Campaign, Development & Fundraising Consulting

As we ushered in the long-awaited new year, we turned to some of our most accomplished colleagues to benefit from their reflections on the past year as well as insights on what this new might hold for the advancement field. They all agree that the virtual world we’ve come to know is here to stay and while it won’t change the most fundamental cornerstone of fundraising - to connect with donors…

Are you unwittingly on the “yellow brick road” searching for the Wizard of Oz to tell you where you can find new donors? Never mind finding donors, set your sights on finding the right friends. Here are three sure-fire strategies to help you find them.

Don’t you wish you had a crystal ball to tell you if your next major campaign will be successful? Well, we don’t have a crystal ball, but we do have the next best thing – a feasibility study.

It’s vital to keep abreast of trends in annual giving. Some of the trends in annual giving include, but are not limited to: an increase in donor advised funds; an increase in on-line giving; increases in organizational giving; a decrease in the past few years in overall individual giving as we learn more about the full impact of the 2017 tax laws and donor behavior and motivation.

Trends come and go. But sound major gift principles are timeless and invaluable to our success in fundraising. Yes, we read “trends in major gifts fundraising” when advancement firms, along with information from businesses and research programs, provide us this valuable information. We look for insights into what we might do better, what might we be missing and what can we improve. Over the…

Stewarding donors is a vital and indispensable in ensuring retention and continued loyalty – not to mention creating opportunities to deepen your donor relationships. As defined in Merriam Webster dictionary, stewardship is the conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care. For us in advancement, our…

Your next major donor is likely already supporting your organization and, perhaps, is even engaged at some level. Learn how to inspire, teach, and engage donors to a major gift.

Last week, you met Penelope and learned how her gift officer started to deepen her inspiration, learned about her interests and engaged her in the university’s work. Now, let’s learn what they did next.

What donors find important when being thanked for their gift. The five P’s of memorable and meaningful thank you notes.

The face of philanthropy is changing. Women give and give generously, but only to those organizations that earn their support.

James Husson (Boston College) spoke with us about best practices for working with Board advancement committees.

The homepage of Lynne Wester’s website cites an alarming statistic: “…the current first-time donor retention rate is 22%.” That statement should strike fear in the hearts of fundraisers everywhere. She goes on to point out that the cost of recruiting a new donor is seven times more than the cost to retain one. Lynne Wester: "Fundraisers are faced with a major problem regarding the…

Perhaps the quintessential characteristic of a fundraising professional is the conviction that he or she has the great fortune to be able to offer donors a surfeit of wonderful opportunities for investment in an outstanding mission. This attribute certainly applies to Pat Campolieta, one of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s talented principal gift officers. “One of the many benefits of…

  When you are in the middle of a $400-million-dollar comprehensive campaign, as is Tracy Barlok at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, you don’t have a lot of spare time.  So we were grateful when Tracy granted us a few moments to answer our questions about what is trending among donors right now, the competition for donors’ dollars, diversity in the donor pool, and other…

Interview with Jessie L. Brooks, CFRE, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia Spelman College has long earned the admiration and support of female philanthropists inspired by the remarkable women who attend this historic school. Women philanthropists do of course give generously to other colleges and universities, but if ever there was a shining example of…

Interview with Matthew T. Lambert | Vice President for University Advancement at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia With women controlling an ever-larger slice of the financial pie, university advancement teams across the country are taking a hard look at how to tailor fundraising strategies to meet the priorities and interests of women donors. When Matthew Lambert returned to his alma…