Messaging is a powerful skill set for nonprofit staff, boards, and volunteers. If we want community members to engage in our mission, volunteers to serve, and donors to increase giving, we must first give them more. Strategic messaging has the power to motivate people into action. As fundraisers, it is easy to develop “asking tunnel vision.” But at the end of the day, we are asking other people to volunteer time or part with their hard-earned money. How do we pair direct mail opportunities and best practices with a powerful message to build organizational capacity and stability?
donors
Do you feel like your current donors are getting “burned out?” Are you ready to expand your support base through direct mail campaigns? If you answered “yes” to either of the questions above, join Funding for Good for the dos and don’ts of direct mail campaigns.
Effective fundraising is the lifeblood of any nonprofit, and it all starts with a compelling message that resonates with your supporters. This presentation goes beyond the basics, focusing on three key elements:
Fundraising in Tough Times (Standford Social Innovation Review) outlines ways organizations can minimize the impacts of economically/financially lean times and preserve their capacity for renewed growth once economic conditions improve.
First Day is a podcast from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy aimed at development profressionals. "Highlighting current news and research, this weekly 10 minute podcast provides fundraisers with the latest information in fundraising and philanthropy."
A good ask is a work of art that anyone can master. In this session, you’ll learn the tactics of a successful solicitation – in person or virtually. Working in small teams, participants will role play with real-life donor scenarios, developing a solicitation script and gift proposal, making the ask, dealing with objections, and following up the ask. This session will also cover the solicitation outline, ideal ask amount, and follow-up donor stewardship that can lead to additional and larger gifts.
This Nonprofit Learning Lab resource entitled, Creating & Sustaining a Major Gifts Fundraising Campaign, details how to build a donor pipeline and identify major gift prospects; how to cultivate donors for major gifts and “make the ask"; and offers appropriate stewardship steps to take once a donor has made a major gift.
With the number of donors on the decline, many nonprofits increasingly rely on a smaller and more affluent circle of supporters to meet their fundraising goals. The importance and influence of high net worth donors has never been more significant.
Articles in a two part series discuss the legal and risk implications of seeking charitable contributions during the giving season. They can also give the reader some idea of how to address the recent trend of institutional funders asking their grantees to describe general and project-specific risk management strategies in their reports or proposals. (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
In Fall 2012, Charity Dynamics and NTEN partnered to develop a first-of-its-kind donor engagement survey, which sought to understand how people prefer to engage with nonprofits across traditional and digital media. The results of the study unequivocally clarify the importance of being a donor's #1 nonprofit of choice: Nonprofits that establish themselves as a donor's favorite charity are more likely to receive greater support from the donor—not just in terms of financial contributions, but also through sharing information, volunteering, event participation, and issue advocacy.