Category Archives for FRM Main Category


What Makes your Case Credible?

The Marketplace Perspective Together with sufficient prospects and volunteers, a compelling case for support is generally considered indispensable to a successful capital campaign – or any other major gift fundraising activity. Most experienced fundraisers can easily give you a clear definition of the case for support. But, ask someone to define what makes the case […]

On Second Thought: Use Your Donors to Write the Case

We’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: the donor’s perspective is essential to the case for support. When you initiate the preparation of your case, you should involve key members of your organizational family and your best donor prospects in the process. In doing so, you are not only working to identify the unique […]

8 Elements of an Effective Case for Support

When the time comes to review the first draft of the case, what should you look for? Based on our experience, an effective case for support should: Maintain the donor’s perspective and reflect the values, interests, and aspirations of prospective donors and volunteers. Build upon the strengths, accomplishments, and capabilities of the institution, rather than […]

On Second Thought: Is Development Too Good for Marketing?

When we try to explain the marketplace perspective and its application to fundraising, we’re sometimes challenged by those who believe that the high-minded pursuit of philanthropy should not be contaminated by the crass business of marketing.  Is development too good for marketing? From this point of view, marketing is little more than a euphemism for […]

Positioning Your Campaign for Success

Recently, we hear more and more funders hoping that local nonprofit organizations will collaborate with each other more often and more substantially. In some situations collaboration between two independent groups makes sense for the good of the community, but not always for the nonprofit organizations. Whatever one’s perspective is on the issue of collaboration, it […]

Five Essential Campaign Marketing Principles

Are you working to position your fundraising campaign for success?  If so, make sure that you are employing the five essential campaign marketing principles: 1. Design for people. Today’s winning campaigns are successful because of the people involved — the campaign leadership, volunteers, and donors. Any marketing materials used in your campaign should be designed […]

Marketing to Attract Donor Investment

Too many nonprofit organizations operate on the assumption that the greater their need — and the more they talk about it or “sell it” — the stronger their fundraising appeal will be and the more money they will raise. We must realize that simply being “for the social good” is no longer good enough. Today, […]

Define and Promote the Value You Provide

You should never assume that people understand exactly what your organization does – its mission, purpose, constituency, people, programs, performance, plans, etc. In our consulting work, we see time and again that the public’s perception of an organization can lag years behind the reality, even among well-informed community leaders. To most effectively present your organization […]

Find Out What They Really Think Before You Plan!

What is the first step you should take to move your nonprofit organization to a higher level of performance and effectiveness, especially in fundraising and development? If your first thought is strategic planning, then you have a lot of company. Among the organizations we serve, many have embarked on some kind of strategic planning exercise […]

What is Branding?

Branding seeks to identify and express the competency that distinguishes your organization. The brand evokes the essence of what your organization is, what it does, and what it stands for. The intent is to create or reinforce, in the minds of your constituents, a powerful bond with the organization and/or program. For a nonprofit organization, […]