Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
It’s a new day. What will you do with it? Will you march forward, backward or get stuck in place? Hopefully, whatever you do, you won’t be lulled into complacency. The work ahead is hard, but as James Baldwin wrote: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Selfish is easy.
Short term is easy.
Complacent is easy.
Turning our head and ignoring the problem is easy.
Going along to get along is easy.
But easy isn’t the point.
Better is.
Challenging the status quo is difficult, and worth it.
— Seth Godin
I’m counting on you – each of you — to use some of the insights you glean in this week’s issue of the Clairity Click-it to be better, do better, and help others do the same. I hope, as you dig through this hand-curated content from across the web, it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling.
I pick every resource thoughtfully (no AI used here) specifically to bring you the big ideas and useful tools you need to make our world a better place. It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.
As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the eclectic resources I believe will best meet the needs of the diverse range of folks who comprise the critically important social benefit sector.
You’ve got this!
Thank you for doing your vital work, with gratitude,
Claire
P.S. Even if you don’t care about all the Clairification School benefits, and are happy just being on the Clairity Click-it newsletter list, if you enjoy reading it and want to send a little love my way by enrolling, I would be most appreciative.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
SPECIAL FEATURE: Monthly Giving Spotlight
If you don’t yet have a robust monthly giving program, it’s time – beyond time really – to turn your attention to what should be a priority strategy. Why? Monthly donors retain at 80 – 90%, while one-time donors retain at roughly half that amount. If they’re first-time donors, you retain less than one in five. Read those numbers again. Since it’s expensive to acquire new donors, it makes little sense to do so without a strong donor retention strategy in place. You need a dependable source of income in order to execute on your mission and plan ahead. Here are some resources I came across that will help you build your recurring giving program.
ARTICLES
Click-it: 14 Ways to Find Monthly Donors for Your Nonprofit. Sandy Rees, Get Fully Funded, calls recurring giving a “Fundraising 101 strategy” that too few nonprofits take advantage of. Here, she shows how monthly giving can be a game changer – significantly increasing your revenue over time. This is a comprehensive article that draws on the wisdom of monthly giving specialist Erica Waasdorp, with tips galore on ask amounts, messaging, upgrading and much more.
Click-it: 7 Ways to Get More Recurring Donors to Give by Bank Account. Speaking of guru Erica Waasdorp, here she explains in a guest article for NonProfitPro why direct transfers from bank accounts (in lieu of pricier credit cards, which also expire) are becoming more common in the U.S., and how you can make this happen for your organization.
Click-it: 9 Key Elements to Include on Your Monthly Donation Forms. By incorporating a few small changes to your donation forms, you can maximize monthly donations, strengthen your online fundraising, and create a sustainable source of funding for your organization. Here 4aGoodCause highlights 9 thoughtful elements that make donation forms more intuitive and donor-centered. You can do this!
AUDIO/VISUAL
Click-it: The State of Recurring Giving [Register for free quarterly webinar series]. Positive Equation hosts a regular update with case studies on what’s working, what’s shifting and what’s next with recurring giving. The next one is May 12th with Paige Cofield from World Central Kitchen.
Click-it: 10 Simple Ways to Retain Monthly Donors and Reduce Churn [Watch the brief on-demand podcast + read the article]. This thorough resource from Ronald Pruitt at 4aGoodCause is not to be missed. It will teach you everything you need to know about donor churn and, most important, how to avoid it. The tips are simple, and eminently actionable. Plus, there are numerous links to case studies, templates and more. Everything you need to know is here – all together in one place.
GUIDES
Click-it: Recurring Donations: Your Complete Guide + 10 Tips to Start. This Charity Engine Guide reviews everything your organization needs to know about recurring donations – what, why, when and where. You’ll get 5 tips for securing monthly gifts + another 5 strategies for strengthening them.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Stats vs. Stories Debate
Click-it: Open Letter to Tom Ralser re: The fallacy of ‘facts tell, stories sell.’ In a recent piece for the SOFII Opinions and Debates showcase, Tom Ralser shared why he felt saying, ‘facts tell, stories sell’ was a fallacy. Today, I respond to Tom’s piece with an open letter. I would love to know your perspective on storytelling vs. data.
