NonProfit News That Matters

Welcome to our NonProfit News That Matters Blog.  Here at Goettler Associates, we are continuously watching developments in the philanthropic marketplace, reviewing new research studies, reading trade publications, and scouring industry blogs. The quantity of available information is a little overwhelming at times, so we though we’d help our friends and colleagues along by sharing the NonProfit News That Matters most.

Let us know what you think, join the conversation.


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A Compendium of Blog Posts

Category: News & Information
Navigating the Road Ahead ... through the elements of fundraising success Compendium-Navigating-the-Road-Ahead-Blog-Sereies-2Download

The Road Ahead with a realistic and well-executed plan of campaign.

Category: News & Information
Everyone wants to raise more money for their organizations, but to do so your organization needs a plan.  A realistic plan will incorporate the various elements of successful fundraising, as well as the Campaign Principle.  At the very least your plan of campaign will target a specific amount of money,  define the specific purpose f...

Navigating the Road Ahead through Pacesetting Leadership Gifts

Category: News & Information
People still give to people, but do they still make gifts in consideration of the size of gifts made by others?  In other words, after a donor decides to support an organization, how do they determine how much they will give?  This is where our next element of fundraising success comes in to play.  Successful fundraisers work to inf...

Navigating the Road Ahead with Committed Volunteer Leaders

Category: News & Information
Our nation’s history of philanthropic accomplishment relies heavily on one-to-one human linkages and accountability.  This is especially true in the area of major gift fundraising.  Of all the elements of successful fundraising, the most important is the need for actively involved, qualified and committed volunteer leaders. Phil...

Navigating the Road Ahead with Sufficient Financial Resources

Category: News & Information
Fundraising professionals are an optimistic bunch, but at some point we must acknowledge that attaining a specific dollar goal is dependent upon the cultivation of a constituency with sufficient financial resources.  Fundraisers must be more strategic in their work than simply believing that the money is out there.  It is incumbent upon ...

Navigating the Road Ahead with a Compelling Case for Support

Category: News & Information
Now that we have examined the first two essential elements of successful fundraising (#1: A solid organization; and, #2: A worthwhile project) we are ready to explore the development of a compelling case for support.  Anyone affiliated with a nonprofit organization either as a staff professional or as a volunteer leader understands that a str...

Navigating the Road Ahead Inspired by a Big Idea

Category: News & Information
Last week we stressed the importance of defining a worthwhile project as a key part of your major gift fundraising strategy, but identifying your organization’s Big Idea may be more challenging in our shifting social and economic climate. It seems that forecasting and strategic planning has become more difficult in recent years ...

Navigating the Road Ahead with a Worthwhile Project

Category: News & Information
If you want to attract and secure major gifts or launch a capital campaign, you will need a Big Idea - a good story, and a worthwhile project for donors to invest in. If you want to change the future, your nonprofit organization will need to focus on identifying, securing, and retaining major gifts.  Estimates of total dollars donated  to cha...

Navigating the Road Ahead: Solid Organizations know their donors

Category: News & Information
Last week, we began exploring how solid organizations are navigating the road ahead and distinguishing themselves in the philanthropic marketplace.  This week we want to explore if the donor is changing their definition of what matters.  Have donors changed how they look at solid organizations?  Are donors now looking at their giving decisions ...

Navigating the Road Ahead as a Solid Organization

Category: News & Information
The first element of fundraising success begins with defining your nonprofit as a solid organization.  Is this still valid today?  Even before the momentous events of 2020, the world-wide pandemic, and last summer’s civic disruptions there have been a growing number of voices that are challenging the status quo of accepted best ...

Navigating the Road Ahead…

Category: News & Information
Navigating the Road Ahead through the elements of fundraising success As the dust settles from Covid-19, we are discovering that the Road Ahead is fraught with concerns and challenges similar to the shutdown itself.  There is also a growing chorus of voices that are challenging the status quo of today’s best practices and social construc...

Giving Makes People Happy

Category: Fund Raising
Professional fundraisers need to remember that Giving Makes People Happy. This is an informative and well researched post from Bloomerang that reminds us of how to best approach our work. Helping our colleagues, co-workers and board volunteers to adopt this philosophy will help them to share in the joy of successful fundraising done well. Non...

