Expert insights. Personalized for you.
Nonprofits tend to get addicted to transactions. Of course addictions are hard to break. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be broken at all. Too often, nonprofits get addicted to making requests for transactions (solicitations) aimed mostly toward low-capacity supporters even though most of the funding already comes from major donors (including bequests). MORE
Click here for the free comprehensive guide for donor-advised funds. Trends come and go, but donor-advised funds are forever. I’m not quite sure that’s the quote, but I think it goes something like that. MORE
Most nonprofits have very narcissistic websites that promote how great they are and how well suited they are to accomplish their mission. Sure, it’s true that donors need to have belief and confidence in your organization to help them achieve their philanthropic outcomes. MORE
You know major gift fundraising is a marathon, not a sprint. But your boss wants results now. So you screen your list for wealth. Or maybe you have a predictive model developed to determine whom to contact first. Next, you send a letter to your prospect and promise to follow it up with a phone call. MORE
Relationships building is part art, part science. And, as we all know, raising major and legacy gifts is all about building meaningful relationships. Over the past few years, the strategies and tactics nonprofits employ to raise major and legacy gifts has evolved and changed, and with good reason. MORE
“I owe a great deal of thanks to the person who invested in planned giving 15 years ago.”. I was sitting in the crowd at the 2019 ANA Chicago Nonprofit Conference, listening to the presentation titled “Retaining Your Sustaining Donors” when my ears perked up. MORE
I’m very thankful that Dr. Russell James has graciously shared 10 smart ways your supporters can give wisely before the end of this year. He recommends you share these concepts right away, as you see fit. 1. Deduct $300 without itemizing. This year only! MORE
Competition is fierce and everywhere. Nonprofits don’t only compete with other nonprofits. They also compete with private sector businesses and Uncle Sam (the tax collector) for every donor’s “share of wallet and attention.” MORE
Being disrespectful, interrupting & annoying supporters. Spray-n’-pray marketing. Show up n’ throw up presentations. Treating donors like ATM machines. Asking for money (begging). Counting numbers of new Legacy Society members. Shaming donors into giving at events that cost a lot. Acquiring thousands of new, low-dollar donors. Finding innovative ways to get ‘em to give more. Pre-qualifying major donors mostly because they’re rich. Making supporters feel bad. IN’s. MORE
This is part 3 of 3 in a series. For the first post, go here and for the second post, go here. Engage and offer, don’t ask. We’ve been hearing from a lot of organizations over the past few weeks, and many are putting a total hold on communications to their donors. I would encourage you to do the exact opposite. . Donors are getting bombarded with information and opinions from the media, the government, their friends, their family, social media — you name it! MORE
This email wasted my time and annoyed me because… I don’t know this person. I don’t know this organization. I didn’t give her or them permission to email me. I have no connection whatsoever to this cause or this organization. MORE
Engagement calling, not cold calling! About 1 1/2 years ago I introduced the concept of Engagement Calling as the best way to land appointments with highly qualified, major gift donor prospects (much better than cold calling). But back then I failed to provide metrics for managing the process. So, today, I’ll lay them out for you. But before we dive into that, it’s important to remember that most supporters will not be ready to make a gift right away. MORE
I think fundraisers should recognize that donors are playing a lifelong game of musical chairs. The people you consider to be YOUR donors are circling around many other charities and, from time to time, they ‘sit’ with one that engages them properly and makes them feel good. Then, when the music starts playing again, they go around and around until they find another charity and take a seat there for a while. MORE
“Did you get the [information, brochure, or letter] I sent?” ” Has anyone really had great success starting an outreach call with this question? MORE
Stay with me on this. Of course, you can’t expect to get money out of a piggy bank unless you first make deposits. That framework has resulted in positive outcomes for eons. That’s why you should treat your supporters like piggy banks! You, the fundraiser, must make deposits first. In other words, you need to be the one to give to your supporters first before you can expect to receive. Giving makes your supporters feel good. It builds trust and it activates the law of reciprocity. MORE
