marathon event

Nonprofit Event Fundraising Part 1: What’s the Point?

Do you think of your nonprofit event as a “fund raiser” or a “donor cultivation experience?”

The simple, obvious answer, of course, is that a good event is both.

In practice, however, successful event fundraising – galas and sport events and auctions that are worth the effort — is not this simple.

So let me ask this question another way:

What is your number one goal with your special event?

Think about this carefully for a moment. There can be a lot of reasons, good and not-so-good, for embarking on this admittedly resource-intensive strategy.  Do your ends justify your means?

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4 CommentsAnnual Giving
Are you reading your major donors right?

Are You Reading Your Major Donors Correctly?

A year ago I had the opportunity to present a major gifts master class where Jay Love, Founder and President of Bloomerang (and a board member and major donor himself) offered his thoughts on major gifts development from the donor’s perspective.

SO important!

The more that you know, the less they’ll say “No!”

  • The more you know what floats your donor’s boat,,,
  • The more you know what other things compete for your donor’s attention (not just causes, but also career and family)…
  • The more you know how your donor prefers to communicate…
  • The more you know how your donor prefers to be wooed…
  • The more you know how your donor prefers to be recognized…

If you can’t show your major donor prospect you really know them, how can they trust you’ll be a good steward of their passionate philanthropic investment?

We all want to be known before we enter into a major engagement.

Which brings us to the crux of successful major donor development. Not surprisingly, it begins and ends with the same thing.

Can you guess what that might be?

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1 CommentMajor & Legacy Gifts
Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanks(for)giving

Thankful for ThanksgivingThis Thursday folks in the United States will celebrate what I consider to be the social benefit sector holiday of the year: Thanksgiving!

Just think about what it means.  Literally, it’s a day for giving thanks for our blessings.

Who do you count among yours?

I know when we go around the table at my family Thanksgiving, saying what we’re grateful for this year, most folks respond with a people-based answer. Sure, they’re happy about the feast in front of them. But they’re most grateful for caring friends. For loving family. For being together and sharing the warmth of good company.

Who are you grateful to at your organization?

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2 CommentsDonor Retention
woman holding man's hand for safety

4 Nonprofit Strategies to Build Donor Trust & Lasting Relationships

Trust is the foundation of all lasting relationships.

If you don’t build trust, or if somehow you manage to destroy it, you’re going to lose your donor.

Sadly, this happens more often than not.  By now you’re likely familiar with the stats on donor retention from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project.  Only 23% of first-time donors renew. Only 46% of all donors, new plus ongoing, renew.

If you want to improve on these retention rates (and you definitely can!), I’m going to suggest you develop a plan to build trust.

Trust is built not simply by what you say, but by what you do.  Not just once, but consistently over time.

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5 CommentsDonor Retention
Skyrocketing

10 Strategies to Skyrocket Major Gift Fundraising

Skyrocketing“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.” So wrote Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland.

It’s the same with major donor fundraising, except you don’t ever really stop.  You just start up again. You do follow a prescribed path, however.  And here’s what it looks like:

  1. Before
  2. Ground Floor
  3. Explore
  4. Back Door
  5. Adore
  6. Mentor
  7. Ask For
  8. Implore
  9. Rapport
  10. Report

If you do this correctly, it becomes a transformational process for the donor. They want to stay connected and engaged and invested.  Which is why you don’t stop.  You follow up with “Some More.”

But first…

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Leave a commentMajor & Legacy Gifts
Walkathon participants

8 Secrets to Keeping New ‘Third Party’ Donors

By now you undoubtedly know you’re losing too many first-time donors.

In fact, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project report shows you’re losing an average of 77% of these folks!

Today I want to talk about a subset of new donors who don’t renew.  They’re called “third party donors,” and they come to you through a variety of portals:

  1. Guests of event ticket buyers
  2. Online auction purchasers
  3. Donors who give to friends’ P2P fundraising pages
  4. Donors who give to crowdfunding campaigns sent to them via a friend
  5. Donors who make tribute gifts in honor or memory of a friend or loved one
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1 CommentAnnual Giving
woman giving a gift

How to Become a Donor Experience Transformist

If you don’t build donor loyalty over time, you’re really missing out on the long-term value of every donor you bring in. And, guess what else?

You’re working too hard.

Donors come in. Donors go out. Donors come in. Donors go out.

One-time gifts are here today, gone tomorrow.

It’s like being on a non-stop treadmill.  Just exhausting!

But there’s an easy way to catch your breath, and even begin to enjoy breathing again.

Instead of continuing on as a transactional fundraiser, become a donor experience transformist!

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4 CommentsDonor Retention

Offer Nonprofit Donors Gratitude Experiences, Not Tote Bags

I_don't_need_no_stinkin'_tote_bag_001I often say “if you want gifts, you must give them.”

I want to “clairify” that I mean this somewhat metaphorically.

I mean you shouldn’t focus only on getting, but also on giving.

Your relationship with your donors shouldn’t be all take, take, take.

That being said, most donors don’t want a lot of “stuff.”  They particularly don’t want expensive and/or useless stuff.  In other words, you don’t have to give them tangible gifts of tote bags, coffee mugs and socks.  Instead, consider giving them “gratitude experiences.”

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4 CommentsDonor Retention