Fundraising — Viewpoints — DERRICK FELDMANN

The Secret to Motivating Donors

With year-end fundraising season fast approaching, it's easy for development professionals to fall into the trap of focusing on a single project for which their organization really needs funding. Other nonprofit leaders are frantically crafting year-end appeals, checking and re-checking their donor lists, and trying to come up with creative new ways to engage donors.

No surprise, then, that this is the time of year when we're approached by nonprofits who want to know how they can develop a strategy for new donor acquisition and turn their one-time donors into loyal supporters.

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Susannah BuehnerOctober 17, 2017Motivation, Donors, Giving, Fundraising

5 Mistakes You're Making With Awareness Campaigns

With the busiest fundraising season fast approaching, nonprofit leaders everywhere should be spending much of their time thinking about their end-of-year fundraising campaigns. But when fundraising isn't top of mind, nonprofit leaders often turn their attention to another type of activity: the awareness campaign.

Awareness campaigns typically are defined as a sustained effort to educate individuals and boost public awareness about an organization's cause or issue. And in almost every instance they should:

Susannah BuehnerAugust 24, 2017campaign, awareness, success, Fundraising

3 Ways to Bring Your Work to Your Donors (Instead of Asking Them to Come to You)

Nearly every nonprofit organization I deal with is careful to include an "experiential" touch point somewhere along the donor journey. That is, once they've cultivated a new donor, they spend a considerable amount of time and effort attempting to persuade that donor to volunteer or participate in some kind of hands-on activity at their headquarters or at an off-site location where the donor can experience their work firsthand.

Sound familiar? If your organization does something similar, how often is it successful? (Be honest.)

Susannah BuehnerMay 28, 2017donors, nonprofit, leadership, Fundraising

What We Learned From Our End-of-Year Fundraising Appeals

Most of us start each new year with the best of intentions and, if we happen to be in the fundraising game, the goal of starting our various campaigns early. But like a lot of things, especially during the busy holiday season, we often leave the necessary preparation to the last minute and, with time running out, end up falling back on what we've done in the past.

Susannah BuehnerMarch 1, 20172017, 2018, Fundraising, growth

Who could’ve predicted how millennials would vote?

At Achieve, we have watched the millennial generation (born between 1980-2000) grow, explore and change over the last seven years through our work on the Millennial Impact Project — which we have led with the support of the Case Foundation. In light of the recent turn of events related to the 2016 Presidential Election, many have turned to us and asked, “Did our research predict millennial turnout and voting choices on Election Day?”

Maybe predict is too strong a word, but in retrospect, our 2016 Millennial Impact Report offers compelling data to consider.

Susannah BuehnerDecember 20, 2016millennials, generation, Fundraising

How Associations Can Overcome Fundraising Barriers

Over the last three months, I've had conversations with four associations about their approach to raising money. The conversations usually touch on many of the same points:

"We're an association and are struggling to raise additional funds from our members."

"We think it's because a lot of our members may not fully understand what we do and why we need to raise money from them."

"We've seen a decline in our membership and have had to restate our membership levels."

"We are trying to figure out how we can offer our members giving opportunities as an alternative to membership dues."

Susannah BuehnerNovember 15, 2016Fundraising, barriers, approach

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Derrick feldmann

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