ARTICLES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: Burning Questions: Fundraising When Everyone is Exhausted. Lisa Greer shares on Philanthropy 451 how continuing today to shout louder may begin to fall on numbed, deaf ears. Instead, she counsels whispering to the right people. It’s sound advice. Double down with the people who love you – or are likely to love you – the most.
Asset Giving
Click-it: How to Steward Donors Who Give Stock, DAFs, or Crypto. Per Blackbaud Engage, these donors tend to be loyal – provided you take care of them. Learn how to solve the anonymity problem, how to acknowledge these gifts, and how to make these donors feel like integral parts of your community.
Boards
Click-it: Creating A Board That Works. Per Blue Avocado, lack of fundraising, giving, and engagement — these are symptoms, not the illness. But the good news is there’s a proven method for increasing both fundraising and engagement, and it’s something you can control. This article has tons of tips, plus a quiz you can take to assess your own board as an effective engine to further your mission.
Events
Click-it: Aim High for Event Sponsorships. This article from the event specialists at Auctria focuses on how to secure sponsorships, which can often be the difference between an event that is net positive and one that is, at best, net neutral. Sponsorships are key to success! How much should you seek to raise? Where should you look? How should you make your value proposition impossible to resist? All this, and more, are addressed here.
Click-it: 6 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Mistakes That Cost Donations (And How to Fix Them). Per Eventgroove, a goal-reaching P2P campaign depends on a personalized, connected participant experience. Here are six ways these fundraisers can fall short—and how to avoid them. They cover: participant pages; storytelling support; graphics; messaging; celebrating; swag, and more – all through a lens of how to personalize and stay authentically human
Grants
Click-it: Should Your Nonprofit Use AI in Its Grantseeking? This article from TechSoup explores different uses of AI to integrate into your workflow. And where to exercise caution and restraint.
Major, Capital and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Mind the Trust Gap: What Legacy Fundraisers Must Do Now. Ligia Pena, the Globetrotting Fundraiser, writes about how developing trust is a somewhat different exercise with legacy donors. Because they’re taking a leap of faith in your future performance. Read about 6 trust levers, and what they mean for you in practice.
Click-it: After the Ask: 3 Critical Steps When a Donor Says Yes. You spend so much time preparing for the ask: building the relationship, choosing the right words, rehearsing how to handle objections. But what about when a donor says yes? This article on the Stelter blog explains what to do to maintain and strengthen the bonds between you and your donor.
NEXT STEPS: If you want to become a master of major gift fundraising I highly recommend this Veritus Group course: Certification Course for Major Gift Fundraisers. You’ll receive a certification, rack up CFRE points, and set yourself up for excellence for the rest of your career. If you’re the executive or manager, there’s also a companion course for you! After completion you’ll become a member of the prestigious Veritus Scholars. This is the best thing you can do to supercharge your fundraising for the coming year – and beyond! And you can grab an exclusive Clairification Community discount – a whopping 35% off – using this code: CLAIRE35. PLAN AHEAD: The next cohort begins June 8th – just in time for your year-end fundraising push.
Online Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: How adding an impact statement below the donate button during a Challenge Grant affects revenue. This A/B test confirmed NextAfter’s hypothesis that adding a statement below the donate button highlighting the impact of the user’s gift would yield higher revenue. In fact, it led to a whopping 187.7% increase in revenue, boosting both conversions and average gifts. May be something you’d like to try?
Click-it: Why Personalization Can Make or Break Virtual Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers. Treat your P2P volunteers as you would want to be treated. In other words, make it easy for them to share both their personal story and your organization’s stories. Nonprofit Tech for Good explains how, here.
Click-it: Donation and Credit Card Processing for Nonprofits: Managing Costs in Online Fundraising.This comprehensive article from Donor Perfect answers all your questions — so you can boost donor trust and make giving and fulfilling.
Psychology of Giving
Click-it: Prepare Your Team for Successful Outreach – Here’s What You Need. Greg Warner at Market Smart shows how to borrow tools from psychology to understand why people give and leverage your communications accordingly. He covers five critical concepts.
