Author, coach, copy-writer, nonprofit marketing consultant and political junkie, Pamela is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants”  and  the creator of Simple Development Systems, the only online coaching program created for the overwhelmed fundraiser in the one-person marketing and development shop. Pam segued from six years working in programming and communications at a […]

After a summer off, I’d like to welcome back Gayle Thorsen (pictured at left) to the Step By Step Fundraising Blog.  Over the past year, Gayle has been kind enough to share with us one of her recent articles from her blog ImpactMax.  Today she has one for us about time saving advice for those of […]

One of the worst things you can do, I think, as a non-profit professional is to burrow down inside your own organization, live like you are in a cocoon, and only look from within for ideas. It is tremendously unhealthy to think that you can run a successful mission-based community without trying to get as […]

Here’s a great post from Marc Pitman, aka The Fundraising Coach.  Today, Marc manages to draw a very apt comparison between non-profit fundraising and a Waldorf Salad! Marc also has a great new post on his site, entitled “How trade shows are like fundraising”, which you should check out. Marc is a great friend of […]

Everybody knows that you should send a thank you note to a donor. Along with the fundraising “ask” letter, these two kinds of letters are the bookends. However these not be the only times you make contact with your supporters. The following is a list of ten reasons you should stay in contact with your […]

In the last installment of this series, I wrote about the first couple of ways that a team-building retreat can benefit your non-profit staff. Specifically, I gave these two reasons: Most people are not good communicators to begin with, so they need lots of instruction and practice A team-building retreat is a shared experience outside […]

I had just given the group of 12 adults their instructions to put on their blindfolds, cinch them up tight, and take hold of a 50 foot length of rope. I could tell that some of them were pretty nervous. I told them their mission was to form as close to a perfect square as […]