My guess is that you’re starting to think about your year-end appeal. Good! Because between mid November and December 31st many nonprofits will realize as much as 40% or of their total giving for the calendar year. In fact, there’s research showing that 33% of December giving occurs on December 31st! The holidays are…
DetailsAre you starting to worry about whether you’ll raise enough money this year to meet your goals?
Are you concerned because last year’s appeal didn’t raise as much as you had hoped?
Are you fresh out of ideas for what to put into an appeal to generate the giving response you need to sustain vital programs?
Fear not! Help is on the way! Just use this 16-point checklist before you send anything to your printer.
DetailsJulia C. Campbell and I were clearly separated at birth, and I’ve told her as much. Because I tend to agree – in spades – with everything she writes. [Plus, her middle name is Claire, so what further proof is needed?] Her recent article, 6 Ways Nonprofits Are Getting On Fundraising All Wrong, is no…
DetailsBecause I’ll bet you it’s not embracing two key elements essential to raising awareness and getting folks to engage with you in 2014 and beyond.
What’s that? (1) Content marketing. (2) Social media. For real.
Let me explain.
DetailsYou’ve probably heard this advice before. “Make your donors your heroes.” It’s a lot easier said than done.
As Jeff Brooks opined in You and your donors: Who’s the sidekick?, too often we get it backwards and tell donors how awesome we are; then we ask “How’d you like to be my sidekick?” Rather, we should think of ourselves as their sidekick.
One nonprofit director who truly understands this is Julia Wilson, E.D. of One Justice. [A former client of mine, I keep my eye on them like a proud Mama hen watching her little baby chick fly boldly off on her own). After their most recent, highly successful fundraising event, Julia wrote to me saying:
DetailsInvest in Fundraising
This end of July (can you believe it?) Clairity Click-it brings a lot of great tips about how to plan ahead to take your fundraising to new heights next year. We start with resources, move on to thinking about measuring success, and then end with three core programs every development program should have in place: Donor Retention, Annual Fund and Major Gifts. You’ve got just about a month to get your ducks in order before prime fundraising season begins. To your success!
DetailsOr… What Your Donors Won’t Tell You about Your Nonprofit Messaging.
At first blush, tepid tapioca and gooey hot chocolate might appear to have nothing whatsoever to do with securing vital resources to further your mission. Blush again.
Blush hard. Think of all the good things you could accomplish were you to more effectively master the art and science of fundraising. Feel the warm pink tinge beginning to creep up your neck as you embrace the errors of your ways over the past year. Or two. Or 10. Or even more.
Are you still doing things like it was 1985? 2000? 2008? If so, you should probably be embarrassed. Because I know very few organizations who are succeeding today using yesterday’s strategies.
DetailsLast week, in part 1 of this post, I encouraged you to begin blogging if you’re not doing so already. And, if you are, to do so effectively. Make your blog the hub of your content marketing. It will simplify your life in so many ways, and become the anchor for your marketing communications…
DetailsIf you’ve been reading Clairification you know by now that I’m a huge blog booster for nonprofits. If you don’t have a blog yet, you should get one. Pronto! Yup, I think they’re that important. And don’t tell me you don’t have the bandwidth. You absolutely do. You just have to rethink your modus operandi.…
DetailsDo you have a mature social media operation, or are you just a baby? Or a teen? Babies babble. Teens make it all about themselves. Are you simply using Twitter to babble? Facebook to say “look at me?” Or have you embraced a more full-grown strategy? The best place to start, and the fastest way to get there, is with a blog.
They’ve been around the longest, and they’re pretty tried-and-true.
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