The Big(ger) Picture
"Don't send money to Japan." Depending on how you word it, you get anywhere from 3,000 to 8 million results for a Google search of that concept. Some are people complaining that Americans give too much overseas and not enough...
Take Action Now!
Advocacy is a powerful strategy for making progress on your issues. It's also a powerful tactic for finding new donors. By giving people the opportunity to engage in your work and join with others to build a better world, you...
Are You Sending Too Much Mail?
The most common complaint donors make about fundraising? Too much mail! Right? Do those too-much-mail complaints stab you in the heart because you're afraid they might be correct? Well, they are correct. It's not possible for them to be...
Making an Ask? Get R.E.A.L.
Fundraising consultant Marc Pitman , publisher of fundraising coach.com , is a fan of keeping it real. His book, " Ask Without Fear! " is based on the acronym R.E.A.L....
Roll the Stone (of Mediocrity) Away
Some organizations seem trapped in a sisyphean cycle of not just making mistakes but repeating the same mistakes again and again. So how do you work at becoming a learning organization? Here's my checklist of five characteristics drawing on Senge's...
A Compelling Case for Monthly Giving
I rarely receive monthly giving invitations by mail, but that's not surprising since many nonprofits find telemarketing yields much better results, at least until they can afford to try direct-response television. But one of those organizations is including direct mail...
Measures of (Social-Media) Success
Your social-media plan — if you have one — should consist of goal-setting, implementation and measuring, among other things. That last part, metrics, frequently is overlooked, partly because the tools for measuring are still maturing and partly because there's no...
Op-Ed: Nonprofits and the Federal Budget Crisis
Two seemingly disparate developments spur this writing. One is the fiscal disaster that is the United States Postal Service and the other is the unprecedented attack on the deductibility of charitable donations. I see these as related and stemming from...
