Last week, I wrote about golf and fundraising — the advent of the graphite shaft amplifies your golf swing (good or bad), just as COVID has amplified fundraising (good or bad). In last week’s posting, I shared three issues in raising funds that you may encounter, namely staff turnover, the rainmaker, and the organization’s...
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Signals that you will soon have Issues Raising Funds
Fundraising during COVID is like using a graphite golf club. Those things that go well go really well, and the things that go poorly go really poorly. Just as a graphite shaft will amplify your shot (good or bad), so too will fundraising in a pandemic. The donors seen as the 1-percenters have seen...
Continue reading...Budget for 2021 — an Educated Guess
Many charitable organizations have a fiscal year-end of December 31. To say that 2020 has been a year of unpredictability and uncharted territory is an understatement. But, as all organizations must, you need to report on 2020 and budget appropriately for 2021. In a year that saw most events furloughed, doors potentially closed and...
Continue reading...What Comes First — the Overhead, or the Revenue?
Every charity that I have worked with in my 25-plus years worries about overhead costs. As they should. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) also has a concern with overhead costs per dollar raised. As a result, they have set out some guidelines that it feels charities should strive for, namely: Generally acceptable costs are...
Continue reading...Do you need a Professional? Anybody can Fundraise — NOT!!
I have often written about the fact that fundraising isn’t rocket science. I would like to take the opportunity to use this article to clarify that thought a bit more. While anyone can ask for funds, it takes a seasoned professional to ensure the overall fundraising program is successful. Planning from concept to reality...
Continue reading...The Best Laid Plan
I wrote a post about a month ago speaking of the need to pivot when it comes to your plan in the Time of COVID. I have heard from many colleagues in the field who are in panic mode as they do not even have a plan to modify. While that is shocking in...
Continue reading...Leadership Lessons Learned
There are many times that I wish that someone told me which pitfalls to avoid when you are a leader. Or which ladders to climb. I have been through the School of Hard Knocks (graduated with honors, thank you very much) and I think it only fair that I share some of my lessons...
Continue reading...Take Control of your Plan
In these unprecedented times, it is really important to have a plan. Realize that your plan may go to pieces before it gets executed, but have a plan nevertheless. Who planned to have a worldwide shut down for months? Without a plan, you are simply adrift. You have no destination and therefore you will...
Continue reading...Some ideas for Helping Charities
As I have written before, we are living in uncharted times. There are millions of people out of work at the moment and most people’s personal investment portfolios have taken quite a hit. That’s the bad news. So what could possibly be the good news? The desire to help out our fellow man has...
Continue reading...Covid-19 & Fundraising
Never in my life have I ever seen a situation as we find ourselves in right now. Admittedly, I was less than a stellar student at university (oftentimes, my classes interfered with drinks at the Elbow Room). I do, however, remember an introductory Social Science class that spoke of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. That...
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