Monday, July 12th, 2010
I’m seeing more and more marketing articles these days that emphasize relationship building and seriously engaging “best” customers. Here’s an example from Seth Godin, where he discusses Fans, participants and spectators: “Likes, friendlies and hits are all ... Read more
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
The recent e-letter of donor loyalty specialist Lisa Sargent describes how the Atlanta Union Mission builds relationships with its donors. AUM provides emergency food and shelter, residential recovery programs and transitional housing for men, women and children. Lisa’s article focuses on ... Read more
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Back in November 2007 we ran a post titled, Snorting Oxytocin, with this lead … “Attention major gift fundraisers!! Next time you’re about to pop the question to a prospect (the fundraising ask, that is), squirt a dose of oxytocin up their nose. You might get two-and-a half ... Read more
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Last week, in a piece entitled Is Your Favorite Charity Spying on You?, the Wall Street Journal’s “Smart Money” column set off a mini-firestorm in our trade over the use of data mining for prospect research and donor analytics. Among the tidbits of raw meat tossed into the WSJ piece ... Read more
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Seth Godin raises a provocative question in his recent post, Fear of Philanthropy. Here’s the gist of it: “Marketers at good causes have a real challenge as they try to raise money from people who aren’t billionaires. As they approach people with $10,000 or $100,000 in the ... Read more
Monday, April 12th, 2010
The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) opened its 47th annual conference in Baltimore MD last night with an agenda chock full of educational programs, and an exhibition hall packed with helpful tools and techniques—all aimed at aiding the process of "getting”. Of ... Read more
Monday, March 29th, 2010
As presented in Fast Company, here are some tips on building loyalty via exceptional customer service. They’re offered by Micah Solomon, co-author of Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit. Do nonprofits have "customers" and do they deliver "customer service"? You better ... Read more
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Over the weekend Tom sent me a link to an ABC News piece entitled “Secret Donor”. Diane Sawyer sets forth an absolutely charming and moving story about a Lake Forest College alumna named Grace Groner who died in January at age 100 and left the college $7 million. ... Read more
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
How much research does your nonprofit undertake to inform your fundraising strategy and messaging? Probably too little. Either for lack of resources, or because you just don’t believe in it. Take a look at this Wall Street Journal article, The Emotional Quotient of Soup Shopping, if you ... Read more
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Lots of very constructive responses to our question of last week: Are Annual Reports Dinosaurs? And it looks like we have a hung jury! One group leans toward more timely and frequent donor communication, including in lieu of "saving it up" for the annual report. Another group says ... Read more