50 Things You Can Still Do Before Year-End

Category: Fund Raising
50 Things You Can (Still) Do Before Year-End In a FONK (Fear of Not Knowing) about your Covid-19 year-end fundraising? Here is a check list of 50 things you can still do before year-end (actually, it's more than 70) to make your year-end fundraising appeals more successful. Lori Overmyer, Executive VP of GoettlerAssociates has developed a f...

Reported Uptick in Giving Shows Resilience of US Donors Despite Impact of Covid-19

Category: News & Information
And now for some good news. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s (FEP) 2nd Quarter 2020 report shows an uptick in giving and the resilience of givers in the US. As with previous economic downturns and cataclysms, we can see that the philanthropic spirit of the American public has endured through the second quarter of 2020. Fundraising ...

Covid-19 Impacts Giving in 1st Quarter

Category: News & Information
The Fundraising Effectiveness Project's (FEP) 1st Quarter 2020 report indicates a decrease in total current giving to nonprofits through March, 2020. Giving USA's recent webinars heralding an increase in total giving in 2019 may be less instructive than the FEP's more timely reporting and there may be disturbing trends developing for total giving...

Covid-19: Reopening with Resilience, Realism & Trust

Category: News & Information
Memorial Day – the traditional beginning of summer – looked like no other this year.  But with it came the news that, in many parts of the country, people began to look at the gradual reopening of our economy.  Somehow the word “reopening” is too facile a term to adequately describe what we have all endured. . .perhaps re-emergen...

Covid-19 Week 10: How to Make It Easier

Category: News & Information
Welcome to Week 10 of our Covid-19 fundraising blog.  When this all started, we didn’t realize that we’d be at it for ten weeks.  Writing a weekly blog is harder than we first imagined.  Life is like that sometimes. How to Make Fundraising Easier Saying you are going to do something is often easier than actually doing it....

Covid-19 Week 9: Don’t Jump to Conclusions

Category: News & Information
Don’t jump to conclusions based on the spate of donor surveys that are starting to surface, and attempting to gauge the effects of coronavirus on the future behavior of donors.  The results are at best inconclusive, and at worst alarming.  Don't Jump to Conclusions: with donor surveys predicting doom and gloom Take, for instance...

Covid-19 Week 8: Time to Reverse Engineer the Special Event

Category: Fund Raising
Demonstrating our own advice to be nimble and adapt to the circumstances, we are sending our Tuesday blog on Wednesday of week 8.  We thought it was best to steer clear of #GivingTuesdayNow. Time to Reverse Engineer the Special Event We hope you had great success with Giving Tuesday in May and tested some new strategies and ta...

Week 7: Living with Covid-19 and Not Knowing

Category: News & Information
It is week seven of the great shutdown and there is still so much that we don’t know.  We ended our post last week with the acknowledgement that we don’t know, but we were going to find out.  Well, having spent some time thinking about it, knowing is difficult to achieve.  We all believe we know certain things.  Many of us ...

Covid-19 Week 6: Lessons Learned

Category: News & Information
Raise your hand if you know more about the Spanish Flu of 1918 than you ever dreamt you would.  If “goodbye” has been replaced by “stay safe and stay healthy.” If you have grown weary of the phrase “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste” or some variation thereof.  What else have we learned these past weeks? Covid-19 Fundr...

Don’t forget about the SECURE Act

Category: Fund Raising
Everyone is talking about the CARES Act and the deep and lasting impact of the corona virus on our lives and our economy. And rightfully so! But when we get back to raising money for our organizations we need to be equally aware of the impact of the SECURE Act. We all know that older donors are likely the best candidates for large major gifts, ...

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

Category: Marketing & Communications
Zoom in on better Etiquette 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 bec...

Covid-19 Week 4: Adopt, Adapt, Improve

Category: Fund Raising
It is the second day of week four of Covid-19 Fundraising, and this week we are inspired to adopt, adapt and improve.  Like so many other regularly scheduled events, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) turned its 2020 Annual Conference into a VIRTUAL event, demonstrating the path for all of us to adopt, adapt and improve. Yo...

Adapting Your Case for Support of the Arts

Category: Case for Support
Top 10 Reasons to Support 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 ...

Covid-19 Week 3: Working Through the Stages of Change

Category: News & Information
Managing the Stages of Change in the Covid-19 Age It is week three of Covid19 Fundraising, and we are starting to know more.  We now understand that we will have several more weeks of this new normal ahead.  We should be actively focused on working through the stages of grief and change and hopefully getting settled in to move our org...

