By now, all organizations should have closed off their 2020 (calendar) year. And what a year it was! I can confidently say that for every organization, there was some degree of uncertainty. There were probably some disappointments but, hopefully, there were also some pleasant surprises. But what should charities start examining when looking back...
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Issues Raising Funds — Part II
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...
Continue reading...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...Putting the donor in the center
COVID-19 has really taken a toll on good stewardship. Donor receptions, tours, and in-person briefings have been put on pause out of an abundance of caution. But, how do fundraisers relate to donors effectively with these restrictions? The key is putting the donor at the center of the virtual experience. It is still quite...
Continue reading...Tales from the Trenches is now Available
It’s hard to believe that after many months, Tales from the Trenches: What I Learned from 25 years in Fundraising is now available for sale. It has been quite the journey, and I am pretty proud of my first book. The feedback I have received thus far is quite overwhelming. I certainly wasn’t expecting...
Continue reading...Discussions Around the Dinner Table
I am positive that today’s dinner table discussions are more animated than they have been for the past while. Whether it is a discussion about the US election, the pandemic, thanksgiving, or even year-end philanthropy, these conversations are bound to be thought-provoking, to say the least. I was fortunate enough to attend a training...
Continue reading...Mixed Messages about 2020 Fundraising
To say that 2020 has been the wildest fundraising ride in history is an understatement. The year started as any normal year would and then, BAM! COVID-19. Fast forward almost 8 months later, and nothing seems quite normal. Many are still working from home. Many are not working at all. And fundraising has been...
Continue reading...Fundraising Metrics Part 1
Peter Drucker, the famous management consultant, would often proclaim, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Fundraising is chock-full of metrics, and in this article (and the next), I will explore the two major different types of fundraising metrics — financial and non-financial. Both are something that boards and bosses should be...
Continue reading...The Gambler: Lyrics to Live By
I have to admit that I am a fan of country music. Something is soothing about the tempo, and I can usually understand the lyrics. Some other types of music I can barely understand — my teen sons mock me for it. One of the tried and true songs is The Gambler by Kenny...
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...
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