Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Once again, I’m inspired by the inimitable Seth Godin.
“To quote the great Steve Wozniak, “Actual Intelligence.” The kind we’re born with and can develop if we choose. It’s worth more now than ever before. Alas, it’s rarely taught in school.
The difficult work of making choices.
The act of curation.
The responsibility of putting your name on it.
The judgment to ask the right questions and skip the other ones.
The imperative to ship useful work.
The pursuit of good taste.
The patience to sit with the right problem rather than solving the wrong one.
The generosity to create for someone specific.
Seeking justice.
Offering dignity.
Knowing when to stop.
Investing in deep empathy, not a shallow substitute.
Taking initiative and doing the reading.
Being patient, or impatient, depending on what’s needed.
Ignoring the noise.
Making something that matters.
Caring.”
— Seth Godin
This issue of the Clairity Click-it Newsletter highlights multiple intelligences — actual, artificial, artful, actionable, and more. Your job is to be discerning. Think. Reflect. Patiently consider. Ask yourself: Am I moving forward? If not, why not?
Which is why I’ve collected lots of resources over the past two weeks – all with the hope you’ll find something to help you develop the momentum to move forward. Need new ideas? Skills? Perspectives? They’re all here. Check them out! You’re guaranteed to find something that will shift your thinking.
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 our critically important social benefit sector.
You’ve got this!
Thank you for doing your vital work, with gratitude,
Claire
P.P.S. If you’re an enrolled Clairification School student, your JUNE TIPS are live. If you’re not yet enrolled, there’s no better time.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
SPECIAL FEATURE: Problematic AI
ARTICLES
Click-it: We need to have much more serious conversations about AI and the nonprofit/philanthropic sector. A colleague sent this to me with the comment Vu Le, Nonprofit AF, had written “quite an article.” Indeed. As much as AI can be helpful, there’s another conversation we should be having around ethics. Because the cost of using AI may be antithetical to most nonprofit missions.
Click-it: AI chatbots could be making you stupider. As large language models take over more and more cognitive tasks, researchers are warning this mental outsourcing — “cognitive offloading” — comes with a cost. If we become too reliant on AI, it could affect our ability to do basic cognitive tasks. This article in BBC wonders what will happen to our society when many are dependent on AI to think for us?
Click-it: A Quiet Uprising Against Chatbots? Ted Siefer writes in Nonprofit Quarterly about research and real-world experience suggesting humanized AI chatbots in the nonprofit sector likely undermine communities’ trust in organizations, meaning that the most effective use of AI keeps humans at the center. AI should support strategy, not replace it.
AUDIO/VISUAL
Click-it: AI Tools for Nonprofits: What’s Working in 2026 [Listen to on-demand webinar]. Eventgroove’s Robert Friend covers what AI tools for nonprofits look like in practice, particularly for teams without a dedicated tech department. Noting the difference between assistive AI (tools that respond when you ask) and agentic AI (systems that take multiple actions on their own from a single prompt), he observes most nonprofits are using the first kind. The second is where the real time savings are.
ARTICLES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: A Few Embarrassingly Easy Ways to Encourage DAF Donations – or at Least Stop Discouraging Them. Lisa Greer, Philanthropy 451, writes from the donor perspective about why people choose to establish and give from Donor Advised Funds – and how you may be discouraging them.
Related Article on Clairification: If You’re Not Promoting Donor Advised Funds, You’re Leaving Major Gifts on the Table.
Click-it: How to Establish a Growing Monthly Giving Program. No one knows how to do this better than Erica Waasdorp, founder of A Direct Solution. Erica reports a majority of donors are currently enrolled in a recurring giving program, so if you don’t have one you’re behind the curve. Here you’ll get an actionable roadmap to help your team plan, launch, and scale a recurring donation strategy that creates a dependable foundation for your cause.
Click-it: Five inconsequential decisions that can wreck your next appeal. You’ll find this generous hodge-podge of advice from Mark Phillips useful. It’s real from-the-trenches stuff — five tiny decisions that can rip a huge hole in your response rate and your income. All are real.
Boards and Staff
Click-it: 5 Mindset Shifts That Overcome Nonprofit Board Fundraising Reluctance. Here’s my take, for NonProfitPro, on how to reframe fundraising so your board leans in instead of backing away. Philanthropy, not fundraising. Love, not war. Giving, not taking. Matchmaking, not incompatibility. C.O.D., not A.B.C.
Major, Capital and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Nine Ways To Talk About Endowment With Your Donors. Campbell and Co. offers useful ways to persuade folks of the benefits of building an endowment. If you’ve been wondering how to build a compelling case for support, read this.
