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Fundraising PLAYBOOK: Is Your Biggest Fundraising Hurdle Your Organization’s Name, Look, or Messaging?
Is the name or look of your organization actually KEEPING you from raising funds?
I’m serious.
Years ago I was serving with a nonprofit and sat in on a board meeting. I heard the strangest thing - it actually stopped me dead in my tracks.
There were a number of board members mispronouncing the name of the organization. Yes, mispronouncing the name of the nonprofit board they were sitting on.
The THREE Nonprofit Misconceptions COVID-19 Proved Should End
How are things at your organization? If you’re panicking about fundraising, worried about the future, and not sure which steps to take next, you’re certainly not alone. Across the country and around the world, nonprofits are working out how to pursue their missions and keep paying bills during this very uncertain time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us a lot about ourselves, from our preparedness to gaps in our healthcare system. For nonprofits, it’s shown three major misconceptions that we simply can’t take into the future with us.
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How Serena raised 37% Budget in December alone (and that’s not the best part)
What does it take to raise $250K from individual donors during the last 30 days of the year?
To answer that, we have to ask my LET’S GROW student Serena, who raised 56% of her $670K budget in December 2019 alone.
Wow! One quarter into her fiscal year and she was already more than halfway to her budget.
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How Anthony Got His Nonprofit Board to Raise Money
“My board doesn’t understand they are supposed to fundraise.”
It’s one of the most common phrases I hear from Executive Directors, typically followed by:
“Our board is too small.”
“We don’t have the right people on our board.”
“We’re a working-board, not a fundraising-board.”
The Executive Director then sighs, as if the discussion is over, they’re just cursed, and there’s nothing to do about it.
There’s a lot to do about it.
I’ve seen small boards, boards with challenging people on them, and working-boards be amazing at fundraising.
What’s the secret? A different, and better approach to board fundraising.
2020: A New Decade of Fundraising Goals (Summed up in a Countdown of Ten Songs from my Favorite Decade - the 80s)
I graduated high school in 1993, so I spent my elementary and middle school years in all the glory of the ’80s. There I was, dolled up in tights and alternating between perms and feathered hair.
Do you remember getting those deals in the mail where if you purchased 3 records then you could get 10 more for a penny each (or was that just in Iowa)? It was the thrill of my life when that came in the mail - and a bigger thrill when my mom let me order from the catalog! To top it all off, my best friend had a record player that lit up when you played the record. She had the Go-Go’s album, so life was amazing!
Here we are, heading into a new decade and I’m feeling a little nostalgic. January 1 can be a little overwhelming for nonprofit fundraisers. I know. You’ve got to climb that hill again and raise even more money next year. But, when you have a step-by-step plan in place to pivot from all those small-dollar donations into a diverse, mid- and major-level gift portfolio then you can truly grow!
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How My Student Raised 3X Money of Her Annual Gala Goal (by moving her event donors to annual donors)
If your gala raised 3X more than it ever had, what’s the first thing you’d do?
Seriously, what would you do?
Hire staff so that you can serve more people?
Open a larger facility closer to the people who NEED YOU?
Launch a new program to serve people in a greater way?
Finally pay yourself and your staff a living wage salary so you could dedicate your full attention to those you serve?
It’s not an idle question. It’s very, very likely that you’re leaving money on the table at your annual event, and I’m here to show you how to transform your gala, build better donor relationships, and secure larger donations that reach your organization’s true need.
Fundraising For Orphan Care and Vulnerable Children
In my last post, I told you about the Global Orphan Crisis, and the fundraising challenges facing nonprofits who serve these vulnerable children. So what’s an orphan care organization to do? How do you get fully funded, so you can truly pursue your mission?
Orphan Care Awareness Month
It’s November. And in the world of #nonprofits, that means it’s Orphan Care Awareness Month. This is a charge among global organizations led by CAFO which culminated on November 10th with #orphansunday in churches all across America.
Here’s why this is important to me (I’m getting personal, here)…
3 More Beliefs That Keep Nonprofits From Growing
“What’s keeping you from growing your nonprofit’s funding?”
That was the first question on a survey I conducted before I spoke at a workshop for nonprofit Executive Directors earlier this year. I wasn’t surprised by the answers--they were the same things I hear from leaders all over the country running big and small organizations.
Can you guess what the top answer was?
“Not enough time.”
It’s a puzzle, and you won’t grow until you solve it.
Diversify Your Nonprofit Funding The Right Way
“What’s keeping you from growing your nonprofit’s funding?”
That was the first question on a survey I conducted before I spoke at a workshop for nonprofit Executive Directors earlier this year. I wasn’t surprised by the answers--they were the same things I hear from leaders all over the country running big and small organizations.
Can you guess what the top answer was?
“Not enough time.”
I’ve been there. It’s a real Catch-22:
You need more help, staff, and resources to grow. But to get more help, staff, and resources, you need more donors and larger donations.
I love volunteers . . . I really do!
I love volunteers - when I started in nonprofit years ago I was that volunteer working a 50-hour-a-week corporate job who went home and worked another “full-time job” by volunteering for a nonprofit. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it - but I was super passionate about the mission (and single at the time!). Better yet, there were probably 10-15 other core volunteers working alongside the team - their energy really catapulted the mission and organization through those initial sticky start-up processes and early years.
But, once the organization was fully up and running with a few full-time staff members, I found it increasingly harder to use volunteers. There were timing issues, not-quite-the best-fit issues, and areas where well-meaning volunteers lacked expertise. I struggled with this - aren’t nonprofits built off the backs of volunteers?
Quick-fix fundraising? It’s time to invest your energy elsewhere.
The ways, means, and methods you can fundraise in 2019 are endless, aren’t they?
We have it all.
The campaigns and peer activism are creative and never-ending: give-your-birthday, Mother’s day, grow a beard, have a garage sale, bake sale, run a really long distance, create art and give proceeds, host a dinner party, host an “un-event” where nobody comes, organize a board-game night, plan a casino night, 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, and eating contests (oh my!)...and then we must not forget the ice-bucket challenge.