Have you ever thought about a live auction as being like a circus?  It’s true!  During the auction all eyes are focused on the stage to your ringmaster, the auctioneer.  Any great circus has many other performers to make the event a success.  Your auction also needs “ring people” to help the person on stage [...]

Last week I was excited to attend the national Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) conference.  There were a lot of great seminars. What I really enjoy most about going to conferences though is meeting others who work in the nonprofit world.
At the first morning opening session I struck up a conversation with someone who does [...]

In March I had to pleasure of attending the Run Walk Ride Conference.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to stay for the entire event, but was treated to a day long seminar on local sponsorships.  Corporate sponsorships are an integral part of charity fundraisers such as athletic events, which was the context of this seminar, but [...]

Last minute undraising ideas for relay for life events - Most teams do fundraising for the weeks or months leading up to Relay. But not all of us…here are some fundraising ideas for the weekend of the event. [...]

There are two kinds of bowlers – those who wouldn’t miss the opportunity to play every week and those who bowl once in a blue moon just for fun. The goal of any successful bowlathon fundraiser is to merge these two groups and make money by asking bowlers to pledge a minimum amount and raise [...]

Many nonprofits are looking for new and exciting ways to engage supporters during these tough economic times.   While direct donations to charity might be down, at the same time online shopping is up.  Amazon reported sales up by 18% last year.  More people than ever are now comfortable shopping online and may be looking for [...]

Dear Ms. Sims,
We just finished our second annual fund-raiser to benefit our medical/dental pediatric patients at Medical College of Georgia Children’s Medical Center in Augusta, GA. I am writing to you because your newsletter has been an invaluable tool to teach me how to be more successful in raising funds for this effort. [...]