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. 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
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 hear the following all the time when I ask fundraisers about their efforts to land meetings with major and legacy donors: “I tried calling, but they didn’t answer the phone,” they say. So what’s really happening here. MORE
If you had $58B, you would be among some interesting company. 58B represents more wealth than Larry Page and Michael Bloomberg, but not enough to surpass Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. 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. 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. 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. MORE
This guest post on year-end fundraising stats is from Nathan Hill at NextAfter. Every development professional understands the importance of year-end fundraising. 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. MORE
The power of convenience as an influencer and motivator of outcomes is enormous and should never be underestimated. Ours is a culture of convenience; we expect it in every area of our lives. Amazon.com is growing and profiting because it provides astounding levels of convenience to its customers. 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
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
Confusing? Too often planned giving newsletters are written by lawyers and the lawyers at nonprofits think they are just dandy. However, most of your supporters are not lawyers. Did they opt-in? Your planned giving newsletter is designed to educate people about planned gifts, right? 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. 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. 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. 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. MORE
What’s in a name? In my book (titled Engagement Fundraising ) I briefly described the changes affecting nonprofits and their fundraising staff. The label I applied to the trend was ‘Fundraising Climate Change.’ 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. 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. 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. MORE
How many decisions do you make each day? A quick google search yields our answer: somewhere near 35,000. That number may seem intimidating, “How can I make 35,000 decisions a day?” You might find yourself pondering. 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
I think too many nonprofit leaders don’t really know how to lead. Instead they just boss people around. Having a title means you have authority. But authority isn’t the same as leadership. In fact, too often people get into positions of authority only to become dictators, not leaders. 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
At MarketSmart, we don’t close sales and we don’t close deals. When it comes to how to ask for a gift, you’ll see there’s a parallel with how we conduct sales, and how nonprofits should raise funds. 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. 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. 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 ). MORE
Some people really know how to be givers. You know what I mean don’t you? From time to time all of us come across people who simply want to help others without seeking anything in return. Don’t you agree? That’s how I found Louis Diez. 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
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.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
iMarketSmart
MARCH 29, 2020
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 18, 2019
This guest post on year-end fundraising stats is from Nathan Hill at NextAfter. Every development professional understands the importance of year-end fundraising.
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 13, 2019
I hear the following all the time when I ask fundraisers about their efforts to land meetings with major and legacy donors: “I tried calling, but they didn’t answer the phone,” they say. So what’s really happening here.
iMarketSmart
NOVEMBER 6, 2019
How many decisions do you make each day? A quick google search yields our answer: somewhere near 35,000. That number may seem intimidating, “How can I make 35,000 decisions a day?” You might find yourself pondering.
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.
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 22, 2019
If you had $58B, you would be among some interesting company. 58B represents more wealth than Larry Page and Michael Bloomberg, but not enough to surpass Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos.
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.
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 ).
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
OCTOBER 1, 2019
Some people really know how to be givers. You know what I mean don’t you? From time to time all of us come across people who simply want to help others without seeking anything in return. Don’t you agree? That’s how I found Louis Diez.
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.
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 15, 2019
What’s in a name? In my book (titled Engagement Fundraising ) I briefly described the changes affecting nonprofits and their fundraising staff. The label I applied to the trend was ‘Fundraising Climate Change.’
iMarketSmart
MAY 13, 2019
Confusing? Too often planned giving newsletters are written by lawyers and the lawyers at nonprofits think they are just dandy. However, most of your supporters are not lawyers. Did they opt-in? Your planned giving newsletter is designed to educate people about planned gifts, right?
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.
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
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.
iMarketSmart
JUNE 24, 2019
I think too many nonprofit leaders don’t really know how to lead. Instead they just boss people around. Having a title means you have authority. But authority isn’t the same as leadership. In fact, too often people get into positions of authority only to become dictators, not leaders.
iMarketSmart
AUGUST 23, 2019
The power of convenience as an influencer and motivator of outcomes is enormous and should never be underestimated. Ours is a culture of convenience; we expect it in every area of our lives. Amazon.com is growing and profiting because it provides astounding levels of convenience to its customers.
iMarketSmart
AUGUST 20, 2019
At MarketSmart, we don’t close sales and we don’t close deals. When it comes to how to ask for a gift, you’ll see there’s a parallel with how we conduct sales, and how nonprofits should raise funds.
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.
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