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The Best Way to Get Ready for the Year-End Giving Season

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Is your non-profit ready for the year-end giving season?  The average non-profit raises well over a third of its revenue during the final two months of the year.  Are you ready to claim your share of those year-end donations? If you’d like to learn how to supercharge your year-end fundraising, then I invite you to […]

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The Simple Fundraising Recipe that Works for Every Non-Profit

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Good recipes are a road map to a desired outcome.  Do you want to eat a homemade load of bread?  Follow these 10 steps, and you’ll have one in a couple of hours. Recipes can be easy or hard.  They can take practice and require tinkering.  But once someone develops a good recipe, anyone should […]

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7 Great Online Tools for Non-Profit Fundraisers

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Never before have non-profit fundraisers had access to so many resources to help them achieve their goals.  Gone are the days when the only fundraising tools available to organizations were a couple of out-of-date books at the library and a clunky CRM system that was really designed for sales companies. Today, non-profits have access to […]

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Putting Your Major Donors to Work Can Help You Raise More Money

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I want to tell you a quick story about a donor I worked with several years ago while I was on the staff of a non-profit.  This person was a very large donor to the organization… he and his business had given hundreds of thousands to the non-profit over the years. The organization had done […]

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Watch Out!  Your Non-Profit Could be Missing a Pot of Gold

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Lots of times, people (and non-profits) don’t see the true value of what they have.  They take things for granted, and underestimate the capacity of the people they are closest to. Here’s an example: for decades, the United States Postal Service was pretty disparaging about junk mail.   They had to tolerate it, but most of […]

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How to Market Planned Giving for Your Non-Profit

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When it comes to planned giving, many non-profits simply don’t focus on it.  (This is mistake… every non-profit can and should be running a planned giving program.  For more on why, read Four Common Planned Giving Myths Busted). For those organizations that are running a planned giving program, many simply put a note on their website and […]

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What it Takes to Raise $100,000 for Your Non-Profit

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I often talk with non-profit fundraisers who say things like, “we need to raise an extra $50,000 this year, so we’re adding an event.”  Or, “our budget increased by $72,000 this year, so we’re going to run an online giving campaign.” These ideas may or may not be the right way to go, depending on […]

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The Anatomy of an Effective Fundraising Letter

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Guest Post by Clay Boggess from Big Fundraising Ideas You believe strongly in your cause; however it won’t amount to much unless you can instill that same passion in your potential donors. Getting your point across is important, but it’s not always easy. That’s where understanding how to write an effective fundraising letter comes into […]

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5 Great Silent Auction Ideas for Your Next Event

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Guest Post by Zach Hagopian from Accelevents You’ve decided to use a silent auction at your fundraiser… before finalizing plans, you will first need to collect amazing silent auction items to sell at your event. Great silent auction items will not only help you attract a larger donor base for your event, but will also create some […]

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The Power of Positive Donor Communications  

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Over the past month I’ve received one fundraising letter and two fundraising e-mails that attempted to shame me into making a gift. One asked why I hadn’t given in the past. One told me all of the sad things that were going to happen if I didn’t donate.  And one hinted that doing nothing (by […]

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The Best Non-Profit Fundraising Blogs and Websites of 2016

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I spend a lot of time reading fundraising blogs.  I love to learn new fundraising strategies, research best practices, and figure out new tactics to ensure that the non-profits I am working with are able to raise as much money as possible and help as many people as they can. Your non-profit does great work. […]

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Don’t Fall Into the Trap of the Shiny New Fundraising Thing

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Modern fundraisers are bombarded with marketing messages, sales pitches, and ideas for new fundraising strategies.  I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of possibilities, tactics, and products available to non-profit development teams. When I first became a Development Director, I was shocked by the number of letters, e-mails […]

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The Best Ways to Identify a Planned Giving Prospect for Your Non-Profit

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Guest Post by Ryan Woroniecki from DonorSearch A planned giving prospect is a donor who makes preparations in the present to donate money to a nonprofit in the future, either through a trust or will. While most planned giving donations are made through a will and are monetary in nature, donors can also plan to […]

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Fundraising Authority Podcast #28: Quick Rules for Successful Silent Auctions

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Silent auctions can be a very effective way to raise many for non-profits… but they can also be time consuming and stressful if they’re not done the right way. In today’s podcast, we go over eight quick rules for more successful silent auctions, and show you how to keep your event organized and profitable.  For even […]

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The Four Key Fundraising Roles of Your Board of Directors

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Far too many non-profit fundraisers approach board fundraising as if they have boards full of movers and shakers who know how to raise money, even when that’s not the case. These fundraisers and non-profit managers get annoyed and frustrated with their boards, which doesn’t help anyone, including the organization itself.  Acting like your board is […]

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The Best Tips for Amazing Non-Profit Newsletters (Non-Profit Blog Carnival)

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Donor newsletters (both snail mail and e-mail) provide the foundation for many non-profits’ donor communications strategies.  Newsletters help organizations build better relationships with their donors and prospects, and keep supporters informed about the programs, activities, and successes of their favorite charitable organizations. Lots of non-profits send out newsletters, but for many organizations the newsletter is […]

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