Our sector is, once again, awaiting the results of Giving Tuesday without much thought about what value WE are giving to our supporters— and that’s really too bad. Why,” you might ask? The answer: Because immutable laws apply when money is involved. MORE
Can you add to this list? Failure to conduct a feasibility study. Failure to pay attention to the results of the feasibility study. Failure to build an appropriate campaign leadership team. Failure to obtain deep and broad stakeholder buy-in. MORE
Be truthful, no tricks! You cannot build relationships upon lies. Not even white lies. Be relevant. . To do that, you must consider where ea ch supporter resides in the consideration process for giving and what they might be thinking. MORE
There’s a theme to major and legacy gift fundraising. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to uncover it. It’s the importance of relationship building. At the root of every major or legacy gift made there’s an intimate and undoubtedly deep connection between a donor and the organization. MORE
The post test forms appeared first on MarketSmart. Smartideas MORE
Google search “fundraising metrics” and you’ll find plenty of blog posts and articles. In fact, you’ll come across too many. It can be overwhelming to figure out what fundraising metrics your nonprofit should track and measure. MORE
“You can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”. I wasn’t frustrated. If anything, I was disappointed. How could I forget that quote?” I thought to myself. I was sitting in our CEO’s office. MORE
I think most campaign feasibility studies leave a ton of money on the table. Here’s a hyper-simplified description of how it usually works. You hire a consultant. Together, you conduct the feasibility study and review the results. Then, you make a decision on whether or not to go forward with the campaign. So what then? What about the supporters who helped you come to that conclusion? Prior to conducting the study, did you prepare a plan to give to them after they helped you? MORE
For decades, fundraisers have sought a ‘magic box’ to identify the most ideal donor prospects for outreach, relationship-building, and solicitation. Of course they do. Who wouldn’t want one? With a ‘magic box’ a fundraiser could become much more efficient and effective. They’d be able to zero-in on the best donor prospects, call them up, land a meeting, build a relationship quickly, solicit a gift, close it, and take a victory lap around the office. MORE
No one likes getting cold calls and you probably don’t like making them. MORE
Before we begin. The 2020 Major Gift Benchmark Study asked people working in nonprofit organizations (n=580) what they consider to be a major gift, how they are staffed to raise major gifts, the types of information used to identify major gift prospects, and more. MORE
In case you couldn’t tell from the title of today’s blog post, we have some exciting news to share with you! MarketSmart is the newest member of The Giving Institute. Founded in 1935, The Giving Institute has served as one of the most influential and important organizations advancing leadership and ethics in philanthropy and fundraising in our sector. MORE
I think too many in the nonprofit sector fear failure. Unfortunately, that paralyzes people. It prevents them from making decisions and thwarts innovation. In most cases it isn’t the fundraisers fault. They want to take risks. But, unfortunately the leaders, the board or the media make fundraisers feel like they can’t. They always seem to be lurking, waiting for failure so they can jump in shouting, “How dare you waste money!” and that thwarts risk-taking which leads to innovation. MORE
Sadly, I’ve witnessed all of these but I truly believe #1 is the worst. Here are my top 10 traits of terrible fundraisers that drive major donors away: . Showing up late; 9. Failing to do something that was promised; 8. Talking about how great they are at raising money; 7. Pitching or presenting instead of collaborating; 6. Forgetting what was discussed last time; 5. Lacking gratitude and appreciation; 4. Pressuring, guilting or shaming; 3. Noticeably lacking true passion for the cause; 2. MORE
A different frame of reference. Every once in a while someone comes along to change things. They say a few words differently or help you see things from a divergent perspective. That’s what Kevin Fitzpatrick did with his ‘One Visit Away’ podcast. Link to the Apple podcast. MORE
Let me know what you think about my top 10 reasons why some fundraisers might be uncomfortable making the ask : 10. They are in the wrong job and should be doing something else; 9. They are poorly trained (or not trained at all) and, therefore, don’t know how and when to do it; 8. They don’t truly believe in their employer’s mission ; 7. MORE
