Giving is Good
“Young people today don’t love our country and they don’t want to work.” This statement was made by a major gifts donor I interviewed a couple years ago. The interesting thing about this quote is not that an older, white, U.S. citizen made such a statement. These types of statements from folks in this demographic…
Most institutions understand the concept of marketing – offer an attractive opportunity along with an easy way for people to respond. We market programs, special events, activities, athletics, ticket sales, annual giving opportunities, naming opportunities, planned giving, etc. But what comes before marketing – public relations – is at least as important as the marketing…
What is the purpose of giving? If I were to answer that question by analyzing the appeals for charitable gifts from a variety of nonprofits, I’d come up with a clear answer: The purpose of giving is to meet the important and various needs of others. Students need a robust education. Communities need the best…
In your team’s culture, are you too nice? Too nice to discuss: alternative strategies from the one a colleague is proposing? missed opportunities? goals we didn’t achieve? ideas that go against “what we’ve always done?” new ways of working together? Being nice makes teams run smoothly. Until being too nice doesn’t. Follow and share Jason’s…
The practice of donor stewardship usually includes a variety of steps or phases that aim to move the donor from their most recent gift to a next gift sometime in the future. Steps like the ones below are commonplace: Formal and timely gift acknowledgement and receipting; Personalized gratitude and thanking the donor for the gift;…
Recently, I read a news story about a woman who posted on social media about potentially missing out on a substantial scholarship offer from Maryville College in Tennessee. If you have yet to read the story, the basics are that student was going to need significant financial assistance to go the traditional 4-year college route. …
When thinking about hiring and retaining productive and positive team members, its easy to lean on 3 employee-centric decisions: Higher pay; Better title; More flexibility with schedule. While most advancement leaders would relish the opportunity to be able to pay team members more, to promote people consistently, and to add more flexibility to people’s schedules…
“I’m writing to let you know that we will make the gift of $50,000.” “Unfortunately, we aren’t going to be able to give this year.” The first quote represents the wonderful news that the donor will give. Yes! This is a fantastic message to receive and we rejoice in receiving it. The second quote, on…
Many advancement teams have a primary culture of receiving gifts. In general, these teams spend the bulk of their time, energy, and resources after gifts have been made. They are really good at responding, thanking, stewarding, and showing gratitude. Some advancement teams have a primary culture of inviting gifts. These teams spend more time, energy,…
According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, the average nonprofit donor retention rate (or, the percentage of your donors who gave last year who also will give to your institution this year), is about 45%. Advancement leaders have lamented this “below 50%” data point for years. In response, all kinds of analyses and solutions have been…