Covid-19 Week 2: Shelter In Place and Seeking Balance

Category: News & Information
It is week 2 of Covid-19 Fundraising, and most all of us are now working remotely and struggling to maintain a focus on mission and purpose as well as to balance the pressures of our new work environments.  Are you finding your work hours are just as long?  Are you shifting your thoughts from thriving in the new year to just survive? ...

Hey Fundraisers, Let’s Roll …

Category: News & Information
Start today by looking after yourself and those who give you strength It's pretty hard to view the future of fundraising and our role as fundraisers when we are forced to work from home, but this recent post from the UK's digital fundraising guru Howard Lake gives us some sage advice for how we should face our work today. So, Hey Fundraisers! ...

Covid-19: What Should We Be Doing Now?

Category: News & Information
Communicate: with sincerity, purpose, and gratitude To assist out clients, colleagues and friends in this uncertain time of Covid-19, GoettlerAssociates is going to do what we believe our clients should be doing . . . communicating.  We are pleased to offer our take on the quickly changing development landscape, with this News That Matter...

Fundraising is not like Sales…or is it?

Category: Marketing & Communications
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 di...

What motivates philanthropy and giving in our society?

Category: News & Information
The question of donor motivation is a topic that most professional fundraisers have wrestled with, and a topic that most professionals probably have an opinion on.  In our decades of serving the third sector, we are more often inspired by the selfless generosity of donors than we are taken aback by egos and self promotion  Increasingly, we h...

What’s Your Number? …for donor retention

Category: News & Information
Do you know your donor retention numbers?  If you don't know your number, then you probably don't realize that all your hard work to acquire new donors is not having the impact on your organization that you thought it might.  Here is another, yes yet another, article on the importance of donor retention.  If you are not looking...

Are you tracking donor retention rates?

Category: News & Information
We are proud of Lori H. Overmyer, Executive Vice President, and her continued leadership with the AFP Research Council and the ongoing (FEP) Fundraising Effectiveness Project.  If you are not monitoring your organization's donor retention rates you should be.  Creating donor communication and stewardship programs to increase your donor retention ...

AFP Compensation Survey

Category: News & Information
Advancing Philanthropy | Volume 25/ Number 3 / www.afpnet.org By Lori Hunter Overmyer, MBA, CFRE, Executive Vice President, GoettlerAssociates   The Association of Fundraising Professionals' annual compensation and benefits study, based thisyear on the input of 3,536 respondents (3,037 from the United States and 499 from Canada), provides...

Making the ASK Online Is Different.

Category: News & Information
  All fundraising is not the same.  How you "ask" and what you "ask for" appears to be different based on how you do the "asking."  This article from Jon Powell at NextAfter describes the importance of organizing the "ask" in your online donation form.  As major-gift fundraisers, we believe that the greatest sin is not to make the ...

Fundraising Effectiveness Project – 2017 Survey Report

Category: Research & Special Reports
The 2017 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Survey Report summarized data from 10,829 non-profit organizations covering year to year fundraising results for 2015-2016. Get the full report here: 2017 FUNDRAISING EFFECTIVENESS SURVEY REPORT Here is a quick outline of just some of the findings: Participating organizations raised $9.129 billion ...

Words Nonprofits Should Avoid – 2018 Edition

Category: Marketing & Communications
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 the next article in the...

Keep Your Donors Giving Again and Again

Category: Fund Raising
Thanks to Penelope Burk for bravely jumping into this topic!  Her thoughtful article reminds us to keep our focus on our donors and to be resolute in executing a specific plan that is right for our organization.  Without this focus, it is difficult to resist the allure of national campaigns and promotions such as  Giving Tuesday.  Across the in...

What Do People Want When They Give to Nonprofits?

Category: News & Information
Oh my, what an enticing title!  This article from FastCompany certainly caught our eye, as we suspect it would for most development and fundraising professionals.  Despite being a little put-off by the author's recounting of  a few recent and high profile bad apples in the third sector, we worked through the article and the actual report.  Both...

Example: How to Use Pronouns in Fundraising

Category: Marketing & Communications
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 this co...

Will a rising tide help your organization?

Category: News & Information
Great news!  New study predicts fundraising stability for 2017 and beyond.  Certainly a favorable environment for fundraising is a welcome change from the environment that many organizations have experienced over parts of the past decade.  But, as development professionals, we all know that a broad market prediction such as this actually means l...

