Tips on Advanced Fundraising
How To Secure More Gifts From Donor-Advised Funds
By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA We must ensure that all charitable donations are made available for charitable use, rather than languishing indefinitely in donor-advised funds (DAFs). After all, donors who contribute to DAFs receive an immediate tax benefit. But nonprofits have no idea when they’ll ever see a dime. DAFs have come under fire for the fact that they are not legally required to spend the money that they
Segmentation Tips to Raise More at #GivingTuesday and Year-End
By Ryan Carpenter November and December are a prime time for philanthropy, with 31% of donations occurring in December alone. But if you aren’t prepared to ride the coming wave of support, you could be leaving dollars behind. One of the best strategies to make the most of the giving season is to develop segmented messages for various donor groups. Given that donors have been shown to give 10%
How to Win a Government Grant
By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA, and Perry W. Kaplan Federal and state agencies provide significant support to nonprofits each year through government grants. But the process for applying for government grants is far from easy. In fact, it’s quite complicated. Competition for government support is intense — and the application process is fraught with complexity. Winning a government grant requires nonprofits to carefully align the main pieces of their
Three Steps to Manage Uncomfortableness in Fundraising
By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA We try our utmost to avoid it, but feeling uncomfortable is key to fundraising mastery. In fact, the more advanced fundraising you seek, the more uncomfortable feelings rise. Yet it is an enormous (and lucrative) gift to yourself, and especially to your nonprofit, to work through these initial feelings. Aversion for being uncomfortable is understandable. Uncomfortable situations trigger feelings of being out of control.
As Giving Tuesday Approaches, What’s New in Digital Fundraising?
By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Giving Tuesday, November 30, is a digital fundraising wonderland. But is your digital fundraising up to snuff? Below are a number of useful resources that can help you get there. First, here’s a downloadable workbook that walks you step by step through building a great Giving Tuesday campaign. Second, watch our recent webinar that offers timely guidance to shape your Giving Tuesday strategy. Here’s the skinny:
Site Visits in the Zoom Age
By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA & Sheldon Bart In what we might call the BC era (Before COVID), site visits mainly entailed a tour of your nonprofit’s facility. You took the foundation program officer or the major donor on a walk around the program site to give them a good look at your day-to-day operations. They were happy to see in action the services described in words in your