we did.
Thanks to our Clairification School Sponsors!
Clairification - Copyright 2016
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Clairification

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