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

Roundup: Volunteers Can be Crucial Part of Fundraising

Posted on 03 April 2009

National Volunteer Week is coming up April 19-25, 2009 (thanks to Joanne at About.com for the reminder!)  This could be a great time for your nonprofit to recognize, show appreciation for and step-up your volunteer organization efforts. For many groups volunteers are a crucial part of keeping the organization funded. Here are some articles with […]

Get Daily Fundraising News By Email

Posted on 02 April 2009

I’ve been writing the Step By Step Fundraising Monthly Newsletter nearly since starting the site in November 2003. For many subscribers, a monthly schedule works out pretty well. The once monthly email includes timely announcements and feature articles. However if you’d like to get more frequent notices of when new content is added to this […]

Drive-in to your volunteer job (like it or not)

Posted on 30 March 2009

“AHHH! What to do? Too many volunteers – Nonprofits are overwhelmed, volunteers underwhelmed!” that was the teaser Chris Jarvis posted to Twitter.  With a line like that I couldn’t help but follow the link he left.  And his blog post titled Six Reasons Why You’ll Never Volunteer Again did not disappoint. As Chris points out […]

Raleigh North Carolina Students on the Road to Washington DC Today

Posted on 25 March 2009

At 6:15 this morning the 5th grade students from Fuller GT Magnet Elementary hit the road for their trip to Washington DC.  The students did fundraising last fall to be able to go on this trip. They had a movie night, sold donuts, and sold coupon books among other things. However the principal said that […]

Grant Seeking Basics Online Training Course

Posted on 17 March 2009

While looking for a new job in fund-raising, someone suggested that I look into The Foundation Center’s online courses. I am certainly glad that I did. They offer a variety of courses, some for a fee and others that are free. The Foundation Center is well-known as a leading authority on philanthropy. It was first […]

Online Charity Auctions on the Upward Trend

Posted on 16 March 2009

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 […]

Guide to Writing Fundraising Letters

Posted on 11 March 2009

Fundraising letters sent through the mail are one of the most popular ways to request donations.   However, if you’ve never written a fundraising letter before, you may have lots of questions… How do you start the letter? How can you persuade the reader to donate without being too pushy? What will make someone take notice […]

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