Financing & Loans

1. Who Are Your Planned Gift Prospects? – Part I by John Elbare, CFP Before you get started with planned giving, you need to identify your most likely planned gift prospects. Planned giving works best when you target your efforts toward a segment of donors who are most inclined to consider a planned gift. Avoid …

1. Keeping Your Bucket Full … With Direct Mail by Jonathan Howard Think of your current donor file as a leaky bucket you want to fill. This poses two separate challenges. You need to reduce leaks and add new water at the same time. If you stop doing either task, your water level will sink …

April 23: Upcoming fundraising blog content   Keeping Your Bucket Full … With Direct Mail by Jonathan Howard The national average rate of donor retention (that’s the number of donors who gave in two consecutive 12-month periods) is a horrendous 35 percent. April 23:   Events In Private Homes: Part II by Hank Lewis Education, …

1. How Many Development Staffers Do We Need to Attain Our Fundraising Goals? by Tony Poderis I’ve often been asked about a formula/guideline for determining the number of development staff needed relative to an organization’s fundraising goals? I always reply, strongly, that “there’s no such animal.” There simply cannot be such a formula developed that has …

1. Making Your Nonprofit Conference A Special Event by Natalie Lewis Keep your vendors happy; show others that they could really benefit from being one of your conference exhibitors, and there will be more vendors who will be wanting to “sign up.” Would you object to having those additional vendor fees ?? 2. Events In Private Homes: Part III - Solicitation by Hank Lewis Solicitation at a home event, asking attendees to write a check, depends on whether or not this is a first-time meeting for this group of attendees.

Because of the time-sensitivity of the first article, we’ve moved the postings on “Events in Private Homes” to April 9. 1. The CFC and Leverage: National Volunteer Week & Global Youth Service Day by Bill Huddleston This year is the 40th anniversary of National Volunteer Week, and this year it runs from April 6-12th. The …

1. Proposed Changes to CFC Regulations Update: How You Can Help Save the Combined Federal Campaign – Part II by Bill Huddleston As I mentioned, last week, even after the Congressional Hearing, there has been no public response from the OPM staff to the concerns raised about the proposed regulations. 2. How Do You Deal with Grant Deadlines? by Jayme Sokolow Deadlines are to proposal professionals as water is to fish. They are the lifeblood of our profession. Dealing with them effectively will make a big (positive) difference to your emotional well-being, and to your professional career.