Is It Tax Time Yet?
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I don’t typically recommend sending monthly thank-you letters to monthly donors. Instead, I suggest you send one thank-you letter when they join, and in that, you explain that from now on, they’ll start receiving updates on how their gifts are making a difference. […]
Book Review: ‘It’s Not Just About the Donor’
This past weekend, I read the second book by the Veritus Group principals Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels: “It’s Not Just About the Donor.” This was written during COVID-19, and one chapter is especially focused on fundraising during a crisis. You may ask, why would someone like me who typically only deals with small(ish) and monthly donors […]
The Success of charity: water’s Monthly Donor Community
During the final days of the year, I was able to catch up on some presentations that had been sitting in my inbox. I was excited to hear Noah Barnett’s intro and the presentation by Viktoria Harrison, the co-creator of charity: water on the Virtuous Summit. It was, of course, tremendously inspiring for a monthly donor […]
Ask A Nonprofit Expert – Answers To 7 Questions About Starting A Monthly Donor Program NOW
As a follow up to the recent free webinar ‘7 Reasons why you should start a monthly donor program NOW’, we’re happy to share the answers to some of the questions we didn’t have a chance to answer during the webinar. These are very short answers of course. But feel free to contact me at […]
Are You Still Using Return Address Labels?
By now, you probably know I love to organize. I have hundreds of direct mail and monthly giving examples scanned in. And over Christmas, I scanned in a huge box of family pictures. It’s all part of the downsizing and simplifying process my husband and I are going through. I must say, it’s tremendously liberating! […]
Hope Smiles on You
At this time of year, I like to look back over the past year. It’s certainly been very different than any other year. For every single one of us. For me, 2020 meant minimal travel, more webinars, more screen time, more appeals, more emails, more writing and working harder than ever before. I’ve been busy […]
Monthly-Matching Magic
During this holiday season of giving, especially based on the recent success of #GivingTuesday, you can clearly tell there is something magical about using a match. Successful fundraisers have used matches for years and continue to use it. Why? Because it works! Nearly all of #GivingTuesday emails I received before, during and in the days […]
Monthly Donors Were Up on #GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday results were way up compared to last year. Who said donors are not generous? The best spot to see it all together is GivingTuesday Data Commons, fed by some 60 contributing partners and 40 global data labs. I know all are feverishly tallying results and creating infographics and more, so definitely stay tuned for more results as […]
Encourage Donors to Give Through Donor-Advised Funds
You know I’m all for small monthly gifts, but two years ago I became intrigued with donor-advised funds, especially after I received some DAF-focused email newsletters from Jack Doyle from Amergent. I highly recommend reading them. Based on Fidelity’s “2020 Giving Report,” the number of donors who have a DAF has almost tripled over the past […]
Why Monthly Donors Make Great Legacy Prospects
First, let me start by telling you that my focus has been monthly giving for many years. To set the stage, let me give you some facts: Monthly donors make small gifts now (on average $24 a month although some organizations are seeing lower monthly gifts, others are seeing higher monthly gifts, depending upon their […]