Use the 2016 U.S. Trust Study to Encourage Your Volunteers

Category: News & Information
This year's report findings should help to further encourage the fundraising advocacy of your volunteers.  If you could show a current or prospective volunteer information that illustrates the likelihood their efforts will be rewarded with success, would you use it?  The sixth bi-annual U.S. Trust (IU Lily School of Philanthropy) study of high ne...

Focus on Donor Retention Rates to Develop Your S.M.A.R.T. Plan

Category: News & Information
This recent article and research conducted by Heather Yandow at Third Space Studio reminds us all that there are few short cuts in the business of philanthropy. We dove into this article because it called for the need to measure donor retention rates. Donor retention seems to be getting a great deal of attention in our industry today, and for good ...

Shouldn't Everyone Start with their Elevator Speech?

Category: Case for Support
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 ...

Your Mission? Inspiring Donors!

Category: News & Information
A recent Gallup poll reminds nonprofit executives and development professionals, once again, of the importance of a strong, meaningful mission and brand.  This Gallup research reveals that donors give to organization whose mission aligns with their personal interests and beliefs.  Donors also want to give to trustworthy organizations, with sol...

Coaching Your Team to Success

Category: Fund Raising
Empowering others, establishing trust, learning from mistakes and setbacks, and having confidence in your team's abilities may seem like obvious methods of achieving results, but too often, leaders fail to put in the time it takes to cultivate a successful environment in the teams they lead. In a recent article by Christina Curtis, an executive c...

Getting to Know Why Donors Give

Category: News & Information
A recent article by Michael J. Rosen explores why donors give, according to the results of a survey conducted by Abila, a provider of services and software for non-profits. Donors are obviously important to non-profit organizations, but a disconnect can exist between how donors actually interact with the organizations that they support and how sa...

Fundamental Foundations of Fundraising

Category: Fund Raising
Here is a new take on composing a list of fundamental fundraising principles by UK's fundraising sage Ken Burnett at SOFII (showcase of fundraising innovation and inspiration).  This list may be new to some, and strangely familiar to most here in the US.   It provides a wonderful reminder of what it takes to realize the true fundraising potential...

Evaluating the Special Event Fundraiser

Category: Fund Raising
The Special Event Fundraiser has long been a pet peeve of ours.  It seems that every organization conducts their share of special events, unfortunately, too many seem to take on a life of their own and are now divorced from any rational strategy to truly advance the organization.  The March issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy has some though...

How do Fundraisers stay current in our digital world?

Category: Fund Raising
The constantly evolving tools available to development professionals today are truly amazing.  The pace of change is staggering.  Are you old enough to remember what breakthrough technology used to look like, such as what the laser printer did for direct mail fundraising?  This article (found in the Association of Fundraising Professional's eNew...

Newsflash: Capital Campaigns Raise More Money

Category: News & Information
As reported in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a recent study by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative reports that in 2015 capital campaigns helped to drive bigger revenues, and that two-thirds of those organizations that were in a capital campaign reported that giving was up.  What did you say?  This isn't really shocking news!  No, it's not sur...

Can your front line people answer these donor questions?

Category: Fund Raising
We have been watching the incredible growth of donor-advised funds, not only at your local community foundation but more significantly at investment firms like Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard.  Donor-advised funds represented four of the top ten recipients on The 2014 Philanthropy 400.  Lots of financial advisers are getting in on the game.  This ...

A Few Tips on More Effective Board Meetings

Category: Fund Raising
We found this helpful article at the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  Of course any discussion about how charity boards work too often assumes that they are all alike, and that they should all operate in a similar manner.  The truth of the matter is much more complicated.  Some smaller nonprofit organizations struggle to secure adequate staffing an...

Clinton College Plan Damaging to Philanthropy

Category: Fund Raising
AFP News Release:  August 11, 2015 Fundraising Professionals Urge Candidate to Protect American Tradition of Philanthropy From Proposed Cap (Arlington, VA.) – In response to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s college tuition plan, which would limit the value of the charitable deduction for gifts made by certain taxpayers, Andre...

Just Ask – You’ll be More Successful than You Think

Category: News & Information
Results of this research reported in the Harvard Business Review support many of the age-old axioms of successful fundraising.  Sharing this article with board members and volunteer fundraisers at your next orientation or training meeting may prove to be very effective.  Too often, volunteer fundraisers are overly fixated on objections and failur...