Don’t Panic. It’s the first rule of crisis management. When we panic we make bad decisions. Many of us have been facing closures, lockdowns and other extreme measures around the pandemic for almost a month, and every organization is thinking about how they can cut nonessential costs. MORE
This is part 2 of 3 in a series. For the previous post, go he re. Kill self-doubt. Some in your organization might be saying things like: “Our major donors’ investment portfolios have been decimated. There’s no way they’ll give.” I want to help you quash this negative train of thought right now. MORE
We are going to get through this, and history proves it. For many of us, this is not the first economic downturn we have seen in our careers.When we look at the Great Recession of 2008, giving declined only slightly. MORE
She told me others would say I was unprofessional. I was asked to lead a roundtable discussion at a conference recently. So I did. And afterward one of the attendees approached me as I got a cup of coffee in the sponsorship expo room. She said, “Greg, I really enjoyed your roundtable discussion but why on earth did you curse… twice? Don’t you worry that people will say you’re unprofessional?” MORE
Every profession has its fair share of jargon. Fundraising, and nonprofits in general, are no exception. Fundraising terms, acronyms, and jargon are as varied and valid as any other industry. As professionals in this field, we certainly have a wide-ranging glossary of phrases at our disposal. MORE
A couple of weeks ago, my longtime friend Dr. Russell James presented his top recommendations for fundraisers to consider especially during the coronavirus era. If you missed the event, don’t worry. You can view the recorded webinar and download the slides here. MORE
Leadership is NOT about ‘managing’ people, bossing them around, or being a tyrant and it ISN’T about showing people how great YOU are either. Instead, it’s about helping coachable people that have passion and character become great. MORE
“Have you read this one?”. “Zach, hold on I didn’t even finish the other articles you sent me yet.” ” I guess I was being a bit overwhelming. Okay, yeah, I’m sorry. It’s just there is SO much out there on DAFs right now. It’s hard to keep up.”. MORE
From bad to worse. When I first saw the pictures of the flames engulfing Notre-Dame, I thought to myself, “That’s terrible.” ” But now, that the fire has been extinguished, I’m feeling like something else is even worse. In the aftermath of the destruction, people from all walks of life have been making comments about the philanthropists stepping forward to repair and restore the 856-year-old cathedral in Paris. Many of those comments have been negative. MORE
This is a first! I’ve never had anyone write a guest post for my blog. But when I saw what Daphne Powell was doing to grow relationships with her donors, I reached out to her to see if she might consider telling you her story. So, here goes… Introducing Daphne Powell and her magical use of photo books for donor stewardship. Hoooooorayyyyy Daphne! Connecting with donors through photo books. By Daphne Powell. MORE
A few weeks ago I hosted a webinar about Fundraising Climate Change (a term I developed some time ago and included in my book titled Engagement Fundraising ). In the webinar I presented a ton of data supporting my claim that the fundraising environment has been shifting and the storm clouds have been gathering. I believe that, finally, the day of reckoning is upon us and too few organizations are ready. MORE
Stewardship Series Effort. When it comes to legacy gifts, many organizations spend too much time focused on uncovering hidden gifts or closing more of them. Sure, it’s important to find out who planned a secret gift and to inspire donors to make planned gift disclosures. MORE
Nearly ten years ago I made a new friend. It started out with an error. I wrote a blog post about the link between childlessness and planned giving. But I screwed up my math. Dr. James reached out to ‘help’ me catch the error and we struck up a dialogue via my blog. MORE
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 3, 2020
I’m very thankful that Dr. Russell James has graciously shared 10 smart ways your supporters can give wisely before the end of this year. He recommends you share these concepts right away, as you see fit. 1. Deduct $300 without itemizing. This year only!
iMarketSmart
FEBRUARY 26, 2021
Most nonprofits have very narcissistic websites that promote how great they are and how well suited they are to accomplish their mission. Sure, it’s true that donors need to have belief and confidence in your organization to help them achieve their philanthropic outcomes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
iMarketSmart
FEBRUARY 24, 2021
No one likes getting cold calls and you probably don’t like making them.
