Because it’s December, here’s the best-case scenario – your year-end fundraising program is in full gear and the gifts are rolling in. You’ve invested lots of time writing, designing, and sending letters and email appeals. Perhaps you recruited board members and other volunteers to write notes on all those fundraising letters, which … [Read more...]
In Training – and in Fundraising – You Can’t Make Everyone Happy
A few weeks ago, Andrea and I led a webinar about teaching board members to ask for gifts. It was a lively workshop. We shared five training exercises and answered lots of questions about board involvement. Overall, it felt like an effective, engaging experience. And then… Tell us what you really think As we were wrapping up, … [Read more...]
Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go
Note: This is a guest post from our thoughtful colleague Joseph Tumolo, CAP®. Joe helps fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, and board members grow their major and planned gift programs. Visit him online at www.joetumolo.com. Thanks, Joe! Sometimes I hear nonprofit managers wrestling with the questions, “What if we invest in training our … [Read more...]
What’s your relation to preparation?
Last month, I facilitated a train-the-trainer workshop for the faculty of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership, a program of California Lutheran University. It’s a lively network of skilled consultants, academics, and nonprofit staff who support and train their peers. For the icebreaker, I used one of my favorites – the continuum … [Read more...]
Ambassador Training for Your Board
How big is your marketing budget? Let me guess: Not big enough. Many grassroots nonprofits struggle with marketing. They want a big brand, but have little time or money to invest. Sadly, many of these groups ignore the best tool in the marketing toolbox – and it’s free. Word of mouth! While your marketing options have expanded … [Read more...]
Making Decisions? A Simple Facilitation Tool
A few years ago, I sat down with my colleagues Nancy Wasserman and Stephanie Lahar to discuss ways to work together more intentionally. We’re friends, we’re consultants with different (but complementary) expertise, and we all run our own one-person businesses. Nancy suggested a very basic exercise. She wrote three columns on a flip … [Read more...]
When Recruiting Board Members, Look for a Willingness to Learn
Note: This is a guest post from our colleague Kim Klein, a terrific author, fundraising trainer, and mentor to many, many grassroots fundraisers. Thanks Kim! Early in my consulting practice, I had the opportunity to work with the boards of three very different organizations. A well-established theater company A welfare rights … [Read more...]
Ask Your Board: How High Will You Go?
Note: This guest post is from our colleague Amy Eisenstein, one of the country’s leading fundraising consultants and trainers. Thanks Amy! Your board members are essential for successful fundraising, especially when it comes to major gift fundraising. Unfortunately, fundraising doesn’t come naturally to most board members, which means … [Read more...]
Talkers, non-talkers, and disrupters: How to effectively engage your group
If you’ve ever chaired a meeting, taught a class, organized people to accomplish a specific task, or facilitated anything, you’ve undoubtedly encountered these challenges. People who talk too much People who are uncomfortable talking in groups or simply choose not to speak People who disrupt the process and require a lot of … [Read more...]
Want a productive meeting? Create a great agenda
Many board members confuse going to meetings with fulfilling their duties. Alas, attending meetings barely qualifies as work – especially when you consider the typical agenda. A report, a few questions, another report, another question or two, a digression, a discussion about which color to paint the office, and an argument about the … [Read more...]
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