The Nonprofit Leader as Catalyst, Architect and Coach

Category: Fund Raising
This is a very thought provoking article from Chief Learning Officer.  In many ways, descriptions of the new agile leader perfectly depict a successful nonprofit CEO or Executive Director.  The successful nonprofit CEO has always been called upon to serve as a catalyst for constituents and donors; and, to be the architect that creates maximum va...

An Excellent Board Primer on Donor Stewardship

Category: Fund Raising
In some ways, development professionals and fundraisers can be their own worst enemy when it comes to communicating with board members and other decision makers outside of our profession.  Too often we respond to seemingly simple questions with unapproachable jargon and overly complicated explanations.  Penelope Burke has recently posted a direc...

How are organizations working with donor advised funds?

Category: News & Information
Donor-Advised Funds continue to grow in popularity and growth.  We recently noted this trend here as well.  Is Fidelity, which is but one option for the donor advised fund, really doing a better job promoting the tax-wise benefits of giving than all of our nation's community foundations and individual charities?  What are they offering the donor...

Donors are becoming more concerned with quantifiable outcomes

Category: News & Information
Our take-away from this article may be quite different from that of the typical reader at the Economist. This article is of interest because it articulates an evolving trend with a reportedly growing number of donors. A new generation of donors are now hyper-focused on demonstrable outcomes and results. Great! Understanding the needs of donors is ...

Leadership development tips for Fundraisers

Category: Fund Raising
Development Officers and Fundraisers are leaders.  Whether or not your job title and description list leadership as a requirement within your organizations - rest assured that volunteers, donors and other colleagues look to you as a leader.  That's why the headline of this article at the Harvard Business Review grabbed our interest.  Upon consid...

More changes for Nonprofit Financial Statements

Category: News & Information
Just when everyone got comfortable with nonprofit financial statements, and conditional and unconditional promises to give (instead of pledges) it appears as though there may be more changes ahead.  Granted, the new accounting rules proposed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board is more technical than most development professionals delve int...

Do We Need to Schedule That Meeting?

Category: News & Information
This research into the human toll of too many meetings is a real eye-opener.  If it's one thing development officers do -- it's meetings!  Meetings with volunteers, donors, committee chairs, colleagues, and department heads, etc.  While most development officers do not work in organizational structures this large, we could all benefi...

Useful Study Identifies that Donors Have Unique Needs

Category: News & Information
This article from NPQ (Non Profit Quarterly) reminds development professionals, once again, that each donor to our organizations is unique.  They have unique perspectives and unique needs.  This research is helpful in further defining and understanding evolving preferences of broad ranges of constituents. Useful Study Reveals Generational Differe...

More predictions about future giving . . . who should we believe?

Category: News & Information
More predictions about future giving trends have been released, and it differs greatly from another recent industry forecast.  Giving USA and the Lilly School have released a very encouraging and optimistic view of the road ahead in 2015 and 2016.  For anyone who has been watching the interactions between Giving USA and The Atlas of Giving, this ...

Unlocking the Key to Male Donors

Category: News & Information
Anytime we see new and careful research in the industry, it is certainly worth taking a look, especially if it informs the key to male donors.  Upon further reflection, and actually reading the research, it does not appear as though the key to unlocking donor generosity has yet been found.  To be sure, making any generalized and broad statement a...

Record Giving in 2014. 2015 Outlook Bleak.

Category: News & Information
Few industry insiders will argue that 2014 was a record giving year, as this report clearly identifies. The good folks at Atlas of Giving have come out with their 2014 annual report.  Some may remember this group from their dust up with Giving USA about a year ago.  We're not picking sides on which enterprise employs the best method.  But we do ...

What the Latest Research Says About Getting People to Give

Category: News & Information
This recent article posted at the Wall Street Journal Markets site, seems to contradict the recent industry trend of forgoing the annual report listing an organization's donors.  While the tradition of publicly displaying a list of donors has been with us since our colonial days, this article suggests taking a more strategic approach to donor re...

Will IRA Charitable Rollover Deduction be extended for 2014?

Category: Fund Raising
The following post from the Independent Sector gives us all the current news on the IRA Charitable Rollover Deduction and developments of the 113th Congress, as well as an excellent toolkit to use in contacting your federal representatives encouraging the passage of this bill. UPDATE: Congress restores giving incentives for 2014 tax year The Se...