iMarketSmart
MAY 4, 2020
Before we begin. The 2020 Major Gift Benchmark Study asked people working in nonprofit organizations (n=580) what they consider to be a major gift, how they are staffed to raise major gifts, the types of information used to identify major gift prospects, and more.
iMarketSmart
JUNE 22, 2020
Competition is fierce and everywhere. Nonprofits don’t only compete with other nonprofits. They also compete with private sector businesses and Uncle Sam (the tax collector) for every donor’s “share of wallet and attention.”
iMarketSmart
MARCH 31, 2020
Don’t Panic. It’s the first rule of crisis management. When we panic we make bad decisions. Many of us have been facing closures, lockdowns and other extreme measures around the pandemic for almost a month, and every organization is thinking about how they can cut nonessential costs.
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 30, 2020
A different frame of reference. Every once in a while someone comes along to change things. They say a few words differently or help you see things from a divergent perspective. That’s what Kevin Fitzpatrick did with his ‘One Visit Away’ podcast. Link to the Apple podcast.
iMarketSmart
DECEMBER 1, 2020
Our sector is, once again, awaiting the results of Giving Tuesday without much thought about what value WE are giving to our supporters— and that’s really too bad. Why,” you might ask? The answer: Because immutable laws apply when money is involved.
iMarketSmart
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
“Did you get the [information, brochure, or letter] I sent?” ” Has anyone really had great success starting an outreach call with this question?
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 20, 2020
Be truthful, no tricks! You cannot build relationships upon lies. Not even white lies. Be relevant. . To do that, you must consider where ea ch supporter resides in the consideration process for giving and what they might be thinking.
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 13, 2020
You know major gift fundraising is a marathon, not a sprint. But your boss wants results now. So you screen your list for wealth. Or maybe you have a predictive model developed to determine whom to contact first. Next, you send a letter to your prospect and promise to follow it up with a phone call.
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 26, 2020
Can you add to this list? Failure to conduct a feasibility study. Failure to pay attention to the results of the feasibility study. Failure to build an appropriate campaign leadership team. Failure to obtain deep and broad stakeholder buy-in.
iMarketSmart
JANUARY 2, 2020
Leadership is NOT about ‘managing’ people, bossing them around, or being a tyrant and it ISN’T about showing people how great YOU are either. Instead, it’s about helping coachable people that have passion and character become great.
iMarketSmart
AUGUST 12, 2020
The post test forms appeared first on MarketSmart. Smartideas
iMarketSmart
MARCH 4, 2020
Google search “fundraising metrics” and you’ll find plenty of blog posts and articles. In fact, you’ll come across too many. It can be overwhelming to figure out what fundraising metrics your nonprofit should track and measure.
iMarketSmart
MAY 12, 2020
Nearly ten years ago I made a new friend. It started out with an error. I wrote a blog post about the link between childlessness and planned giving. But I screwed up my math. Dr. James reached out to ‘help’ me catch the error and we struck up a dialogue via my blog.
iMarketSmart
JANUARY 20, 2020
“Have you read this one?”. “Zach, hold on I didn’t even finish the other articles you sent me yet.” ” I guess I was being a bit overwhelming. Okay, yeah, I’m sorry. It’s just there is SO much out there on DAFs right now. It’s hard to keep up.”.
iMarketSmart
MARCH 31, 2020
This is part 2 of 3 in a series. For the previous post, go he re. Kill self-doubt. Some in your organization might be saying things like: “Our major donors’ investment portfolios have been decimated. There’s no way they’ll give.” I want to help you quash this negative train of thought right now.
iMarketSmart
JUNE 1, 2020
A couple of weeks ago, my longtime friend Dr. Russell James presented his top recommendations for fundraisers to consider especially during the coronavirus era. If you missed the event, don’t worry. You can view the recorded webinar and download the slides here.
iMarketSmart
FEBRUARY 19, 2020
There’s a theme to major and legacy gift fundraising. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to uncover it. It’s the importance of relationship building. At the root of every major or legacy gift made there’s an intimate and undoubtedly deep connection between a donor and the organization.
