Hope gets a bad wrap. It’s viewed as tentative. Easy. Even foolish. Anyone can hope. To be viewed as strategic or consequential, we are told to: create written plans with measurable goals, or else we are just wishing; speak of lofty aspirations with timelines, or else we aren’t serious; build gantt charts with individual assignments,…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Donor Stewardship
It’s not about benefits, access, trinkets, or tchotchkes. It’s not even about impact, reports, recognition, or gratitude. It’s about the donor’s feelings. Before deciding to implement any particular donor stewardship activity or initiative, simply ask yourself this question: “If I were the donor on the receiving end of this experience, how would I feel about…
3 Simple Advancement Resolutions for 2024
Here are 3 simple advancement resolutions for the New Year, which, if implemented consistently, are guaranteed to make 2024 one of the best years you and your team have experienced. Invite more people. Consistently invite more people to volunteer, to give their advice, to offer their feedback, to visit with you, to attend an event,…
Redefining Generosity
We often view generosity as an ideal human quality – a virtue attainable only by a privileged, wealthy few. Being generous is seen as a behavioral exception that people aren’t able to choose until and unless certain advantageous life circumstances coexist. For instance, people will say: “I’d give if I made more money,” or “I’ll…
What Do You Mean By ‘Fundraising’?
The word, ‘fundraising,’ conjures up so many different definitions and understandings that I have grown fond of asking people what they mean when they use it. For instance, ‘fundraising,’ can mean broadening the base of support, or inviting more people to give, or getting more people to participate on a giving day, or implementing a…
Giving As Loving
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 I memorized that verse as a child in Sunday School but never paid much attention to the lead-in phrase: “For God so loved the world that he…
The Real Reason
Recently during a nonprofit board meeting, a board member asked the following questions and received the following responses from the advancement team members: Q: Won’t asking for major gifts over the next 3 years hurt our annual giving results? A: There is no evidence that will occur. We will be asking everyone to make or…
Segmenting and Aggregating
Whether we have 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000+ donors, when we decide to invite each of them to make a gift we have choices to make. Typically, the first and most discussed choice is focused on segmenting our donors, or deciding which of these donors will receive which of our specific invitations. If we are doing…
“It’s All About The Fundraising Results”
Except when. . . it’s really about creating a culture where more people care enough to respond generously; it’s really about growing the board’s understanding of their philanthropic leadership; it’s really about helping the CEO experience the joy of inviting others to be supportive; it’s really about encouraging others to embrace the act of giving…
The Most Important Campaign Readiness Question
As you prepare for a campaign, you probably have a lot of important questions that need answering. The most important question, though, is not: How much money can we raise? or, Do we have enough front-line fundraisers to achieve the goal? or, Do our donors have enough financial capacity to give in excess of our…