‘Dear Skippy …’
Imagine a school fundraising letter so personlized that it contains a quote not from just any teacher at the school, but rather from your child’s teacher. Or both your children’s different teachers. A letter that also went to the...
Accentuate the Actions
Responding to our invitation in the February issue of FundRaising Success, Lacy Ward Jr., executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates of Central Virginia, an organization that advocates for abused and neglected children in court, requested that her organization’s...
Talking Back
What has been your organization’s major challenge when it comes to soliciting major gifts? — FS Advisor, March 14...
Don’t Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Best Friends Animal Society, located in the heart of southern Utah’s golden circle of National Parks, is home to as many as 1,500 dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and other animals. For the past 10 years, the organization had been...
A Major Plus for Major Gifts
Many organizations have successfully used the Internet for direct-response and special-events fundraising, but few have tapped its potential for major giving. The question nonprofit professionals should ask is whether online marketing and constituent relationship management can support major-donor identification...
Thou Shalt Not …
The Seven Commandments of Planned Giving highlight areas to avoid as we interact with donors and ask for planned gifts. By reviewing each commandment, you can develop a road map to assist you as you navigate through the perils of...
Feuding for Free E-mail
For a few months now, you’ve been hearing about plans by companies such as AOL and Yahoo! to apply a new business model to Internet communications to afford e-mail senders a secure way to communicate with potential customers. Goodmail recently...
Keep It Clean
If you’re a fundraising professional spending a huge chunk of your organization’s precious development budget on direct mail, these figures should make you sleep a little less soundly tonight....
Seriously Innovative
It sounds like something out of a movie. Hot on the trail of pirate fishermen illegally casting nets off the coast of West Africa in April, activists aboard Greenpeace vessel The Esperanza overtook the ship and occupied its mast and...
Turning the Tables
Maybe it’s because FS readers are more accustomed to being the askers than the ask-ees, but I’m just having the darndest time getting what I want from you folks. And I’m not even asking for money! What I want...
Vetting for Value
The question was simple and direct: “What’s the best way to evaluate our fundraising programs for efficiency and effectiveness?” The questioner was a nonprofit fundraising executive who had a wealth of experience and an impressive track record of success....
Queer Eye for the Straight Organization
“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Ellen,” “The L-Word,” “TransAmerica,” “Brokeback Mountain” — clearly lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders are more visible in our country’s culture than ever before. More than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies include sexual orientation...
Give What You Can
Every gift matters. That was the message the greater Chicago Food Depository got across to donors as it undertook its recent capital campaign, which hinged on the tagline, "Give What You Can." ...