Increase in Donor-Advised Funds Worth Greater Vigilance

Category: Fund Raising
There has certainly been a lot of talk about the increase in giving to donor-advised funds, such as this article from the Investors Business Daily.  We can't help but wonder what affect this might have for our communities in the future.  At first glance, one would think that growth in giving is good news.   Is this growth in giving driven by ne...

2014 U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Individuals

Category: News & Information
Encouraging news on high net worth individuals from the ongoing U.S. Trust /  Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Survey.  Giving is up!  The overall findings seem to once again support several essential best practices, such as:  volunteers give more than non-volunteers; the more involved and engaged individuals are the large...

What do donors want in the year 2014?

Category: Fund Raising
What do donors want?  Experienced fundraising professionals should be constantly asking themselves this question, and they should be earnestly working to learn the answer.  Upon seeing this headline at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, our interest was immediate.  It seems that so many articles these days address the emerging promise of increased r...

Donor Advised Funds Now 3 of Top 10 Biggest Charities

Category: News & Information
The numbers don't lie. The three largest donor advised funds now rank as three of the top ten largest charities in the nation.  Some may argue that  these organizations are not truly charitable organizations, and in fact the contributed funds will move along to other organizations in due course.  But, what does the latest Philanthropy 400 list f...

The Technique of Soliciting

Category: Fund Raising
We were reminded of the essential advice of John D. Rockefeller on the technique of soliciting last week, while attending a conference and listening to a nationally renowned development expert.  After reading Mr. Rockefeller's remarks again, we felt it appropriate to share these timeless words of advice from one of our country's most influential p...

Create Your Key Performance Indicators

Category: Marketing & Communications
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 ye...

Sage Advice on Charity Golf Outings

Category: News & Information
I absolutely love this post from Guidestar by Tom King on the special event charity golf outings. This article quickly dispels many false claims about special events, helps to set some reasonable expectations of success, and emphasizes the importance of early planning.  Why is this article timely, as the summer season is winding down and we approa...

Start Planning Year-End Appeals Now

Category: News & Information
If you are not thinking strategically and planning for your year-end appeal now, rest assured that your competition is! This post at Forbes.com challenges development officers to rethink the herd-mentality that we see so often in our society today.  Mr. Watson also urges those of us engaged in philanthropy that "fundraising is competition, philant...

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

Category: Marketing & Communications
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 me...

Enhance the donor experience

Category: Marketing & Communications
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...

Active involvement a trigger for donations

Category: Fund Raising
We are pleased to see that the study of behavioral economics is picking up on the importance of "active involvement" to the success of private philanthropic organizations. This recent article in the New York Times presents a new twist on a basic tenant of major gift fundraising.  The analogy of shareholders is also one that we have made in the...

IRS introduces new EZ process to apply for non-profit status

Category: Fund Raising
The IRS has introduced a new process to apply for non-profit status, in what appears to be an attempt to relieve the backlog of new applications.  The typical Form 1023 is one that requires a very significant amount of work and practically requires engaging specialized legal advice before an organization can hope to prevail in obtaining nonprofit ...

Online fundraising is rapidly rising

Category: News & Information
It seems that everywhere we go these days, clients ask us about social media, crowdfunding, and the slew of other online communication and fundraising vehicles available.  The good folks at Nonprofit Tech for Good have posted a great collection of 14 recent stats that are quite insightful.  Clearly, every organization should be looking at ...

Quantify your Case for Support

Category: Marketing & Communications
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. Demonstrating the im...

The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History

Category: LinkedIn Articles
The greatest wealth transfer in history will create extensive opportunities for nonprofit agencies, according to an in-depth study by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College.  This potential and historic transfer of wealth has been a topic in the third sector for a good long while.  Continuing research on this topic should at t...

Encouraging Report of Online Donations

Category: LinkedIn Articles
An encouraging report of online donations at the nation's largest nonprofit organizations.  One group actually received a $1 million online gift.  Wow!  That will certainly skew their average gift analysis! =============================================================== THE CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY May 18, 2014 Online Fundraising Goes Mainstre...

