Monday, November 29, 2010


The Power of Legacy and Planned Gifts: how nonprofits and donors work together to change the world
by Kevin Johnson
Written with a focus on the unique perspective and needs of small or mid-size nonprofits. Real-world examples and worksheets will help these nonprofits build a stream of future income from bequests.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Fundraising Intelligence webinars from WealthEngine

December 1 2010 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Strategies for Building the Prospect Pipeline
Presented in conjunction with APRA. Caroline Oblack of WealthEngine will cover proactive research strategies designed to help organizations build their prospect pool, including:
• A three-pronged approach including screening, peer screening, and modeling/analytics
• Building your donor base through proactive prospecting
• Prospecting for donors
• Social networking/ethics
• Harnessing the power of your DMS (Using the Resources You Have)

December 7, 2010 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Actionable Strategies for Growing Your Fundraising Program
This session will discuss the different areas of fundraising and how an organization may prioritize and segment their donor and prospect base to grow their fundraising program. Topics may include:

•Major Gifts
•Annual Fund
•Planned Giving
•Corporate/Foundation giving
•Strategies to Upgrade Annual Fund Donors to a Major Gift Prospects
•Strategies to involve your Board Members and Volunteers in the fundraising process
•Segmenting and Prioritizing Your Donors and Prospects

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

GrantSpace

The Foundation Center’s GrantSpace offers information and resources that are specifically designed to meet the needs of grantseekers. Visit GrantSpace to explore in-depth content, engage with a community of peers and experts and energize your fundraising efforts.

Join GrantSpace today and get a free 24-hour gift card for Foundation Directory Online Professional—the Foundation Center’s searchable database of nearly 100,000 grantmakers and more than 2 million grants.

• View video recordings of live discussions with grantmakers and listen to podcasts featuring experts in the field

Find answers to your questions in our Knowledge Base

Get information about opportunities in your subject

Increase your expertise in fundraising and management

Attend training and events, in-person and online

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Individual Donor Fundraising Trends

Although the Foundation Directory Online is the go-to resource for foundation funding, a successful fundraising strategy for any organization is composed of a diverse set of revenue sources. Here is information on several recent surveys about fundraising from individual donors.

Some of the findings from a recent Blackbaud survey are expected: direct mail, one-on-one solicitation of donors, and special events are seen as the top drivers of donations to organizations.

Perhaps more intriguing is this Dunham and Company survey,
which investigates the relationship between direct mail and online giving. Just a few of the interesting findings:
•14% of respondents stated that they gave online as a result of direct mail, compared to only 6% of those who gave after receiving an e-mail
•As expected, most younger donors are giving online as a response to direct mail, but 1 in 4 baby boomers are as well
•15% of respondents said their online gift was prompted by being asked to give by someone through a social media site. This number jumped to 24% for donors under the age of 40.

The Blackbaud survey also found that overall revenue from online giving during the last three month period ending in August is up by 20.4% from the same period last year. However, its respondents also reported that e-mail was the top driver of online donations last year, followed by direct mail. Though this initially seems to contradict the findings of the other survey, it is important to keep in mind that one surveyed nonprofit organizations, while the other surveyed individual donors, and neither were completely comprehensive in their scope.

An Indiana University Center on Philanthropy study found that women are generally more charitable than men — with a few exceptions, women at almost all income levels were more likely to give and to give more than men. These findings have already spurred conversation on why this may (or may not) be important. Additional results detailing what types of organizations women gave to are due out in December or January.

These findings, although not entirely surprising, but they further illustrate the need to constantly re-evaluate your fundraising strategy, critically looking at what is and isn't working.

For more resources on fundraising planning, be sure to visit the Foundation Center’s GrantSpace, where you can find podcasts, webinars, answers to frequently asked questions, and much more!