Click-it: The Partnership That Predicts Major Gift Success. Throughout my career I’ve both had this, and not had this. When I didn’t have it, and couldn’t make it happen, I pretty much ended up having to leave my position. But, I’ve also been able to improve it significantly through open conversation. Gail Perry explains the problem here. You might want to forward to your partner Executive Director or Development Director and use it as a conversation guide.
CAREER BUILDER: Want to truly master major gift fundraising? This Veritus Group course, Certification Course for Major Gift Fundraisers., will set you and your organization up for success for years to come. 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. And right now you can grab an exclusive Clairification Community discount – a whopping 35% off – using this code: CLAIRE35.
Psychology of Giving
Click-it: Nonprofit Engagement Mindsets: The Better Alternative to Personas. Traditional audience personas fail to capture the deeper motivations around why people choose to connect and engage with you. Kivi LeRoux Miller describes a different paradigm through Nonprofit Marketing Guide’s creation of 4 specific mindsets. She encourages you to use one at a time, rather than try messaging attempting to be all things to all people.
Click-it: Does the addition of a premium on an offer donation page impact donor conversion? NextAfter ran an A/B test to see if adding a gift (tee shirt) as an incentive to make a monthly gift increased giving. In this case for a public television station, it increased both conversion (103%) and average gift size – for a 176% increase in revenue.
Storytelling
Click-it: How to use nonprofit data visualization to tell your story. Data visualization is the process of sharing information in a visual way. In this guide from Kindsight you’ll get seven data visualization tips, plus learn all about creating compelling maps, charts, graphs, infographics, timelines and more. Data can be powerful in your storytelling, but not when your presentation is dry as dust.
Strategy, Planning, Management and Leadership
Click-it: 13 Years and Still Explaining Basic Arithmetic to Boards. Roger Craver, the Agitator-DonorVoice, explains where cost of fundraising and overhead metrics can lead your organization down the math of diminishing returns. The starvation loop looks like this: the scorecard demands efficiency. Efficiency demands cutting investment. Cutting investment weakens the donor pipeline. A weakened pipeline makes next year’s numbers worse. Worse numbers trigger more demands for efficiency. Repeat until the organization is raising the same money from an ever-shrinking base, hitting its cost of fundraising targets, and dying on the installment plan. If your cost of fundraising ratio improved while your donor count declined, you didn’t have a good year.
Technology as Tool
Click-it: 9 Leading Fundraising Platforms for Hybrid Events in 2026. Thinking about doing a part-live, part-online event? A fundraising platform for hybrid events brings your in-person and online audiences into a single experience. Virtual guests can engage, donate, and participate in real time without feeling like outsiders. DoJiggy has you covered with this analysis and comparison of top software that will make your job easier.
Writing
Click-it: The Quiet Power of Small Words. Kim Scaravelli, communications strategist and author of “Making Words Work,” wants you to rethink your messaging. Here are three words that draw people in without trying too hard.
Other Learning Opportunities
WEBINARS, PODCASTS, & 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!
Donor Acquisition
Click-it: How to Build a Lead Magnet That Actually Acquires New Donors [Register for free webinar, 6-10-2026]. This Nonprofit Hub webinar features MacKenzie Doherty, Generosity X, who brings a sharp, analytical, and data-informed perspective to the critical topic of digital donor acquisition. Moving past standard design and copywriting tricks, this session treats email list growth as a rigorous research problem. You’ll emerge with a practical framework that utilizes donor data, competitive analysis, and search behavior to build truly “ad-ready” lead magnets.
Click-it: The Five New Rules of Digital Acquisition [Register for free webinar, 6-25-2026. Digital acquisition is more expensive, more competitive, and harder to measure than it was just a few years ago. The experts at True Sense Marketing will share what is actually driving performance today across search, social, and programmatic, and give you five rules you can apply to your acquisition strategy right now.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Make Your Mission Irresistible: Give Donors Something to Care About [Listen to on-demand webinar; read take-aways]. Nonprofit messaging strategist Erin Straza joins 4aGoodCause’s Ronald Pruitt to explore a practical, story-driven framework for turning apathetic donors into committed, passionate champions who keep giving. You’ll learn why donor apathy (not donor fatigue) is the real root cause of declining donor engagement, and how to position your donors as essential mission partners, not just observers. Plus get tips on what a case for support narrative is, why your team needs one, and how to build it.
Events
Click-it: Designing Engaging Events: Three Questions that Matter [Register for free webinar, 6-17-2026]. Auctria hosts Chris Baiocchi, Resolute Philanthropy, for his session that will help you engage board members and guests before, during, and after the event. Plus you’ll get useful strategies to get ahead of event follow up.
