Blog
Why Most Donor Portfolios Collapse
Most donor portfolios don’t fail because of effort. They fail because they were never portfolios. They’re lists. Typical portfolio: That’s […]
The Day Your Major Gift Officer Leaves
The day your Major Gift Officer leaves is the day you find out what your organization actually owns. Because if […]
Why Most Major Gifts Roles Fail (And It’s Not the Fundraiser)
Most nonprofits don’t have a major gifts problem. They have a development infrastructure problem. Every year, organizations post roles like: […]
Your Board Won’t Fundraise? Maybe We Need a Better Definition of Fundraising.
Too often, when nonprofit leaders say, “My board won’t fundraise,” what they really mean is: “My board doesn’t know what […]
Fix, Repair, or Replace: What Donation Notifications Are Really Telling You
I learned the phrase “Fix, Repair, Replace” from my stepfather. He owned a small two-bay Chevron service station when I […]
Donors Aren’t Ignoring You. They’re Overwhelmed.
One of the things I remember from my early marketing classes is that it takes multiple touches before someone acts […]
Why Development Directors Keep Failing (and It’s Not Their Fault)
In more than 15 years of working in nonprofit fundraising, I’ve watched the same cycle repeat itself over and over […]
The Time Tension: Why Fundraising Feels So Hard (and What Nonprofits Can Do About It)
I left a recent gathering of the Pacific Northwest Fundraising (PNWF) Advisory Board with a few pages of notes and […]
The High Cost of Low Nonprofit Pay (And Why Fundraising Keeps Breaking)
The Chronicle of Philanthropy published a piece this week about the high cost of low nonprofit pay. It wasn’t controversial. […]
High Open Rates Aren’t a Marketing Metric.
They’re an Organizational Asset. One of the most misunderstood signals in nonprofit fundraising is email open rate. When a nonprofit […]
It Isn’t “Just Social Media.” It’s Fundraising Infrastructure.
One of the things that still makes me a little crazy after 15+ years in nonprofit development is how quickly […]
Mission Over Mascot Why Nonprofits Need Systems, Not Celebrities
Somewhere along the way, the nonprofit world understood that every organization needs a “face.” You’ve heard it in board meetings, […]