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fundraising Tag

Customer Success Manager at Blackbaud Canada

31 Oct

Posted at 17:19h in Blog, Inspirational by
giving tuesday 29 days. That’s all that’s left between now, and Tuesday December 2nd - #GivingTuesdayCA.  Why should you, as a busy not-for-profit professional, care? Well, for starters, anything that moves up the start of the giving season is a good thing in my books. Rather than waiting till the holiday season to “talk giving” with your wonderful donors, you can give them a date and a time to celebrate the “opening of giving season!” Time-strapped and story-short? Do not despair! This is the best part about #GivingTuesdayCA. It is not meant to keep you up at night giving you ulcers, it is meant to underpin or enhance your EXISTING strategies that you have put in place for annual giving. Here’s three not-for-profit profiles, and three engagement strategies to incorporate WITHOUT  a ton of effort. Scroll down to the profile that best describes you, and read through the plan.

08 Oct

Posted at 14:53h in Blog, Uncategorised by
Studying for my CFRE exam has forced me to reflect on the differences between amateur fundraisers, and professional fundraisers. There is a place for everyone - and we need both – but it’s worth enumerating the not-so-subtle differences between the two. This list will help many small to mid-size charities clarify fundraising motivations to the board. Many Board members consider themselves fundraisers. The question is: are they amateurs, or professionals?

15 Sep

Posted at 18:27h in Blog, Fundraising by
soar like an eagleOne of my most frustrating moments as a consultant came when I was working with programming staff, trying to collect some stories – stories that I needed in order to fundraise. I was working with excellent programming people:  they were good at their jobs and dedicated to the mission of the organization. Wow – was it ever challenging to get stories “from the field!” To understand people’s actions, you need to understand their perspectives.
  • Programming staff: rewarded for executing programming, project focused, well connected with their volunteers and their community, action-oriented (at least the good ones!)
  • Development staff: rewarded for getting personal, spending time with donors, telling compelling stories, and raising money by connecting emotionally with individuals.

06 Aug

Posted at 03:26h in Blog, Uncategorised by
death starVolunteer task forces are a great way to change your organization’s “Death Star” practices. Grab a group of your volunteers and “task” them with addressing ONE area of the organization that is not working. Who should you invite on your task force journey? Keep the group small to make sure everyone is able to participate - somewhere between 4 and 6 people. Include at least one staff member who can give context to your discussions. With the right mandate, task forces can be empowered to really clean things up. Task forces are attractive to new volunteers because they are:

Finite – They involve a specific number of meetings, and a short-term commitment;

Specific – Volunteers have the opportunity to “get closer” to the organization without having to sit on a board.

Outcome-driven – There is nothing like that feeling of getting something done to charge up a volunteer.

02 Oct

Posted at 16:53h in Blog, Fundraising by
leadershipAs a people-focused profession, fundraisers have a natural advantage as managers: we understand that people drive our projects, and that success begins with the people that work in our offices, move our mission forward, and communicate our messages externally in not-for-profit workplaces everywhere. If we are good managers, we think about the connection between these two things – people and projects – and how we can support our staff so that they can contribute as fulfilled, and unique members of our teams.