Category Archives for Marketing & Communications


Covid-19 Week 5: Zoom in on better etiquette when video conferencing

It is the second day of week five in Covid-19 Fundraising, and like you we visited with family and friends over the past weekend via video conferencing to share Easter/Passover Holiday greetings.  We’ve also been using Zoom for virtual happy hour with friends and colleagues over these past weeks, and it is becoming clear that […]

Adapting Your Case for Support of the Arts

Here is an excellent blog post that will help any arts organization refine and adapt their case for support during these unprecedented times brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. This well organized article can help development professionals adapt the messaging of their arts organizations to our radically and rapidly changing environment. Fundraisers need to remain […]

Fundraising is not like Sales…or is it?

Many, many years ago when serving our local AFP (then NSFRE) Chapter as Education and Program Committee Chair, I arranged for a “sales coach” to make the monthly luncheon presentation. People were aghast! What in the world can development officers possibly learn from a ruthless, profit-driven salesman? Granted, fundraising is quite a bit different from […]

Words Nonprofits Should Avoid – 2018 Edition

We laughed at first and then we winced.  Yes, the truth hurts.  If one is being honest with themselves, we’ve all done it.  We’ve all used pointless, undefinable, filler words that help the author complete a task, yet do nothing to actually communicate our point, nor help the reader.  Big Duck has come out with […]

Example: How to Use Pronouns in Fundraising

We talk a lot about the proper use of pronouns in fundraising communications and fundraising appeals.  Our perspective is based on trying to demonstrate that the nonprofit organization is donor centered.  In some circles this is referred to as adopting the marketplace perspective.  There was a very high profile example today of how to do […]

Shouldn't Everyone Start with their Elevator Speech?

We don’t think so. In his recent article, “The Pitch is Dead. Long Live the Conversation,” Kevin Starr gives a wonderful testimony for why relationship-based fundraising appeals are better than the sales minded approach typified by the elevator speech. Sure enough, fundraisers can learn a great deal from the adroit professional salesman, but few will […]

Create Your Key Performance Indicators

This blog post advocating the creation of metrics to track the key performance indicators of nonprofit websites has a much larger application.  This article presents an excellent framework for establishing methodical metrics to guide and evaluate an organization’s entire development effort.  Instead of simply doing this year, what you did last year, why not think […]

Building your brand through targeted marketing (a.k.a. social media)

The following post makes the broader case for building your brand through targeted marketing. In our view this brief article is packed with supporting facts and figures, and might be an excellent piece for development officers to share with their executive leadership team.   Today, targeted marketing is nearly synonymous with the use of social media. […]

Enhance the donor experience

Satisfied customers make repeat customers.  So too, satisfied donors make repeat donors.  This article from GuideStar suggests that keeping your donors happy will depend more and more on the organization’s online engagement.   The New Donor Engagement Reality: Bottom-Line Priorities for the Online Experience July 2014 Community impact is all about people—the customer experience. Making […]

Quantify your Case for Support

We will often tell our clients to Quantify your Case for Support. The following two ‘Measuring Up’ Blog posts at the Chronicle of Philanthropy beautifully describe why we offer this advice.  If you can work to further measure and quantify your organization’s work, you then have a new and exciting means of thanking your donors. […]