Similarities of Crowdfunding and Major Gift Pitfalls

Category: News & Information
It is interesting to observe the similarities of crowdfunding and major gift pitfalls.  This opinion piece highlights "crowdfunding fails" which in our experience are similar to a prescription for a failed capital or major gifts campaign.  Some of the terminology is a little different, but consider how a comparison between the importance of a vid...

Adopt a strengths-based approach to development . . .

Category: Opinion
The argument to adopt a strengths-based approach to leadership development is presented in this article from Forbes.com.  This approach is more than appropriate for nonprofit organizations, for the growth and advancement of staff, and for our own careers.  Our firm has adopted this approach to the advancement and improvement of an organization's ...

How Older Adults Use Technology

Category: Research & Special Reports
How older adults use technology has been analyzed by The Pew Research Center.  It is always astounding to hear some nonprofit executives tell us that their organization had yet to commit to electronic communication because of the age of their donors.  These executives often suggest that seniors just don't use email, or they don't access the organ...

Why Fundraising Is Fun

Category: Fund Raising
Just last week, a client told me that one of her volunteers said, "I never knew fundraising was going to be so much fun."  That story made Arthur Brooks' piece in the Sunday New York Times all the more real.  At times, it is hard for professional fundraisers to remember why we enjoy our work so much.  Here is a nice reminder.   Why Fund...

Digital Giving Index Update (InfoGraphic)

Category: Fund Raising
If you like InfoGraphcs, Newtwork for Good has a great new post on their blog that presents a very compelling story for organizations to focus on their digital giving strategy and resources.  Take a look, this might help a development officer make the case for investing additional resoruces . . . ============================================== Jus...

Investing in Wealthy Donors Pays Off

Category: Fund Raising
In our view, the most important point of this study is that maintaining a laser focus and investing in wealthy donors is worth the cost. This article at The Chronicle of Philanthropy on an AHP study caught our eye.  At first glance, the idea that those organizations that spend more money raise more money doesn't seem to be such earth shattering ne...

Has U.S. Charitable Giving Really Exploded?

Category: News & Information
This recent article in Forbes highlights the growing professionalism of the Third Sector.  In our view the debate is a good one to have, and is based on increasing competition and growing sophistication of the nonprofit sector.  As Mr. Watson points out, it is easy to focus on the brewing controversy of the big number of total charitable gifts...

Tips to Avoid Social Media Burnout in 2014

Category: LinkedIn Articles
Here are several tips to avoid social media burnout, and the insatiable beast that it is.  Last week, I was at a reception and someone asked me what I do.  As most development professionals know, it's not always a simple answer. The individual I had just met, having heard my somewhat inadequate description responded, "so I bet you are now using a...

Business First: 20 People to Know in Nonprofits

Category: LinkedIn Articles
Once a month, Columbus Business First will put the spotlight on 20 People to Know from the region who are front and center in their industries. People to Know: David Goettler Chief executive | Goettler Associates Why did you get into this profession?In late 1987, I was working as an auditor at Coopers & Lybrand and approaching my fourth busy...

Burk Releases New Donor Survey Report

Category: LinkedIn Articles
New Donor Survey Report: Penelope Burk and her Cygnus Applied Research, Inc. firm have released the next installment of their extensive and insightful research.  A free download of an executive summary of the report is available here. We've extracted a few key points from Penelope's research below that we found of particular interest: __________...

Sage Advice for Seeking Foundation Grants

Category: LinkedIn Articles
This is article offers sage advice for seeking foundation grants.  Too often in the rush of the development officers daily life, one can forget to take a step back to consider these grant writing guidelines and best practices. Questions I'm Most Often Asked about Winning Foundation Grants by Martin Teitel December 2013 In my decades of running...

Donors are happier, healthier and better looking too.

Category: LinkedIn Articles
Donors to charity aren't merely generous souls. Donors are happier, healthier and better looking too.  We celebrate National Philanthropy Day in Central Ohio today.  This opinion piece, by Arthur Brooks appearing in the Wall Street Journal, is an appropriate reminder of the truly exceptional impact that the Third Sector has on our country, our ...

Treat donors as shareholders to frame the major gifts equation

Category: LinkedIn Articles
Treat donors as shareholders to frame the major gifts equation around an investment analogy to develop a loyal base of givers.  Mr. Shaw has picked up on another aspect of this concept in his  article. Here is an opinion piece that we thought worthy of sharing. We might add two additional points:  1) considering donors as shareholders can be ver...

