Author Archives | Sandra Sims

Sandra Sims has written 738 posts on Step By Step Fundraising.

Sandra Sims is the founder of Step by Step Fundraising, an online article and book publisher, which was recently acquired by FastTrack Fundraising. In addition to nonprofit management and fundraising, she has expertise in search engine optimization, social media marketing and content syndication. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Texas and a Certificate in Non Profit Management from Midwestern State University.


Website: Sandra's Twitter stream

Fundraising on Facebook: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on 12 July 2010

This article was published a few years ago. The options for Facebook fundraising were much more limited then. Take a look at the newest options….   We used to tell our members at GiveForward that there are three Ps to successful online fundraising: personalization, promotion, and persistence.  Recently, however, we came to the conclusion that […]

Three Ways to Define Your Target Audience

Posted on 17 June 2010

Kivi Leroux Miller, author ofThe Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause, advises small nonprofits who are creating quick-and-dirty marketing plans to start by defining their target audience. Here she shares three ways to do that. When nonprofit marketing and fundraising programs fail, organizations too frequently blame the tactics. […]

Proposal Rejection: Saying Thank You is Critical

Posted on 10 June 2010

I’ve received a great deal of interest lately from novice and experienced fundraisers about what happens after you receive a rejection letter for your proposal. I have never hesitated to tell people that I’ve received plenty of rejection as a grant writer. What this rejection has done is made me a better, more strategic fundraiser […]

6 Steps to Online Fundraising for Medical Costs

Posted on 26 May 2010

When a friend or loved one gets sick and is facing huge medical bills, the quickest and easiest way to raise money for them is through an online fundraising website. Sites like GiveForward, Fundbunch and GoFundMe allow individuals to create customized pages where friends and family from across the world can contribute to help a […]

Video: Caught in a Cat Romance (thanks to San Francisco SPCA)

Posted on 20 May 2010

If you think all nonprofit communications have to be serious, think again. Kudos to the San Francisco SPCA for creatively jumping on a hot topic while promoting their mission. Warning: watching this video may cause abrupt laughter, inability to stop singing this song and warm fuzzies.

Improve Your Fundraising by Thinking Big

Posted on 18 May 2010

If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s thinking small.  Far too many people spend their time and energy thinking small.  That’s true in the wider world, and it’s true in fundraising. There are a lot of fundraisers in the world – some professional, some volunteer.  Some work on staff, some consult, some are on […]

The Number One Way to Get Board Members to Follow Through

Posted on 13 May 2010

So many nonprofit board members are enthusiastic and well-meaning but too often they back out of their commitments.  Bet you have run into this problem! And I have been on the other side too, as a board member. In the heat of an exciting discussion, I suddenly found myself making personal commitments. Then later, in […]

EFI