Note: This post is from Train Your Board partner Laurel McCombs. Thanks, Laurel! My colleague Bob Osborne and I just spent a few great days in New Orleans at the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference (AFP ICON). This might be the largest fundraising conference in the world, with several thousand attendees from … [Read more...]
Your favorite thanks: A fundraising exercise
Note: This is adapted from Train Your Board (and Everyone Else) to Raise Money, which I co-authored with Andrea Kihlstedt. Fundraising is about gratitude and appreciation. When we demonstrate genuine, personal appreciation, donors respond – and they keep giving. By developing a “thank you menu,” you can provide more opportunities for … [Read more...]
Raising money from businesses: Six ways board members can help
Whenever I’m working with nonprofit boards – specifically, boards with limited fundraising experience – the brainstorm always begins like this: Let’s ask businesses for donations. While I have mixed feelings about this approach – after all, corporations provided only 4% of philanthropic dollars in 2021 – I also understand and … [Read more...]
Seven ways to build community fundraising partnerships
Note: This post is from Train Your Board partner Bob Osborne of The Osborne Group. Thanks, Bob! As the nonprofit sector considers how to behave in a more holistic, community-centric way – in other words, deeply engaging and partnering with the communities we serve – I’ve been wondering: How do we implement this approach with … [Read more...]
Five tips to improve your writing
In March 2014 – almost nine years ago – my colleague Andrea Kihlstedt and I shared our first blog post on Train Your Board. Today’s post is number 200. Wow! How did that happen? This project began as a book of fundraising exercises, then expanded to include a website, blog, and video training series. After a few years, Andrea stepped … [Read more...]
It’s time to check in with your donors
Note: This guest post is from Bob Osborne of The Osborne Group. Thanks, Bob! As we move from the economic uncertainty of a global pandemic to the economic uncertainty of inflation, high energy prices, and what many see as looming recession, it’s important to have happy, loyal, well-stewarded donors. How can you determine how your … [Read more...]
Eight ways to improve board fundraising
Note: This guest post is from Sabrina Walker Hernandez. Thanks, Sabrina! Here’s a question I hear repeatedly: How do I get my board members engaged in fundraising? (Cue the frustrated sighs from executive directors, CEOs, and development staff.) You’ve got options! Here are eight strategies you can use, right now, to improve board … [Read more...]
Four board tricks you haven’t tried … yet
Many people who contact me want to talk (or complain!) about their nonprofit’s board of directors. They ask, “How can we…” Convince our board to raise more money? Encourage them to take their work seriously? Improve their leadership skills? Transition our board to a different role as our organization … [Read more...]
Funding social change from your own community
Note: This guest post is adapted and condensed from Fundraising for Social Change, 8th Edition, by Kim Klein and Stan Yogi. It explores how the LGBTQ+ rights movement generated funding and people power in San Francisco. Order your copy through your local bookstore. Thanks, Stan and Kim! In the 1970s, lesbians and gay men from … [Read more...]
Why fundraising is better than an endowment
Note: This guest post is from Harvey McKinnon, with assistance from his colleague Kevin Wilson. Thank you both! For many years I served on the board of a small arts organization. I loved the nonprofit, but one thing bothered me every time we went over the budget: our endowment. The endowment totaled about $900,000, just shy of our … [Read more...]
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