iMarketSmart
MAY 20, 2020
Stewardship Series Effort. When it comes to legacy gifts, many organizations spend too much time focused on uncovering hidden gifts or closing more of them. Sure, it’s important to find out who planned a secret gift and to inspire donors to make planned gift disclosures.
iMarketSmart
FEBRUARY 5, 2020
Relationships building is part art, part science. And, as we all know, raising major and legacy gifts is all about building meaningful relationships. Over the past few years, the strategies and tactics nonprofits employ to raise major and legacy gifts has evolved and changed, and with good reason.
iMarketSmart
FEBRUARY 26, 2020
Every profession has its fair share of jargon. Fundraising, and nonprofits in general, are no exception. Fundraising terms, acronyms, and jargon are as varied and valid as any other industry. As professionals in this field, we certainly have a wide-ranging glossary of phrases at our disposal.
iMarketSmart
JULY 21, 2019
Let me know what you think about my top 10 reasons why some fundraisers might be uncomfortable making the ask : 10. They are in the wrong job and should be doing something else; 9. They are poorly trained (or not trained at all) and, therefore, don’t know how and when to do it; 8. They don’t truly believe in their employer’s mission ; 7.
iMarketSmart
JANUARY 29, 2020
“I owe a great deal of thanks to the person who invested in planned giving 15 years ago.”. I was sitting in the crowd at the 2019 ANA Chicago Nonprofit Conference, listening to the presentation titled “Retaining Your Sustaining Donors” when my ears perked up.
iMarketSmart
DECEMBER 5, 2019
Click here for the free comprehensive guide for donor-advised funds. Trends come and go, but donor-advised funds are forever. I’m not quite sure that’s the quote, but I think it goes something like that.
iMarketSmart
MAY 2, 2019
I think fundraisers should recognize that donors are playing a lifelong game of musical chairs. The people you consider to be YOUR donors are circling around many other charities and, from time to time, they ‘sit’ with one that engages them properly and makes them feel good. Then, when the music starts playing again, they go around and around until they find another charity and take a seat there for a while.
iMarketSmart
AUGUST 5, 2019
This is a first! I’ve never had anyone write a guest post for my blog. But when I saw what Daphne Powell was doing to grow relationships with her donors, I reached out to her to see if she might consider telling you her story. So, here goes… Introducing Daphne Powell and her magical use of photo books for donor stewardship. Hoooooorayyyyy Daphne! Connecting with donors through photo books. By Daphne Powell.
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 26, 2019
“You can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”. I wasn’t frustrated. If anything, I was disappointed. How could I forget that quote?” I thought to myself. I was sitting in our CEO’s office.
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 26, 2018
Nonprofits tend to get addicted to transactions. Of course addictions are hard to break. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be broken at all. Too often, nonprofits get addicted to making requests for transactions (solicitations) aimed mostly toward low-capacity supporters even though most of the funding already comes from major donors (including bequests).
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 15, 2019
In case you couldn’t tell from the title of today’s blog post, we have some exciting news to share with you! MarketSmart is the newest member of The Giving Institute. Founded in 1935, The Giving Institute has served as one of the most influential and important organizations advancing leadership and ethics in philanthropy and fundraising in our sector.
iMarketSmart
MAY 21, 2019
Engagement calling, not cold calling! About 1 1/2 years ago I introduced the concept of Engagement Calling as the best way to land appointments with highly qualified, major gift donor prospects (much better than cold calling). But back then I failed to provide metrics for managing the process. So, today, I’ll lay them out for you. But before we dive into that, it’s important to remember that most supporters will not be ready to make a gift right away.
iMarketSmart
FEBRUARY 4, 2019
I think too many in the nonprofit sector fear failure. Unfortunately, that paralyzes people. It prevents them from making decisions and thwarts innovation. In most cases it isn’t the fundraisers fault. They want to take risks. But, unfortunately the leaders, the board or the media make fundraisers feel like they can’t. They always seem to be lurking, waiting for failure so they can jump in shouting, “How dare you waste money!” and that thwarts risk-taking which leads to innovation.
