Dear Long-Time Monthly Giver,

The bottom line is the bottom line.

How much have you raised this year? Have you hit your goal? What if you fall short? If you hit goal, will it go up next year automatically? Do you hold back so you don’t get dinged next year with higher expectations? Or, do you push donors hard to collect the "overachiever" accolades…at least for this year?

Such are the ruminations of fundraising staff as they address the cold hard facts of their performance. It’s seems to always be “what have you done for me lately?”

So, what is a realistic view for the professional direct-line fundraisers? Is it always about the total amount raised you can claim credit for?

Last week we talked about preparing your nonprofit staff and donors for the end-of-calendar-year giving season. This week I will elaborate on one of those key points.

Write your third- and fourth-quarter fund raising plan. Share the plan (and regular updates and progress) with your team: executive director, board, volunteers, and all staff. Assign a role to everyone and cast a vision for how their part fits into the whole.

Writing a Fund Raising Plan

Connecting with new donors or grantmakers is a lot like dating.  Since we aren’t looking to con someone into investing in our organizations, a lot of the rules of dating apply to fundraising work. Here are 5 familiar dating rules that can apply directly to your non-profit fundraising.

As a non-profit leader, you know that the majority of your givers will send financial support in the fourth quarter of the year, and you want to do everything you can to encourage their giving - making it easy to partner in your cause.

August is a great month to solidify plans for your end-of-year fund raising campaign.
In this post, I will share seven things you can do now to prepare for this upcoming season of generosity. Next week, I will add more.

In a recent chat with my son, he mentioned how he doesn't mind public speaking, but struggles in private conversation. I discussed the differences in gifts that God bestows, and emphasized that servant leadership begins with an interest in others. The best conversations are not about how well you talk, but how well you listen! And, good listening begins with good other-centered questions.

More Board for Your Buck

More and more is being written these days about the critical difference a Board makes in the effectiveness of business and ministry. How to get more out of what you put in is a relevant question at anytime in the development of an organization and its Board.

The topic of Board effectiveness is important to me for a number of reasons.

I am nothing close to a master chef, but I do love a good sauce. Plain chicken becomes fine dining with a simple blending of wine, butter, paprika, and cream. Would ribs have risen to such prominence without the delectable blending of tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, molasses, honey, mustard, onions and garlic that we simply label “barbeque”?  Italy, for its part, might be on par with the UK in culinary boredom (with apologies to my fine British friends) if it weren’t for the brilliant sauces that adorn pastas, noodles and vegetables. A good sauce makes a decent meal fantastic…am I right?

OK, maybe you’re like me. You’ve been told you need to do something with social media but simply don’t know where to start.

Sure, I did a bit of flirting with social media. I contributed less-than-heartfelt blog postings for various organizations, I even had a “vanilla” profile on LinkedIn and a Facebook page with a few family photos. Worst of all, though I originally signed up for Twitter in 2009, I had a measly 32 followers. For the entire three years, I sent out a total of 19 tweets. Pretty sad for a person who takes pride in being a user of the Internet since 1995!

Social Media Wake-up Call