Storytelling in Fundraising: A Guide for Skeptics
It may surprise you, but there are professionals in the charitable sector who think using a storytelling approach in fundraising is a bunch of gobbledygook. Are you clutching your pearls? That was my reaction, too. A few years back someone from an unnamed charity told me that they don’t use stories because they didn’t want […]
A Quick Refresher on Loving Your Donors
You are likely far from embracing the fall and you’re hopefully still in denial that winter soon follows. But as a fundraiser, I know that you’re already well down the path of planning your fall and dare I say it, holiday giving campaigns. We work on the same schedule as Costco, always a couple of […]
Find the time to say thank you: 5 tips to completing new donor thank you calls
It’s no secret that new donors are worth their weight in gold – sometimes literally (Yes, acquisition campaigns are expensive!). Acquiring a new donor and getting them to that all-important second gift is pivotal to the success of any annual giving program, but how do you continue to engage this new donor– especially when their […]
Let Your Donors be the Jury
I’ve been a partner at Good Works for 25 years now. But, before I became a Good Worker, I was a client – twice! Back in the 1990s, I learned direct mail fundraising from the experts at Good Works. There was one lesson they taught me that stands above all the others – and that […]
Introducing the 2021 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report
The wait is over! For those of you looking for up-to-date, pandemic-proof, all-Canadian direct mail benchmarks, look no further. The 2021 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report is here—and you can download it (for free!) right now. Early, non-biased reviews are already pouring in, and they’re electric: […]
Baking a Big Data Cake!
When we set about to bake our direct mail fundraising cake, it is easy to get excited about some of the higher-profile ingredients that go into the recipe. Things like the story and the artwork are important, don’t get me wrong… Important Ingredients That Make The Cake Rise For the sake of this baking metaphor, […]
How well do you REALLY know your legacy donors?
In the world of fundraising, a legacy gift is valued as the pinnacle of giving. It is the coveted brass ring for many charities. Because of this, we have a tendency to put our legacy donors on a pedestal. A very high one. We treat our legacy donors as the incredible humans that they are […]
All about YOU! (The Fundraising Edition)
It’s a universal rule in fundraising. One of the first things you might learn when you take a fundraising course or start your first job in the donor development realm. It’s the subject of many blog posts and conference sessions: When you’re writing for a donor audience, your copy needs to include the word YOU. […]
When Things Go Off The Rails – and they surely will, at some point!
We’ve all had it happen. Things are humming along and all the ducks are waddling along in their rows when BAM! Printing errors happen. Like, the lettershop calls and the postal indicia on the envelope is too small. Meaning it might not be accepted for induction by Canada Post. Or BAM! – a Neighbourhood Mail […]
Tell Them “Why” – Insights from the Global Online Fundraising Scorecard
I have a feeling I’m on the cusp of a dreaded parenting rite of passage with my almost 2-year-old: the “why” phase. (For you seasoned parents mocking me for calling it a phase, please just chuckle to yourselves at my naivete instead of bursting my bubble!) As a parent, I’m not looking forward to the […]