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Every year people seem stunned to realize that Labor Day is here. It is the end of Summer, and it is the beginning of the countdown to the end of the year. That realization frequently results in some anxiety, especially among fundraisers who realize that they have a limited amount of time left to meet […]

Events are critical to non-profit organizations. They come in many shapes and sizes from grand galas to press conferences and everything in between. There are many reasons organizations hold events: they can raise money they can be used to introduce the organization to members of the community they can be used to recognize and thank

My previous post was about organizations tidying up their events program, deciding what works, what could go by the wayside, and the importance of focusing on the event activities that will yield the best results in the time frame available to make them happen this year. But that’s not enough. Nonprofits are figuring out that

“No money, no mission.” I first heard that expression 20+ years ago from Greg Lukeman, longtime and tremendously successful Executive Director of St. Louis Effort for AIDS. He went on to say that his organization had ambitious goals providing food and services for people living with HIV. But without adequate revenue they could not achieve

Zoom. GoToMeeting. Microsoft Teams. Google Meet. Facebook Rooms. Apple Facetime. Does anyone even remember Skype? There are well over two dozen virtual meeting platforms available today. Love them or hate them, virtual meetings are not going to go away after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. It has become much too convenient, less time consuming and

COVID-19 has impacted so many aspects of our lives and organizations over the past year. One area on which it will have a lasting impact on is volunteers. Every organization I’ve spoken with recently has lamented about how the pandemic has negatively impacted their volunteer staff. Volunteers are critical to the functioning of non-profit organizations.

The idea for www.DonorcentricDevelopment.com came after working with many non-profit organizations over the past 40 years as a professional staff member, a board member and a volunteer. During this time, and especially over the past four years working with local United Way member agencies, I’ve come to realize how under resourced many non-profits are when

Spring is here. And what a tumultuous Spring it has turned out to be! None of us has experienced a time like this before. For many nonprofit organizations events are the major source, sometimes the only source, of fundraising revenue. And right now nonprofits are scrambling to reschedule, reconfigure or cancel their fundraising events at

When is the right time to ask? This is an age old fundraising question that has taken on particular significance in 2020 and 2021. Many nonprofits have experienced a fundraising hit over the past 18 months, largely due to loss of fundraising event revenue. In discussions about how they compensated for that by trying other