Year-end is a busy time for many advancement shops: a season of giving with a deadline for taxes! For many of us, it’s also a season of reflection on the year we’re ending and the new one ahead. [...]
When I entered the world of fundraising, I thought I had a clear idea of what my work would entail and how I would find success. With experience and some hard lessons, it became clear there was [...]
Perhaps you saw the recent LinkedIn post from Regina Bergeron in your feed: “Hey fundraising friends! Doing an informal survey. What are the MOST common mistakes that nonprofit leaders make [...]
Overcoming objections: a topic we as fundraisers think through, write about, train on and – occasionally – obsess over after making a solicitation. Being prepared for objections, including how to [...]
If there’s one narrative that’s held true in the world of fundraising for years, it’s the difficulty in hiring and retaining talented advancement staff. Studies show major gift officer tenure is [...]
Most fundraising teams have no shortage of work – and fundraisers can get bogged down in everything from administrative work to planning events to drafting communications. But the largest [...]
When I decided to make the switch from a career in hospitality and event management to philanthropy many years ago, I was driven by a desire to have a voice in the issues that mattered to me, and [...]
In 1997, Arthur Aron and fellow social psychology researchers at Stony Brook University in New York released the results of a study: when two individuals ask and answer 36 specific questions of [...]
Not long after our family celebrated our daughter going away to college did we begin preparing for our son to select his university. A high school junior, he is visiting campuses — parents [...]
As college students are having visions of spring break, many university annual giving offices or student foundations are putting the final touches on their senior class gift campaigns. These [...]