Shock Therapy for Fundraisers

Category: Fund Raising
This post could be listed as shock therapy for fundraisers.  Mark Atkinson has posted a fictional letter from Mrs. D. Donor to her favorite charity describing her frustrations.  As so many organizations race to the end of the year with a myriad of appeals, this blog post reminds us to work toward placing a greater value on the relationship betwe...

Reminding Fundraisers of the Donor’s Perspective

Category: LinkedIn Articles
A great post reminding fundraisers of the donor's perspective, and further supported by some shocking statistics from the AFP's Fundraising Effectiveness Project.  Go forth and broker love ! Stop Treating Your Donors Like a Cash Cow Meet the typical donor, as charities see the beast: a cash cow. Biddable. Milkable. And — oh, yes — mythical. B...

Seeking to Understand Donors

Category: Fund Raising
Fundraisers seeking to understand donors will find the following article from the New York Times of interest, and a call to work toward identifying the donor's perspective.  This article also presents an interesting perspective of philanthropy from the financial adviser's view.  When working to secure major gifts, the donor's financial adviser of...

Donors Asked to Stop Focusing on Overhead Costs

Category: Fund Raising
At long last someone has the courage ask donors to stop focusing on overhead costs, and to say that it's okay for charities to have effective management and administration.  No, 100% of your gift will not immediately go to feed the naked starving babies in the street.  Some of your gift might actually be used to sustain an effective organization ...

Charitable giving tied to state tax write-offs

Category: News & Information
By: Elaine S. Povich, Pew/Stateline staff writer States that have tinkered with one of the most sacrosanct of all tax write-offs – state income tax deductions and credits for charitable contributions – have seen their local charities suffer the backlash. Their decisions offer insight for other states and for federal officials who are contempla...

Everything Old is New Again in Fundraising

Category: News & Information
Everything Old is New Again in the fundraising industry.  We appreciate the perspective that Jay Frost expresses in this article, as he strikes a rational balance between respect for our industry's well-established best practices with the explosion and exuberance for fundraising with new social media techniques. Everything Old  is New Again by Ja...

Donor-Advised Fund Growth Defies Giving Trends

Category: News & Information
Here is an article we found about donor-advised fund growth in the TIME Magazine Business Section.  This certainly appears to be good news about giving in the main stream media.  Hurrah. This article suggests that these individuals clearly understand the tax benefits of giving.  As fund-raising professionals we should be encouraged that donors ...

Finding the Next Million Dollar Gift

Category: News & Information
Interested in finding a million dollar gift to your nonprofit?  Here is a research report that might help.  When your organization moves its attention from pursuing unrestricted operating support toward funding for organizational and program growth, the importance of early pace-setting advance gifts will become an issue of vital importance.  Thi...

Become A Better Listener by Maintaining Your Curiosity

Category: News & Information
Want to become a better listener? We found some sage advice in this article from Andrew Olsen (spotted on LinkedIn) that listening is in fact one of the most important skills that fund raisers must develop. We'd argue that fund raisers need to first maintain a genuine curiosity about people and what their interests are to become good listeners.  ...

About High Fundraising Costs: It’s Complicated

Category: News & Information
The following editorial about high fundraising costs appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  Excellent topic.  On a related issue and another one of our pet peeves is the nonprofit executive that suggests 100% of a donors gift will go directly to programs. . . . July 8, 2013 About High Fundraising Costs: It’s Complicated By Jeff Schreife...

Conducting Community Health Needs Assessments

Category: Marketing & Communications
This is an excellent post on the origin and history of the Community Health Needs Assessments that all hospitals must now perform. From our viewpoint we are continually surprised to see that the development office and/or hospital foundation has little to no involvement in requesting, directing nor performing these assessments.  Seems to us that t...

When Donors Say No – A Time-tested Metric

Category: Fund Raising
When donors say No, is one of the time-tested metrics of a robust major gifts campaign.  Too many clients and campaign directors will gleefully describe the progress of their campaign with that fact that no one has said 'No.'  Wrong answer.  If you haven't received 'No' you simply haven't asked enough. This recent post caught our eye as an exce...

The Million Dollar List

Category: News & Information
The 2013 Giving USA Research report has been issued and as always is receiving a good bit of attention.  And, for good reason. The continuing research of Giving USA is a valuable tool for our profession and the philanthropic sector. Many development officers can quote the segmentation of donor types, or in other words, where the money comes fro...