#fundchat Topics — 11 comments
15
May 12

Guerrilla Marketing: Innovative (And Cheap!) Ways to Get the Word Out

Transcript Now Available!

If you are like most nonprofits, your marketing budget is not just meager, it’s probably non-existent.

Despite the fact that you lack the resources to really “do marketing,” your organization needs to get the word out about your mission and the resources you need to deliver on that mission to the people that you serve. In the 1990s, Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term, “guerrilla marketing,” which simply put, means using unconventional and unorthodox means to get the word out. He since turned the idea into an industry unto itself, and even wrote a book specific to the challenges faced by nonprofits.

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#fundchat Topics — 3 comments
08
May 12

Time To Give Up On Giving Societies?

Transcript now available.

We all know how it’s supposed to work:

  1. We get a first-time gift from a donor and welcome them into the Founders Club.
  2. Next year we ask them to increase their giving to become a member of the Advocates Club.
  3. After a personal visit from the president, you ask them to increase their giving yet again and join the President’s Club.

Step-by-step, you have successfully navigated that donor through the various levels of giving, increasing their general support over a relatively short period of time.

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#fundchat Topics — 5 comments
01
May 12

Engaging & Energizing Your “Regular” Donors

Click here for the transcript.

As fundraisers, we are always looking for the next donor. Sometimes we forget that the next donor is the same one that is supporting your organization right now.

This week’s #fundchat is all about engaging your current donors; getting them energized and keeping them connected to your organization to improve retention, encouraging increased giving levels or additional gifts, and to turn them into evangelists for your cause.

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Guest Posts — 5 comments
25
Apr 12

Succession Planning: Preparing NPOs for the Future

Guest Post by Ian M. Adair

We are entering into a time of great change concerning nonprofit leadership, but are CEOs/EDs and boards preparing for the executive exodus that is sure to come over the next couple of years? I believe that retention and succession are two sides of the same coin.

The debate starts with two questions:

  1. If a succession plan were in place and professional development made available would retention be so high in the nonprofit sector?
  2. Keeping in mind the priorities of different generational groups, how can nonprofits prepare for the next wave of leadership coming in (or moving up) to run them.

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Guest Posts — 7 comments
20
Apr 12

Fundraisers are from Mars, Communicators are from Venus?

Guest Post By Rick J. Blount.

I once sat at a conference with some friends who, like me, directed medical school communications shops. We were listening to a panel of alumni magazine editors discuss the challenge of covering development news without “compromising the editorial integrity” of the magazine.

One editor said, “My Granddaddy had a saying: You don’t use your Cadillac to haul your trash.”

We nearly leapt out of our chairs to make the point that we wouldn’t be driving shiny “editorial Cadillacs” if our Deans and Presidents didn’t think donor dollars would justify such an investment.

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#fundchat Topics — 1 comment
15
Apr 12

Disaster-Proof Direct Mail

Photo by vice48sr5005

Transcript Now Available!

You write the copy, you prep the lists, and then you wait eagerly by the mailbox for the donations to arrive, right?

But then you see it: a typo in the first paragraph that you read a million times. The phone rings: it’s the post office saying they are holding the mailing until your bulk mail account has enough money to cover your biggest mailing of the year. Once the letter is out the door, a longtime donor decides to make their gift online, but the URL you included in the postscript is a big old 404.

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#fundchat Topics — 2 comments
09
Apr 12

Best Practices in Prospect Research

ResearchTranscript now available!

Your success as a nonprofit fundraiser hinges on one key ingredient: information.

Whether you have a dedicated research team, can afford commercial screening products, or are a one-person shop, then you’ll want to join #fundchat on Wednesday, April 11 from 12 pm – 1 pm EDT for a conversation about, “Best Practices in Prospect Research.”

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#fundchat Topics — 7 comments
30
Mar 12

Finding New Friends: The Art & Science of Acquisition

Transcript now available.

Scroll to see results of donor acquisition poll.

Without question, one of the most difficult aspects of fundraising is finding new friends and converting them into donors to your organization. There are many tools at our disposal: direct mail, events, telemarketing, peer-to-peer, and just straight-up cold calling. But it seems like the landscape is changing right under our feet with the acceleration of crowd-funding models and the impact of social media.

Let’s put our heads together on Wednesday, April 4 at 12 p.m. for a #fundchat conversation about “Finding New Friends: The Art & Science of Acquisition.”

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#fundchat Topics — 1 comment
28
Mar 12

Perfecting Your Pitch: Advice for Grant Seekers

Transcript now available!

our main objective with potential donors is to connect their interests with a specific project or service that your organization provides.

Is your approach with foundations so different?

Tune-in to #fundchat on Wednesday, March 28 at 12 p.m. for “Perfecting Your Pitch: Advice for Grant Seekers.” It’s an opportunity to discuss – with other nonprofit professionals – best practices in preparing, submitting, and following up on grant applications and requests.

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#fundchat Topics — 5 comments
19
Mar 12

The Reluctant Leader: How to Engage Your CEO in Fundraising

Transcript now available!

The nonprofit world is full of bright, engaged CEOs who “get” fundraising and development…and then there are the rest.

Do this sound like your CEO? Wary of fundraising, full of trepidation when it comes to meeting with donors, pushing back on every single suggestion you make for cultivation strategies…

Join the #fundchat community for a conversation about “The Reluctant Leader: How to Engage Your CEO in Fundraising,” on Wednesday, March 21, from 12 – 1 pm EDT.

Please help spread the word about this topic with your friends and followers on social media. Also, share your ideas for questions on the topic for the community to discuss during the chat in the comments section below.

Many thanks to #fundchat community member @rjbvermont for suggesting this week’s topic!

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