iMarketSmart
APRIL 1, 2020
This is part 3 of 3 in a series. For the first post, go here and for the second post, go here. Engage and offer, don’t ask. We’ve been hearing from a lot of organizations over the past few weeks, and many are putting a total hold on communications to their donors. I would encourage you to do the exact opposite. . Donors are getting bombarded with information and opinions from the media, the government, their friends, their family, social media — you name it!
iMarketSmart
APRIL 29, 2019
From bad to worse. When I first saw the pictures of the flames engulfing Notre-Dame, I thought to myself, “That’s terrible.” ” But now, that the fire has been extinguished, I’m feeling like something else is even worse. In the aftermath of the destruction, people from all walks of life have been making comments about the philanthropists stepping forward to repair and restore the 856-year-old cathedral in Paris. Many of those comments have been negative.
iMarketSmart
JULY 26, 2019
This email wasted my time and annoyed me because… I don’t know this person. I don’t know this organization. I didn’t give her or them permission to email me. I have no connection whatsoever to this cause or this organization.
iMarketSmart
JUNE 6, 2018
She told me others would say I was unprofessional. I was asked to lead a roundtable discussion at a conference recently. So I did. And afterward one of the attendees approached me as I got a cup of coffee in the sponsorship expo room. She said, “Greg, I really enjoyed your roundtable discussion but why on earth did you curse… twice? Don’t you worry that people will say you’re unprofessional?”
iMarketSmart
JULY 16, 2019
I think most campaign feasibility studies leave a ton of money on the table. Here’s a hyper-simplified description of how it usually works. You hire a consultant. Together, you conduct the feasibility study and review the results. Then, you make a decision on whether or not to go forward with the campaign. So what then? What about the supporters who helped you come to that conclusion? Prior to conducting the study, did you prepare a plan to give to them after they helped you?
iMarketSmart
JANUARY 2, 2019
Being disrespectful, interrupting & annoying supporters. Spray-n’-pray marketing. Show up n’ throw up presentations. Treating donors like ATM machines. Asking for money (begging). Counting numbers of new Legacy Society members. Shaming donors into giving at events that cost a lot. Acquiring thousands of new, low-dollar donors. Finding innovative ways to get ‘em to give more. Pre-qualifying major donors mostly because they’re rich. Making supporters feel bad. IN’s.
iMarketSmart
JUNE 11, 2019
A few weeks ago I hosted a webinar about Fundraising Climate Change (a term I developed some time ago and included in my book titled Engagement Fundraising ). In the webinar I presented a ton of data supporting my claim that the fundraising environment has been shifting and the storm clouds have been gathering. I believe that, finally, the day of reckoning is upon us and too few organizations are ready.
iMarketSmart
MAY 30, 2018
Sadly, I’ve witnessed all of these but I truly believe #1 is the worst. Here are my top 10 traits of terrible fundraisers that drive major donors away: . Showing up late; 9. Failing to do something that was promised; 8. Talking about how great they are at raising money; 7. Pitching or presenting instead of collaborating; 6. Forgetting what was discussed last time; 5. Lacking gratitude and appreciation; 4. Pressuring, guilting or shaming; 3. Noticeably lacking true passion for the cause; 2.
iMarketSmart
MAY 29, 2019
For decades, fundraisers have sought a ‘magic box’ to identify the most ideal donor prospects for outreach, relationship-building, and solicitation. Of course they do. Who wouldn’t want one? With a ‘magic box’ a fundraiser could become much more efficient and effective. They’d be able to zero-in on the best donor prospects, call them up, land a meeting, build a relationship quickly, solicit a gift, close it, and take a victory lap around the office.
iMarketSmart
JANUARY 30, 2019
Stay with me on this. Of course, you can’t expect to get money out of a piggy bank unless you first make deposits. That framework has resulted in positive outcomes for eons. That’s why you should treat your supporters like piggy banks! You, the fundraiser, must make deposits first. In other words, you need to be the one to give to your supporters first before you can expect to receive. Giving makes your supporters feel good. It builds trust and it activates the law of reciprocity.
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