Grace Groner lived through the Great Depression, so saving money was her expertise. Nobody knew just how much she had saved until she died in January at age 100 and left $7 million to Lake Forest College, her alma mater…. “She could have lived in any house in Lake Forest but she chose not to. […]

If you’re going to ask people for money, you’ve got to learn to love objections. Or at least be comfortable with them! Working on a session for the APRA conference in Boston, I’m relearning how fun objections can be. Seriously, if there were no objections, we wouldn’t be needed. It would be so clearly self-evident […]

Maintaining a sufficient amount of donors is vital for a charity organization. Whether it is those who donate separate of an event or those who return year after year to your race, keeping them is a priority. We want to gain new supporters and initiate more funds, but if we let our veteran supporters slip […]

Let’s face it – statistics are dry for most of us. Who wants to look at numbers when you can be out raising awareness and working with others dedicated to your cause? But the truth is that knowing the demographics of your organization and its donors can greatly enhance your fundraising efforts.  Here are some […]

Like a huge percentage of this country, I too got caught up in the news surrounding our recent presidential election. I was amazed by the size and the scope of the two campaigns and the way each chose to communicate to the American public. I have done my best to take note of strategies that […]

An additional 600,000 people became millionaires last year according to the World Wealth Report issued by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini U.S. The number of rich folks isn’t shrinking even with all the talk of doomed credit markets and rising oil prices.  What does this trend mean for your fundraising? There are at least three new […]

“Relationship” is a key word in fundraising. As part of Fundraising 101 we learn that to be truly successful we must develop relationships with our donors. We learn that a single donation is merely a transaction and that’s not good enough to sustain our organization long term. To set ourselves up for success in the […]