Legacy Giving and Your Donor’s Final Chapter
Think of life as a story. More specifically, think of it as a book – an autobiography to be precise. If you were going to take on the task of writing a book about your life, how would you lay out the chapters? Maybe your chapter outline would start out something like this: Before you […]
Your Donors’ Search for Immortality
Here’s a fact you’ve probably never considered before: we human beings are the only species on earth that lives with the knowledge of our impending death. No other creature in the world has to think about how it might die. Or what will happen to it after it dies. No other creature wonders: will my […]
A Smart Way Forward
The COVID-19 pandemic has sent a lot of charity leaders into a tailspin. In this unknown environment, many of us have felt that it’s somehow inappropriate to be ‘pushy’ about asking for money when so many are suffering. Wrong! Canadian donors have told us that they’re still generous – and that they still intend to […]
3 Tips for Pandemic-Proofing Your Digital Campaigns
Days are getting shorter, the nights a little cooler, and my work from home attire now includes a lot more hoodies. It can only mean one thing… Fall is in the air! Which means the craziness of year-end digital fundraising is upon us. And this year, I think we’re in for year-end giving season like […]
The Hectic Fall Season – Pandemic Style
For those of you that are savvy veterans of the direct mail fundraising game, you know that we are heading into the busiest and most important time of year, pandemic or not. For the vast majority of direct mail fundraisers, the September to December stretch is the biggest in terms of revenue coming in and […]
December 31 is 133 Days Away: How To Plan Your Year-End Direct Mail Campaign
It’s August. For some, that means sweltering days spent in the pool, in the lake, or in the air conditioning. But for fundraisers like us, it means it’s time to start planning our year-end appeals! Year-end, or ‘holiday’, appeals are often the most successful direct mail campaigns of the year for charities, big and small. […]
The Legacy Lift – Your Secret to Increasing Annual Revenues
Over the years, I’ve heard dozens of reasons why fundraisers don’t think that now is the right time to invest in their legacy giving program. Legacy & Planned Giving Inertia Often, the reason for not ramping up legacy gift fundraising is the fear that annual donors will stop giving once they’ve made their bequests. This […]
The 6 Ingredients You Need To Build A Digital Fundraising Program
Building a digital program is kind of like baking a macaron: you need the right ingredients, combined in the right way, or it’s just not going to work! No smooth round top, no bubbly little feet, no crispy outside and chewy inside. Sure, it might still be tasty – but it won’t be as good […]
Direct Mail: Alive and Well!
A very long time ago when I worked in print, colleagues were concerned that the proliferation of computers would sound the death knell for the printing industry. It was assumed that books and manuals, for example, would all be saved to servers and floppy disks (ha! remember those?), and no one would want to buy […]
What To Do With New Digital Donors During a Pandemic
For many charities, COVID-19 has impacted not just on revenue overall, but the mix of channels that drive it. As uncertainty around how the virus could be spread took hold, many donors continued giving through the mail. Even more started giving online. Many of the non-profits we work with are reporting unprecedented online giving and […]