Major Gifts Officer – Dave the Development Director
“I’m so glad you came in for this interview to be a major gifts officer, what is one of your weaknesses?” asked Dave. The job candidate replies, “I don’t like to ask people for money.”
Read more
Why Donors Give: Tax Deduction
Fundraising hinges on appealing to the recipient’s reasons for giving. Consider all the ways you can leverage storytelling, imagery, and emotion in your emails. The motivation for giving is as diverse as your recipients, but research suggests most people fall into one of several categories. ...
Read more
Episode 003 – How Do We Segment Our Emails?
Have you ever hired a consultant to help you with a project, but when it comes time to execute, they disappear? This happened to Holly when she brought in a consultant to look at her email fundraising program. The consultant told Holly she should improve her segmentation and then disappeared before sharing with her a direction to go. In episode 3 of the Nonprofit Answers Podcast, Jeremy teaches Holly about different ways to segment her email file to maximize response.
Read more
Episode 002 – How Do We Improve Our Turnaround Time for Sending Disaster Fundraising Appeals?
In episode two of the Nonprofit Answers Podcast, Jeremy Reis takes a question from Ryan who's frustrated with their turnaround time on disaster response fundraising appeals. This is a topic that really hits home: how do we decide if we're going to respond to a disaster and then get our appeals out the door quickly in email and direct mail? Jeremy shares how Food for the Hungry decides when to respond and how they send out emergency response fundraising appeals quickly.
Read more
Episode 001 – Facebook Algorithm Changes – Nonprofit Answers
In episode 1 of the Nonprofit Answers Podcast, Jeremy Reis answers a question from Helen, a nonprofit marketing manager in Nashville. Helen is concerned about the recent algorithm changes with Facebook and wants to know what she should do. Should she continue to invest time and resources into Facebook? What changes should she make to her social media strategy?
Read more
The Story of the One
Nonprofit fundraising, at its core, is storytelling. Telling a story of how your organization has helped one beneficiary be transformed is the building block of telling the story of your organization. In nonprofit development, the story we use in fundraising is called the story of the ...
Read more
5 Cs of Effective Fundraising Appeals
Raising funds for needed items, foods, and services is the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization. Yet many organizations struggle with the staple of a successful fundraiser – the appeal. Your fundraising appeal needs to hit home with your audience, cutting through the clutter in their ...
Read more
HVAC – Dave the Development Director
“Dave, the air conditioning in the building went out. Can you find a major donor that has a passion for HVAC and raise $50,000?” asked Wendy, the Executive Director. Dave replies, “Next, can we find a donor with a passion for office furniture to buy ...
Read more
100 Email Appeal Subject Lines
When you’re writing email appeals, the subject and preview text are two key factors to increase your open rate. You want to create a subject line that grabs the reader’s attention and entices her to open the email without being disingenuous. There isn’t a specific ...
Read more
25 More Job Interview Questions for Development Directors
You may be applying for a job as a development director or you may be hiring a fundraising professional, either way, here’s 25 more job interview questions. This is a follow up to my first post with 25 job interview questions for development directors. Use ...
Read more
