10 Creative Campaign Tips for Giving Tuesday 2020
Written by Mary Rybakova for Chatfuel This year’s GivingTuesday will be the most important one in history. For one thing, 2020 has been a tumultuous year for the world. It’s left us all in need of nonprofits and their essential work now, more than ever. But at the same time, the economic downturn caused by […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Take Down the Silos
The last week of September = Sustainer month, I organized the first ever virtual Sustainer Workshop. About 40 fundraisers from all over the country, and even some from Canada, participated in the two-day workshop, looking at all stages of life for a sustainer. When I asked the question: ”What is your biggest challenge when it […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Let’s Declare September = Sustainer Month
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of presenting about sustainers with Tina Hudgins, who worked at the International Justice Mission at the time. She shared how the organization typically did a monthly donor direct mail and email invite campaign (including upgrades) in the month of September. And they’ve been doing this ever since. […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Asking Will Result in More Monthly Donors
Good thing we have an extra day this week. I had a stack of mail more than a foot high, and I just finished scanning the various appeals I would like to save in a folder to use for training or learning. Let me start with some good news: Many organizations have adopted the best […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Ask Why
Let’s face it–just because you, as a fundraiser, send emails and/or letters to a donor asking them to give monthly, it may not work right away. It might require several calls and emails. It may require some additional ammunition. If you have at least one monthly donor, you have that ammunition. You have at least […]
On the Road to 1,000 Monthly Donors
An interview with Sami Sheehan, manager of donor engagement of Lollypop Farm, Humane Society of Greater Rochester My favorite part about working with nonprofits is how much we can learn from each other. I learn from their questions every day. I am blown away with how smart people at nonprofits are, and how committed they […]
Book Review: ‘Responsive Fundraising’
I recently read the book “Responsive Fundraising: The Donor-Centric Framework Helping Today’s Leading Nonprofits Grow Giving,” written by Virtuous CRM’s Gabe Cooper, founder and CEO, and Mckenna Bailey, sr. content marketing strategist. It’s an easy read, and it follows a lot of what I just read in John Haydon’s book, “Donor CARE.” It’s about connection. It’s about […]
Book Review: ‘Donor CARE’ by the late John Haydon
What a tremendous legacy John Haydon left us with his book, “Donor CARE: How to Keep Donors Coming Back After the First Gift.” Sadly, Haydon passed away earlier this year. While I never had a chance to meet him in person, we did talk by phone a few times. He had an amazing following with thousands of […]
How to Improve Your Online & Monthly Giving Donation Processes
I just bought my 2021-day runner filler. Yes, I’m still one of the ‘old fashioned’ people who uses a paper planner. It just helps me get organized during chaos and writing things down helps me remember! I sure hope that next year will bring some more travel again. Because that’s what I love the most. […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Update Your Monthly Receipt Emails
If you have a monthly giving program, chances are your processor sends a gift confirmation email every month. What happens when, what the receipt looks like and how much you can control depends on the system. In some cases, the monthly email looks like a receipt. In other cases, you can customize it and add […]
