I’ve been binge-watching “ER” lately and it’s left me in my feels. I grew up in Chicago and turned eight just a week before the show aired. I would visit my parents in their downtown office, and race down the stairs every few hours to feed the parking meters. Our state-of-the-art car phone was in a small briefcase.  And it was the height of the AIDS epidemic. 

AIDS is a major theme in ER. In just the first few episodes, a young girl dying of AIDS is abandoned by her adoptive parents at the ER.  In 1994, AIDS was the leading cause of death for all Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. Now, while HIV continues to disproportionately impact black and brown communities and is certainly still a serious disease, for most of us, it’s not part of our daily experiences or weeknight TV. 

Thirty years. We saw a deadly disease emerge, peak, and become manageable. We saw a country turn a blind eye to an epidemic, and we saw relentless activism lead to real change.

Hey fundraiser...I see you. I'm also over here hiding in my coffee cup, in denial that Giving Tuesday 2022 is in 40 days.

And I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by all of the end-of-year preparations I need to do. I bet you're feeling about as clueless as I am right now.

We're being bombarded with messaging that Giving Tuesday is the most important time of year for fundraisers. And while it's true that this is a critical time for nonprofits to engage with their donors, it doesn't have to be as overwhelming as it seems right now.

Can we talk about Giving Tuesday?

Because I have a confession: as a donor, I dread Giving Tuesday.

Fundraisers know the holidays are a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's a time of year when people are more likely to be in a giving mood. On the other hand, it can be tough to stand out from the noisy crowd and get your message heard. This is especially true on Giving Tuesday, when donors are bombarded with requests from organizations they may or may not have a relationship with. Is there a way to rethink Giving Tuesday so that it's more effective for both donors and nonprofits?

You're the Executive Director of a small nonprofit, and your Development Director just quit. Again. You've heard the average tenure of a Development Director is only 16 months...but it's devastatingly disruptive to lose another member of your senior leadership after less than two years. Sound familiar?

We all throw around the stats around development staff attrition, but it's rare that we talk about why.

There are tons of surveys and research about the high attrition rate for nonprofit development directors and it ultimately comes down to unrealistic expectations, a lack of investment in fundraising tools, systems, and people, and poor leadership.  

It’s far too common for nonprofit leaders to lose their development staff because they don’t know how to retain them.  But keeping them maybe be more accessible than it seems…as a nonprofit leader, you can retain your staff and help them thrive. But to do so, you have to be willing to understand - and address - the root causes of attrition. 

So how can we retain our development staff?

Ah, your donor database. We love to hate it. 

Most of us don’t have a dedicated database manager (can you imagine? Living. The. Dream). So our databases are often neglected, rarely used, and…as a result not that useful.

But there are some things you can do to actually use your database. And the more you use it, the more it can guide and shape your fundraising. Remember, we’re all about making our tools work for us! 

Fundraising is emotional work. We tell stories and build relationships. But we also do a surprising amount of routine, administrative work. So, can we use automation and software for our routine fundraising tasks, while still keeping the personal touch?

Yes. In fact, automating our administrative fundraising work means we have more time (and more energy) for relationship-based fundraising. Let's look at five ways that we actually use automation to build stronger relationships and free ourselves up for real creative thinking - and better fundraising.

Segmentation. It's a word fundraisers love to throw around...although very few of us do it well. So, let's put our money where our mouths are, and start segmenting our data.

So what is segmentation? When we segment our data, we're able to group our supporters based on shared characteristics (e.g. age, donation history, geographical area, etc.) Doing this gives us a deeper understanding of donors and what drives them to give. As a result, we can send more tailored messages that appeal to each group, which creates more value for our nonprofit.

It's time to stop wasting your money on tools you're not using.

And it's time to really use your tools to save you time...and headaches.

Look, I know the nonprofit sector is not known for its tech-savviness. We're bargain shoppers, coupon clippers, free-software users, and sometimes tech Luddites. But we can - and should - start using the many tools available!

Technology and tools are an important part of any fundraising or nonprofit operation, from our websites to our CRMs. However, it's not enough to just have them – you need to use them effectively in order to see results. That's why we love conducting a regular tool and tech audit - to see the full landscape of our tech tools and figure out which ones we can use better and which ones we might not even need. It also helps us make sure that we are using the tools to the fullest extent possible and that we're not paying for tools that could be simplified or replaced. Conducting a tool and tech audit can help you work smarter, not harder, and keep your costs down!

So, you hosted a wildly successful fundraising event last year and this year, you want to grow your corporate sponsorship program. 

After sponsors wrote the check last year, you sent them a heartfelt thank you note but realized you haven’t connected with them since. Now you’re racking your brain for the best way to make the ask again.

And, maybe like us, you’re really sick of the transactional nature of event sponsorships and are ready to shake things up. 

What if there was a better way to secure corporate sponsors?

So, you’re planning a fundraising event for your nonprofit and you want to secure some corporate sponsors. But you're not sure how to go about it….maybe your last sponsorship deck didn’t get any sponsors, or you spent more time on the phone than you did planning the event…or you’re just not sure what to include to make this year’s event a success.

Good news: a winning sponsorship deck is simpler than you think! A good sponsorship deck is a powerful tool you can use when you’re pitching corporate sponsors for your next fundraising event.

One of the common challenges people face when pitching corporate sponsors is not knowing what to include in their sponsorship deck. This can lead to a lot of wasted time and energy spent on putting together a deck that doesn't actually tell potential sponsors what they need to know. So, how can we do better?

So you want to throw a fundraising event. Sounds fun! But before you dive into your event (and hopefully start raking in donations) hit pause: fundraising events are not magic bullets...they take a lot of planning and hard work, and the return on investment can be pretty low. So, while we're big fans of a good party, it’s important to ask yourself some questions so that you can create an event that is successful for your organization.

It's summer! And whether your fiscal year is almost over, or you're smack-dab in the middle of the year, summer often comes with a pause in frantic fundraising activities. And it's a great time to hit pause and revisit those "important but not urgent" action items that make your development plan work....from donor relations to deduping data. So what are you waiting for? Let's get started!

As an amazing nonprofiteer, you know that grant writing is essential for getting grants (obviously!). But what do you need to know about crafting grants that will catch the attention of reviewers? 

Fortunately, it doesn’t take painstakingly crafting a perfect piece of writing or squeezing every single detail into a 250 word count response (... if you can do both, you may be a superhero!). Getting the attention of program officers is really about sharing your work clearly and finding ways to connect with them through your writing.

Here is some advice from those who know best: