A Trip to The Apple Orchard: Maximizing Growth While Addressing Competing Priorities

A trip to the Apple Orchard – Maximizing acquisition success while addressing competing priorities Raise your hand if you remember a childhood trip to Chudleigh’s Apple Orchard! Or perhaps you’re preparing for one as we are into orchard visiting season! Regardless if your trip is to Chudleigh’s or elsewhere, you likely are prepared to perform […]

Optimizing Your Fundraising: How to Implement Your Test Results

So, you successfully ran some tests based on your strategic goals for the year. You tracked them effectively and you have clear results that indicate your winning package. Congratulations! You’ve already done more to improve your program than many other fundraisers. Now what? If you answered, “implement the control” you’d be right. Sort of. Implementation […]

Real Talk from CAGP & NTC: Equity, Tech, and the Future of Legacy Giving

It’s fundraising conference season, folks! In April, I was lucky enough to speak at both the Canadian Association of Gift Planning annual conference and at the Nonprofit Technology Conference – two of my favourite fundraising gatherings. And as I write this, I’m gearing up to deliver a flipped classroom session next week at Convene Canada. […]

The Adventure Continues: How Postal Strikes Will Impact Your Fundraising in 2025

August 12th Update: Following a vote, CUPW members have rejected Canada Post’s latest contract offer. What does that mean? Well, things are kind of status quo. One possibility is that both parties head back to the bargaining table. Another is that the government could intervene and force binding arbitration. Labour experts think a strike is […]

Make It Weird – 3 Ways to Make Your OE Stand Out

One of the joys of the longer days and warmer temperatures that come with Spring is shifting the post-dinner activity in our house from puzzles or colouring to a daily walk to the mailbox. (Don’t worry, the colouring still happens and I have 50 Paw Patrol and Pokémon masterpieces on my fridge to prove it!) […]

Canada Post Strike Updates: What This Means for Direct Mail

Okay, fellow direct mail fundraisers: there’s postal strike news. December 18th update: Direct mail is back up and running – kind of, mostly.As expected, the CIRB found that Canada Post and CUPW were at an impasse. So, as of 8 AM yesterday, postal workers were back at work, with plans to resume talks with new […]

A Statement from Good Works Regarding the Canada Post Strike

Most people living in Canada have absolutely no idea that Canada Post is vital to our sector and the work we do. For them, the strike is about parcels. For us, it’s about so much more. Charities use the mail. Extensively. Arguably, charities are one of the biggest users of bulk mail through their acquisition […]

Beyond the Big Day: Maximizing the Momentum of Giving Tuesday

The Power of Giving Tuesday What started in 2012 as a modest initiative by the 92nd Street Y in New York City to counteract the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday has grown into a global movement. By 2013, CanadaHelps brought the campaign to Canada, and today, Giving Tuesday is celebrated in over 90 […]

The 2024 postal strike and your direct mail fundraising program

It’s been a long time (about six years, in fact!) since direct mail fundraisers have had the threat of a Canada Post strike looming over us – at year-end, no less. But here we are! Whether you’ve never had to navigate a mail strike, or you just need a quick refresher, here’s what we might […]

What a Pig and an Elephant can teach you about readability

If you have younger children in your life, you might be familiar with the Elephant and Piggie books. It’s a cute series following the silly antics of a cartoon Elephant named Gerald and a Pig named…Piggie (stay with me). My 8-year-old twin boys can’t get enough of them. And to be honest, I’m a pretty […]