Effective Fundraising Techniques

1. Be Kind. 2. Be Courteous and Compassionate. 3. Listen to the Donor! When asking people for large amounts of money, it’s crucial to follow proper fundraising etiquette. As development professionals, we must have a great deal of poise, polish, and tact. We have very personal discussions with prospects about very significant investments in our…

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Upgrade Your Campaign Executive Committee Meetings

Your campaign executive committee is the heart and soul of your capital campaign. Keeping these volunteers informed, inspired, motivated, and enthusiastic can make or break your campaign effort. Read on to learn how you can ensure that your campaign meetings are interesting, informative, productive, and positive. How to Improve Your Campaign Executive Committee Meetings At…

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Major Gift Calls: Get What You Came For

What should you do when someone gives you $250,000? Well, that depends on who it is, how much was asked of them, and why they gave it to you! The answer to this question varies with the circumstances surrounding this major gift call. Obviously, no matter what the circumstances, you want to thank this person…

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Garnering Major Gifts

It’s very common to find that more than 75% of all funds raised in a capital campaign come from major gifts, or contributions of $25,000 and above. A steadfast focus on major gifts is the hallmark of a successful capital campaign, and a strategy that yields rich dividends far beyond the campaign’s life. The Pareto…

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Friends Soliciting Friends – Is Close Ever too Close?

When it comes to soliciting friends or family for gifts, is close ever too close? It is a regretful, but well established observation that we tend to underestimate those people to whom we are the closest. We are more keenly aware of their strengths (publicly exhibited) and their weakness (often hidden). We know more of…

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Fostering Workplace Philanthropy

Surveys show that nonprofit organizations that are successful at fundraising fully embrace the value of philanthropy. They include it as part of their organizational culture. They understand it to mean more than simply “raising money.” They consider their volunteers to be part of the mechanism needed to fundraise, and they also view their employees in…

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The Forensics of Fundraising: Study, Research, and Analysis

My youngest daughter is a big fan of crime scene investigation shows. She tries to solve the mystery before the solution is revealed at the end of the show. While watching television with her one night, it occurred to me that fundraising was a lot like crime scene investigations, except, of course, for the corpses…

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