Supermarkets price milk and eggs (and turkeys during Thanksgiving) below, at, or just above their cost. These items (and others) are called “loss leaders” or “leader priced items.” Every time you buy milk or eggs, your local supermarket is, most likely, losing money on that transaction. If one were to analyze a supermarket’s value by […]
Browsing the archives for the Constituency Service category
22 Jul 20
30 Apr 15
One of the most important and yet most misunderstood responsibilities of a development officer is to write helpful prospect contact reports on a consistent basis. Most development folk understand that they should write contact reports, but only some recognize why they are so vital to effective fundraising, and even fewer grasp how to write them well. […]
2 Comments Posted in Constituency Service, Fundraising, Leadership
24 Jun 12
Advancement professionals regularly are looking for ways to “better tell our institution’s story.” I have written in the past about how better storytelling alone won’t lead to larger gifts. Instead, I’ve suggested that the concept of story-listening is a much better way to go about attracting larger gifts. It is the donor’s story that is […]
1 Comment Posted in Constituency Service, Fundraising
5 Sep 11
I once worked for a President who was known to say, “we can never say thank you enough to our donors.” A wonderful sentiment for 501(c)3 leaders and advancement professionals to embrace. And, as important as it is to thank donors often, it also is important to thank them in meaningful and customized ways. For […]
1 Comment Posted in Constituency Service, Fundraising
11 Apr 11
At what communication frequency do you most comfortably operate? Do you resonate most on the email frequency? Or maybe it is the face-to-face frequency? Or the phone frequency? Or the text frequency? Or the social media frequency? Or possibly there are still a few out there who resonate most with the touch-intensive letter frequency. Most […]
0 Comments Posted in Constituency Service, Fundraising, Leadership
30 Sep 09
Today it seems we constantly are bombarded with claims about “personalized” or “individualized” customer service or patient care. Take a look at a hospital billboard on your local highway and it appears they will create a care regimen just for you. Or head to a university’s website, even one with over 25,000 students, and it […]