Major, Capital and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Major Donors’ Voices: Busting the Myths [Register for free webinar, 6-23-2026]. Fundraising Everywhere shares what they learned from over 150 donor interviews. This session will entertain, surprise, and challenge you to think differently about major donors, and will give you the confidence to challenge others in your organization about how you approach transformative fundraising.
Strategy, Planning, Management and Leadership
Click-it: How Fiscal Sponsorship Is Rewriting Who Gets to Lead Change [Listen to on-demand free podcast]. If you’ve ever considered fiscal sponsorship as a means to leverage infrastructure to fuel your mission, this We Are For Good session with Vincent Jones will be helpful. You’ll learn why philanthropy’s funding structure is a design failure and how you can unlock the means to focus on is doing the work to make your community better.
Technology as Tool
Click-it: Where to Start with AI in Fundraising [Register for free webinar, 6-17-2026]. Join Nathan Chapppel and Virtuous to learn how to manage change in your organization so AI doesn’t get stuck in “we should look into that” for another year. Emerge with the daily AI habits you can start this week, even with just 30 minutes a day. Mmak ssure llink wwork
Website
Click-it: Why Your Website Matters More Than Ever [Register for free webinar, 6-8-2026]. How many potential donors, volunteers, and grant funders have already landed on your site, felt underwhelmed, and moved on, without you ever knowing? TechSoup hosts this practical webinar to help you learn where your website is silently losing donors and what to fix first – without breaking the bank.
Click-it: How Nonprofit Professionals Can AI-Proof Their Careers [Register for free 30-minute webinar, 6-24-2026]. Early adopter marketing and fundraising professionals are experimenting with generative AI, but as we speed towards achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), working with predictive and agentic AI are also must-have skills of the future. This Nonprofit Tech for Good session will help you become AI-literate in the concepts most immediately to impact your career so you can start the process of upskilling now and thrive in your career for years to come.
DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES, PAPERS, TEMPLATES & OTHER RESOURCES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: SAMPLE Fiscal Year-End Fundraising Letter [Download template to modify]. Steven Screen, the Better Fundraising Co., offers this tested model that will help you close out your fiscal year strong.
Boards
Click-it: Nonprofit board member agreement template & guide [Download free resource]. This guide from Give Butter explains what your board member agreement should include, how to get buy-in from existing members, and provide a free template to get you started.
Data Management
Click-it: Gift Processing 101: A Practical Nonprofit’s Checklist. If you’re new to gift processing, you’ll find this article on Fundraising IP.com immensely helpful. Here’s what to do, every step of the way, from the moment a gift arrives.
Events
Click-it: Beyond the Event: Building Lasting Donor Relationships [Download free eBook]. A successful event should spark the start of a lasting relationship, not just serve as a one-time fundraising opportunity. In this Bloomerang eBook, you’ll learn how to shift your mindset on events from standalone moments to a key milestone on the path to building deeper relationships with your donors.
Website + Landing Pages
Click-it:. Ditch Donor Drop-off: The Complete Guide to High-Converting Donation Pages [Download free eBook]. Donorbox experts share key insights about what modern donors expect when making a gift online and how to optimize your form for conversion, based on real results from nonprofits worldwide. It’s packed with actionable advice, from how to strike the perfect balance between simple and versatile to common donation page mistakes and how to fix them.
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.
📈Why Creating Donor Engagement Opportunities Boosts Fundraising
🪜Why You Need to Know about the Donor Hierarchy of Needs
❤️Make ‘Do Unto Others’ Your Nonprofit’s Golden Rule
💡 Top Strategies for Open Nonprofit Donor Conversations
🚀 Better Nonprofit Communications: 7 Simple Ways to Increase Donor Response
💸It’s Not Too Early to Prepare for Prime Fundraising Season!
🎯 4 Nonprofit Strategic Planning Myths—Debunked (And What Actually Works in Uncertain Times)
Finally… if you have a question, any question…
Ask your question here. And check out my free fundraising advice column on the Bloomerang blog! You can bookmark the Ask an Expert page for any time you have a question. Here’s one: Should I still Use Direct Mail?
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. JUNE TIPS are live. Your support is much appreciated, and helps me to support you. Thank you!
And now… some “finds” from my walks in San Francisco over the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Discarded with a “free” sign on the street. Fully functioning scale that’s received the artistic treatment. Love!
“Flew” into the Golden Gate Park Panhandle. Titled “An Attempted Murder” by Jack Champion
Heart-shaped tree stump — you see it, don’t you?
Part of the San Francisco “Art Loop” of public sculptures: “Seed of Self” by Kate Raudenbush.
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