We at The Collins Group spend our professional lives advising clients on best practices to communicate with donors. Yet writing an appeal letter for a personal cause remains an incredibly challenging fundraising effort. It seems like it should be easy formula. Worthy cause? Check. Admirable organization? Check. Compelling human element? Check. A + B + [...]
Last week, Julie and I joined about 75 nonprofit professionals at an NDOA event for a recap of last year’s Seattle Foundation GiveBIG event on June 23rd, and received a sneak preview of GiveBIG 2012. In case you missed it, GiveBIG was a city-wide day of philanthropy last June where people were asked to donate [...]
The Social Media for Nonprofits Conference, on a national whirlwind tour, swept through Seattle just over a week ago and hurled a vast amount of sensible advice and provocative ideas at its rapt audience. You weren’t able to attend? The tour participants were kind enough to share their slides publicly. I strongly encourage you to [...]
Next Thursday, June 23rd, King County residents are invited to make donations to local nonprofits through The Seattle Foundation’s website for our community’s first charitable giving day “GiveBIG.” A share of every contribution will be matched with a “stretch pool” of funds provided by The Seattle Foundation and GiveBIG supporters. I can’t wait to see [...]
Your event is over. It was an amazing night filled with great conversations, delicious food and wine, and a stunning presentation, and you raised $15K over goal! Congratulations! Now what do you do? After the event: When will a first-time donor hear from you next? Both technology and old-fashioned people power make it possible for [...]
Continuing from my “Before the Event” post yesterday, here are three simple questions to consider for expectations at the event itself. At the event: How will your board members and event volunteers greet the guests? First-time guests may arrive knowing only the person who invited them. In addition to formal greeters, ask volunteer leadership to [...]
Table captains are calling. Mailboxes overflow with invitations. Whether your organization’s big event is a month beh ind you or a month away, ask yourself the following questions to ensure that you are maximizing revenue and building awareness about your mission with new supporters. With thoughtful strategies in place, this event is the first step to turning a new [...]
This is counsel I always provide to my clients. Too often when crafting donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies, nonprofits focus on the husband, brother, uncle, or father. When the wife, sister, aunt, or mother is considered, it is usually as a secondary player or one who can “work behind the scenes” to help forward [...]
If we want to raise the bar for philanthropy here in the Northwest, I’m beginning to think that the place we must start with is a wholesale upgrade to the management skills of the leaders within our nonprofit organizations. I know too many executives who are simply resigned to the high turnover rates of their [...]
This past weekend I attended the Land Trust Alliance Rally – an annual, multi-day conference filled with seminars, field trips, receptions, and speakers. Rally 2010 continues this week in Hartford, CT and has brought together about 1,800 board members, staff, and other experts dedicated to the work of land protection throughout the country. I attended [...]
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