Taxes
Click-it: What a Recent Tax Law Change Means for Your Fundraising Right Now. It means – as it always has meant – you have an opportunity to connect with supporters by showing them you’re on their side when it comes to financial and philanthropic planning. Most people don’t give primarily for tax reasons, but the extra benefit can sometimes get them off the fence. You need to be aware of giving incentives, and this article from Gail Perry Group helps in that regard.
Website
Click-it: Donation Form Optimization: How to Convert More Donors Online. Grab some useful advice from Donor Perfect to increase your organization’s average gift size and retention rate. The goal is to maximize conversions and minimize abandonment. You’ll find 7 great tips here.
YOU
Click-it: Stay Centered: 3 Mindfulness Tips for Nonprofit Professionals. Stress and burnout are sorely overlooked issues in the nonprofit industry. For some help coping, read Meghan Speer’s article for Nonprofit Hub.
Other Learning Opportunities
ONLINE CONFERENCE, WEBINAR SERIES OR COURSE
Click-it: Nonprofit Marketing Summit: Evolve [Register for free online conference, 3-4 to 3-6, 2025]. 80+ expert-led sessions plus 50+ CFRE credits. Plus, a community of like-minded nonprofit professionals! This is an opportunity you won’t want to miss.
Click-it: The Nonprofit Fundraising Summit: The Great Connection [Register for free, virtual community event, 3-4 & 3-5-2026]. Technology and AI are transforming how nonprofits fundraise, but the heart of fundraising has not changed. It is still about human connection. CauseVox and Firespring are sponsoring this Summit to explore how modern tools, data, and strategy can strengthen what matters most: meaningful relationships with your supporters. Choose from 50 sessions over two days.
Click-it: Responsive Nonprofit Summit: Human First + AI Forward [Register for free, virtual sessions 3- 11 & 3-12, 2026]. Virtuous has invited 30+ fundraising experts for 25 sessions that will explore how to use technology and AI to connect deeper while staying human-first. Responsive nonprofits listen to every donor, connect personally, time the right ask, and learn new ways to inspire and engage our communities. You’ll get access to all the session recordings – so sign up!
WEBINARS, PODCASTS, CONFERENCES & ON-DEMAND AUDIO RESOURCES
If you can’t attend live, or are interested in sessions happening at overlapping times, note many are available via recording – but ONLY if you REGISTER!
Boards
Click-it: Build A Board People Actually Want To Join [Listen to free podcast]. Meghan Speer, Nonprofit Hub, hosts a conversation with Debra Hertz, Managing Director at The Strategy Group. Together, they unpack a practical roadmap for turning any board into a true strategic asset — from first contact in recruitment to the cadence of training, evaluation, and culture-building that keeps trustees engaged for the long haul.
Major, Mid-Level, Capital and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Capital Campaigns Without a Traditional Board: How Small and Grassroots Organizations Raise Big Money [Register for free podcast]. Andrea Kihlstedt, Capital Campaign Pro, is joined by fundraising trainer Andy Robinson to explore how capital campaigns succeed in small, grassroots, and unconventional organizations. Drawing on decades of experience and two detailed case studies, Andy challenges common assumptions about board-driven fundraising and shows what really makes campaigns work when infrastructure is thin and capacity feels limited.
Online Marketing and Fundraising
Click-it: Turn One Supporter Into 10: Winning Digital Strategies Your Supporters Will Love [Register for free webinar, 3-12-2026]. Join Fundraising Everywhere to see real campaigns where small digital changes made it easier and more appealing for supporters to do more: give again, start fundraising, invite friends, and stay involved. No big budgets required. No complex tech stacks. Just smart strategies that work.
Psychology of Giving
Click-it: How To Raise: Decision Science Demystified: Your Fundraising Breakthrough Awaits [Join free webinar, 3-4-2026]. Great fundraising isn’t luck. It’s understanding how donors actually think, decide, and act. Join Donor Search host Jay Frost and special guest John Lepp, Partner at Agents of Good, for a fast paced and eye-opening session that breaks down the psychology behind breakthrough fundraising results.
