This past week, I’ve been privileged to be on a couple panels introducing nonprofit organizations to social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Linked in. While I love these tools, I was quick to express that: They don’t replace all the good fundraising practices we’ve learned over the decades. “Social” media is just that, social. [...]

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All week, I’ve been sharing the answers I’ve been giving to questions I’ve been getting on how to effectively use Twitter. The first two were on what I use to tweet and how to find interesting people to follow. Today is the final installment: What are hashtags? (And why should I care?) What are “hashtags”? [...]

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One of the biggest jobs in we in development have is being “keepers of the lore.” So often our organizations are so focused on the present–being the best they can at their mission–and the future–strategizing where they’re going and how they’ll get there–that they forget the past–the very people and events that brought they to [...]

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The Don’t Tell the Donor Blog had a chilling link to a New York Times article. Here’s a quote from the article: About 30 nonprofit agencies that held several accounts at Freedom, each with less than $100,000, lost money because the F.D.I.C. considers the multiple accounts of a single depositor as a single account. The [...]

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Most of my nonprofit executive coaching clients are surprised that so much of my “Ask Without Fear!” fundraising training is based on listening. I guess most of us fall into the trap of thinking that all we need to do is memorize a great schpeal, give it, and wait for the money to roll in. [...]

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With Ground Hog Day right around the corner here in the US, I thought we’d learn Fundraising Secret #11 from the perspective of the classic movie Ground Hog Day: Fundraising Secret #11: Don’t be a Ned Does this sound like your fundraising efforts? Ned: Phil? Phil Connors? Phil Connors, I thought that was you! Phil: [...]

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Many of us experienced the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. Before taking a well deserved vacation, this is a great time for catching our breath and re-assessing our position. Some of what I’m currently reading, Seth Godin’s new book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When [...]

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Mark Nakumara pointed me to this great blog post by Guy Kawaski about ways to used LinkedIn. Can you imagine how cool it would be if donors started researching you before a solicitation call! Very cool! To read the Guy’s blog post click here. My LinkedIn profile is here.

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There’s a great article about the philanthropy of Myra Kraft (owner of the New England Patriots) in the Boston Globe called Giving Large. It’s long but read the whole thing. It’s a great insight into what motivates giving. Here’s a sample: Kraft treats board work like a job…She says she comes at the work with [...]

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Looks like Blackbaud’s moved the Gift Range Calculator to their site. Give it a whirl. It’s a very useful tool!

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