It can be really frustrating…

You’re passionate about your cause and you know your nonprofit is doing much needed work.

But others just don’t seem to get it!

For some reason they’re not moved. They don’t see how amazing your nonprofit is and they won’t take action.

It makes you crazy and you get angry with them. You wonder,

“What is wrong with them! What is their problem? How can they not care!?”

I hear this alot.

I see it said all the time on LinkedIn groups for nonprofit fundraisers and people send me email after email filled with the same frustration.

I get it. I understand why it’s so frustrating.

But what I’m often most surprised by when I start working with these fundraisers is that they are not able to answer a very simple question.

I say simple, but don’t let that fool you. It’s actually quite a complex process to arrive at a good answer to this question.

But the question is simple (and obvious) and it’s asked by everyone that sees or hears your appeal for donations.

And if you don’t have a clear and compelling answer to this question then people are not going to “get it!” and, I would argue, it’s not their fault.

If you’ve ever felt the frustration of people “just not getting it!” and you’re not sure what to do about it then read on.

I’ll tell you what this simple question is that you (and everyone that works at your nonprofit) needs to be able to answer and I’ll provide a few tips to help you arrive at your answer.

Then you’ll never have to deal with these frustrating people ever again! [click to continue…]

There’s a lot of pressure when it comes to writing a fundraising ask.

You have to say the right words, tell the right story, give the right evidence, etc, etc.

It can be daunting.

And I’ve seen many people paralyzed by the pressure.

“Should I say it this way? Does this make sense? Do you think this will work? Maybe I should do more research…”

Well, to help relieve some of this pressure and keep you from getting stuck, here are two quick and easy ways to improve your fundraising ask. [click to continue…]

Are you currently in the process of writing a story for your nonprofit?

If so, I’d like to you to take a moment and ask yourself this question…

“What is it you want this story to achieve?”

Do you want this story to move people to donate?

Or do you want this story to inform your audience about your mission?

Do you want this story to get more likes on your Facebook page?

Or do you want this story to inspire people to volunteer?

These are all valid reasons to tell a story…

But if you are writing a story for your nonprofit and you have not yet articulated exactly what it is you want this story to achieve then you are undermining the effectiveness of your story.

All too often nonprofits fail to articulate the primary purpose of their story, even if it is just to themselves.

And this actually prevents them from telling the story well and undermines what the story can achieve.

Put simply, if you don’t know what you want your audience to do after listening to your story then they’re not going to know what to do either.

Let’s look at three ways in which the intention of your story impacts how you tell the story and why it matters. [click to continue…]

One of the most important questions we must struggle with as fundraisers is this:

“Why do people choose to give?”

It’s important that we return to this question often.

And it’s glaringly obvious when I see appeals for donations from fundraisers who have not spent sufficient time considering this question.

I’ll share an example with you in a second…

But first I want to emphasize why it’s so important to spend time reflecting on this question.

To ignore this question is detrimental to effective and sustainable fundraising campaigns.

It should be the first question we ask every time we sit down to write a new request for donations.

And it should be the question top-of-mind when we participate in the review of our nonprofit’s appeals.

Our job is to put ourselves in the shoes of our potential donors and truly understand what it is that will get them to take action in support of our cause.

What is it they’re after?

Why would they choose to give their hard earned money?

These questions are at the heart of everything we do.

Ignore these questions and you’ll never achieve the full potential of your fundraising efforts.

And even though there are lots of reasons why people choose to give, they all have one very big thing in common…

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s take a quick look at an example of appeal language that has forgotten to consider this question and then we’ll explore why people give and what it means for you… [click to continue…]

You know that feeling you get?

You feel it right in your gut…

You’ve happened upon a new idea and on the surface it makes perfect sense…

It might even be brilliant.

So you championed the idea and got the nod to move forward.

But then…

Right there…

In your gut…

Doubt creeps in. [click to continue…]

Major gift prospects are hard to find.

And once you do find them it takes quite a bit of work to build the relationship necessary to earn that first major gift.

That’s why it’s so important to have a major gift donor retention strategy.

Sure, they’ve made a substantial investment in your organization…

But that by itself is not enough to guarantee they’ll stick around.

You’ve invested too much time and energy to earn that first major gift donation to let them walk away.

Below are three tips that will help you retain major gift donors.

Make sure you take the time to think through the best way for your nonprofit to apply them and be sure to incorporate each of them into your major gift donor retention strategy. [click to continue…]

Are you trying to build a list of active and engaged email subscribers for your nonprofit?

Is your website generating the amount of leads that you’ve been hoping for?

Or do you keep coming up empty-handed?

Are you scratching your head wondering what you’re doing wrong?

From my experience there are two BIG reasons why people don’t subscribe to your email list.

And if you fix just these two things you’ll be amazed at how many more people subscribe.

Let’s look at each and see if you’re making the same mistakes. [click to continue…]