Strategy, Planning, Management and Leadership
Click-it: The Toy Box Approach to Nonprofit Funding Diversification: Smart Funding Choices That Support Mission Over Time [Register for free webinar, 3-4-2026].This Nonprofit Hub webinar introduces a simple but powerful metaphor to help you rethink how your organization funds its work. Instead of chasing every opportunity, you’ll learn how to intentionally design a balanced funding mix that improves: Long-term stability; Organizational flexibility; Strategic decision-making, and Sustainable mission impact.
Click-it: What, When, Why and How to Outsource: Advice for the Practical Nonprofit [Register for free webinar, 3-4-2026]. Would you love a comprehensive checklist for selecting the ideal outsourcing partner? A way to figure out when outsourcing makes sense, and when it doesn’t? You’ll learn all this and more from Kiersten Hill of Firespring in this focused, strategic session.
DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES, PAPERS, TEMPLATES & OTHER RESOURCES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: Recurring Donations: Your Complete Guide + 10 Tips to Start. This Charity Engine Guide reviews everything your organization needs to know about recurring donations – what, why, when and where. You’ll get 5 tips for securing monthly gifts + another 5 strategies for strengthening them.
Boards
Click-it: A Board Member “Contract” [Download this free template]. Not intended to be legally enforced, the contract outlines explicitly what is expected of individual board members, and how the organization will in turn be responsible to them. This template is from Jan Masaoka, offered on the Blue Avocado blog.
Events
Click-it: 10 Must-Have Nonprofit Auction Software Features (Download free 2026 Guide). If you’ve been thinking some software could help, but didn’t know where to start, this guide from Soapbox Engage unlocks the mystery. After analyzing the top-performing nonprofit auctions and speaking with development directors across hundreds of organizations, they’ve identified the 10 essential features that separate modern, high-performing silent auction platforms from outdated tools that leave money on the table. Invaluable!
Research
Click-it: 5 Easy Steps to Your Game-Changing Donor Survey [Download free guide]. This resource from Moceanic will help you create meaningful relationships with your donors, and uncover more legacy, major donor, and monthly giving leads than ever before. Learn about a special kind of survey you’ve likely never before considered!
Strategy, Planning, Management and Leadership
Click-it: 2025 Benchmark Report [Download free report] Ready to see how your experience compares with others? The RKD Group 2025 Report is out! They show revenue growing, but driven by donor value rather than volume. Major giving is accelerating. Average gift size is up. Acquisition and reactivation are improving for some causes. And growth of monthly donors is providing a boost for retention.
Did You Miss My Newest Articles?
Here are links to the most recent articles on the Clairification blog. Remember, your goal is not simply to squeeze money out of people. It’s to give donors a squeeze and a hug for being caring and generous. This will make them feel good, which will move them to continue sticking with you.
💡 Fresh Nonprofit Marketing Ideas: Be Patient. Be Strategic. Be Funded.
🎯 5 Strategies to Improve Peer-to-Peer Donor Retention
🔍 Show Me You Know Me* — 5 Strategies To Sustain Donor Relationships
📈 4-Step Strategy to Address Key Nonprofit Marketing Challenges Head On
💝 10 Strategies to Celebrate Nonprofit Donors on Valentine’s Day
❤️Nonprofit Gift Planning: Do You Use the Language of Love?
😖 What Causes so Many Fundraisers to Leave their Jobs?
Finally… if you have a question, any question…
Check out my free fundraising advice column on the Bloomerang blog! Ask your question here. And bookmark the Ask an Expert page for any time you have a question! Here’s one: What Elevates A Live Auction From Good To Great?
REMINDER for Clairification School students: Don’t forget to log in to your “My Clairification/Subscriber Dashboard/Monthly Tips” to grab your exclusive, timely tips for each month. MARCH TIPS are live. Your support is much appreciated, and helps me to support you. Thank you!
And now, some little fairy houses and angels discovered in the urban forest. I may have shared before, but they’re worth resharing!
Look to your better angels to watch over us all. Go forth and fill the world with love, joy, peace, harmony and understanding. It’s needed now more than ever. And please support my extraordinary sponsors (see below). The Clairity Click-it content is free, and Clairification School is affordable, because of their generosity.
