Mashable recently ran a helpful short piece on why email bacon is effective while spam is a nuisance. Bacon, of course, is the email that we sign-up to receive. It’s the Groupon coupons, the Facebook updates, and, yes, the Jason’s Blog feed. Spam, on the other hand, is all of the unsolicited email junk from…
Month: March 2011
Reform or Transform
When we reform something we make it better. We correct. We amend. We revise. When we transform something we change it altogether. We reconstruct. We metamorphose. We revolutionize. We talk far more about transforming than we do about reforming. For instance, we say our institutions provide a transformational education experience. We tell our Boards that we…
“Active Recovery” Donor Stewardship
To counteract the impact that age is having on my metabolism, I started running last year. The past year’s worth of running has taught me a lot. For example: It’s rather easy to get injured running. Toenails can get mangled. Knees can ache. Ankles can twist. The simple act of running in a straight line…
The Value of Mixed Methods Donor Research
The Far Edge of Promise has as a core fundraising philosophy the concept of knowing donors as personally as possible. This concept is simple, tried-and-true, exceptionally powerful, and leads to meaningful gifts from gratified donors. It also is rarely implemented well. For instance, most institutions can answer the following question about each of their top…
Developing Evangelists
Recently, I wrote about the importance of having the right person ask the right prospect. Understanding and implementing this concept will greatly enhance your fundraising outcomes with individual prospects. However, to increase your overall fundraising success, there is a broader concept that must be mastered: Developing Evangelists. Evangelists are those key people who regularly encourage…
Do Dollars Matter?
Recently at a CASE conference, I heard a presentation in which the following statement about performance metrics for MGOs was made: If you create and track MGO metrics for visits, moves, and proposals (asks), you don’t need a metric for dollars raised. The gift income will be a natural consequence of the activity of the…