Monthly Giving Programs Are Like Eating Your Veggies
Recently, I was on Facebook Live with a colleague, and we were discussing some tips for growing monthly gifts. The question of why so many nonprofits are still hesitating about introducing monthly giving to their donors came up. It’s still a real mystery to me. It made me think of my childhood. My mom and […]
2021 Forecast for Direct Response Fundraising
Written by Abby Graff and posted on January 27, 2021 by The NonProfit Alliance. Lots of great predictions for this year. Curious about the fundraising forecast for 2021? For this week’s blog post, we reached out to the ADRFCO network (Association of Direct Response Fundraising Counsel) and asked “2020 was a once-in-a-lifetime year, where […]
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 […]
Book Review: ’10 Simple Fundraising Lessons’

Over the holidays, I took some time to finish a few books in my stack of fundraising books to read. Trust me, I learn something every time, and I’ve been raising funds for years. Cover image of “10 Simple Fundraising Lessons” by Jim Eskin | Credit: Amazon Jim Eskin wrote a book on simple fundraising lessons, and […]
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! […]
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 […]
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 […]