Although no charity should ever exploit the people they serve by unexpectantly asking them to donate what limited money they possess. However, leaving them out of fundraising appeals is also unwise.
When Celebrating, Do It With Purpose!
FUNDRAISING SHOULD NEVER BE SEEN AS A “RISK”
5 Traits Every Fundraiser Should Possess
10 Questions Every Charity Should Ask When Stewarding Relations with Their Donors
Establishing an ongoing two-way conversation with its donors is a crucial part of building a sustainable and passionate base of support for any charity. It enables an organization to learn about their donors’ interests, talents, connections and giving abilities so they may guide their supporters along their philanthropic journey. However, the task of initiating a meaningful and informative conversation can be an awkward and mysterious experience for many charities. In this article we present ten (10) fundamental questions that an organization can ask their donors to kick-start a compelling long-term discussion.
Start This Year Of Promise Right By Thanking Some Of Your Supporters
HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2020!!!
Should Board Members Be Expected To Donate Financially To Their Charities?
Service Clubs: A Misunderstood & Under-Appreciated Community Partner
A New Watershed: Viewing Giving Tuesday As An Opportunity To Reset
Starting the Stewardship Conversation With Donors During The Pandemic
Board Members Should Always Be Stewarded First
Greetings and Welcome to the Opening Entry in Our New Sustainable Solutions Blog
Wow! What a time to be launching the inaugural post of Sustainable Solutions – the official blog of People First Fundraising Solutions. Nearly every country on Earth is embracing social distancing and encouraging their citizens to hunker down in their homes in solidarity to combat the novel coronavirus and ‘flatten the curve’. At the time of this post, the virus has infected more than 1.3 million people with close to 75,000 deaths worldwide.
Although some progress in containing the spread of the illness has been achieved in places like China, South Korea and Italy, the exponential growth of new cases continues for most nations. Populations are scared, schools and businesses are closed, economies are in peril and regular life has screeched to a grinding halt. People are scared for their futures and are desperately turning to their leaders for answers.
We have not confronted a crisis of the magnitude since 9/11 and many of us recall how the fear of that horrific chapter in our world’s history gripped us so tightly, executing simple daily activities became a challenge. As they are doing now, people turned to their leaders for solutions and thankfully many responded to unify their populace and commence the war on terrorism.
However, not all leaders have been as responsive or dependable during this pandemic as evidenced by the inexcusable shortages of testing kits for suspected cases, ventilators for severely infected patients and Personal Protective Equipment for the courageous doctors and health care workers battling to contain the disease. In spite of a lack of support, many communities have taken ownership and are finding ways themselves of acquiring the resources they need to save the lives of their citizens. Rather than wait and hope for government assistance that is likely not forthcoming, many key people of influence have stepped up, galvanized their communities and discovered ways of getting what they need to ‘flatten the curve’.
True leaders do not wait or place their hopes on exogenous forces to obtain the resources they need to help the people they pledged to serve. They do not defer responsibility or allow petty disagreements with others interfere with their duties. Listening to their people and fully understanding their needs before formulating plans is a step that true leaders never fail to take. Real leaders foster collaboration and team chemistry. In short, real leaders find a way to solve problems optimizing every asset at their disposal to get the job done.
We in the fund development profession must espouse these tenets when helping organizations establish sustainable bases of support so they may achieve their missions. It is our duty to ensure that the change that the organizations with whom we work are striving to create not rest upon factors outside of their control like government grants. We must step up as leaders to do all we can to help organizations devise sustainable fundraising strategies so they can take ownership of their quests to fulfill their missions.
Chief among our obligations is introducing organizations to new sources of ongoing revenue such as third-party fundraising, peer-to-peer appeals, special events and major gifts so they may diversify their bases of support. Equally crucial is ensuring that organizations safeguard the functionality of their fund development infrastructure items including their fundraising volunteer teams, donor database software, gift processing systems and effective stewardship practices. Ultimately, fundraising leaders must ensure that their organizations focus on nurturing a solid and loyal donor base that positions them to respond proactively to the evolving needs of their communities.
In the entries ahead our aim is that you will discover new insights, perspectives and strategies to enhance your organization’s, community’s or enterprise’s ability to acquire the resources to create positive change. We urge you to bookmark and visit our Upcoming Workshops page regularly to hear about our scheduled Online and In-Person Grant Writing and Fundraising Workshops that we have planned. Whether you are a fund development professional, volunteer, staff or board member, your fundraising knowledge will be enriched through these reading experiences. We are grateful to have you and we look forward to sharing them with you.
Times are scary, so please continue to embrace social distancing and stay well.
All the best,
Mike
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People want to believe that the pandemic is over when it is still very prevalent. -
Good Morning Everyone! Get Your Week Off To A Flying Start!!🦋🛸🥏🪁🪰
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Good Morning Everyone! Have A Sultry Sunday!!😃🌞☀️😎🤧🌻⛱️🌆🌤️
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RT @CathyJMann: Agree or disagree? https://t.co/JPosrE4dZm
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Good Morning Everyone! Who Else Cannot Believe The Year Is Already 25% Over?🤯😲🌄🔂📔🫥
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If you are "anti-woke", I guess that means you are pro-hate.🤔
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