Great information on all popular nonprofit topics written by experts in the field!

The Coronavirus has brought about something new that no one was quite prepared for. Between the cancellation of events, the downturn in the economy, and social distancing, nonprofits have been hit hard in their fundraising efforts. Plus, with so much chaos, it can be tough to realize where to turn next. Try not to panic. Take a few deep breaths, analyze your data, and consider what your nonprofit can do at times like this. The changes you need to make to your strategic plan will help your organization stay afloat and show your supporters that you care. We recommend the following strategic changes for nonprofits in response to the Coronavirus pandemic: Check In With Your Supporters....

In these unusual and stressful times, it is more important than ever to stay connected to family and friends. Our older folks – parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles – will especially need connection. In my family I am dealing with aged parents (93 and 87) living close by but locked down in a senior living community. My two children and my grandchildren live far away. As an event planner and engagement strategist, I came up with a plan to keep my whole family in touch, somewhat sane, and loved. I want to share this with you as I know we are all facing the same situation. Here are virtual activities that I have scheduled for the next month. Remember, it is important that you have...

Free Nonprofit Webinars to Help During the Coronavirus During this unprecedented and chaotic time, we sincerely hope that you and yours are safe and healthy. And that you are diligently taking precautions to safeguard your health and that of those around you. Nonprofits do good all year long even in the best of times. But at times like this, when resources and patience are seemingly stretched to their limits, it’s the do-gooders, the agents of change, who lead the way in caring, sharing and responding to the call to help. We rest easier knowing that you are out there, working for the common good. We are so happy to be part of that. And we’re honored to be able to offer you resources to help...

Planning events can quickly go from straight-forward and simple to complicated and challenging. As the new year continues, it’s important to gain a truly comprehensive understanding of the digital opportunities and tools you can leverage. This way, you can optimize the event planning process and increase registration and attendance rates. The scope of tools and preparation time you need depends on what kind of nonprofit event you’re hosting. At Fonteva, we are experts in event management and know that there are several core ideas and key digital tools that can supplement any event you have in store. Whether you’re a nonprofit planning a fundraising event or an association hosting a...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp I hope you were convinced from one of my earlier blogs that direct mail for nonprofits is still the most effective way to generate donations from your existing donors and generate new donors. The next question you might ask yourselves then is how often and how can you best reach out to your donors, so they’ll be most likely to respond. Let’s start with how often you can reach out to your donors, so they’ll continue to love you. It’s always one of my favorite questions to ask at a webinar: How often do you send appeals to your donors now? Sadly, most nonprofits are not reaching out to their donors enough! I typically see many who answer once or twice a year. Only...

Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC Are you just getting started in grant writing and trying to be competitive with the applications you submit? Whether you are relatively new to the field of grant seeking or you’re looking to increase your success and craft more competitive grant applications, we have some useful tips related to the best practices of grant seeking. Following these tips will fine-tune your approach to grant applications and ultimately increase your grant seeking success. 1. Follow the 5 Rs of grant seeking Grant writers rarely know exactly who will review the grant proposals they’ve spent so many hours toiling over. It’s safe to assume that they have some...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp If you’ve heard me speak or have read some of my blogs, you already know that I always advocate for the following: The more opportunities you offer donors to give monthly, the more monthly donors you will find! But for most organizations, there is always that fine line of having to bring in one-time short-term funds versus long-term sustainable monthly giving revenue. I get it. Trust me, I’ve been there. Let’s start with a Monthly Giving Case study Let me tell you when that short-term focus changed for a big organization where I was managing the monthly donor program. Every year, we created a budget to be able to do so many appeals to generate new monthly giving...

Organizations put a lot of time and effort into nonprofit events. They spend countless hours creating silent auctions, designing invitations and tribute books, and crafting stage programs. However, they spend very little time and effort choosing the perfect honoree, and because of this their nonprofit events often underperform and even, unfortunately, fail. The difference between an honoree that is just okay and one that is perfect is akin to the disparity between a lame duck and a golden goose! A lame duck is just along for the ride, but a golden goose will continue to bring riches long after the event is over. Why Your Nonprofit Event Needs a Golden Goose Honoree A nonprofit event doesn’t...

Fundraisers can’t turn a page on their calendar these days, it seems, without discovering hundreds of nonprofit conferences to attend. That’s not a bad problem to have. The nonprofit/fundraising sector is one of the sharing-est sectors there is. Fundraisers really do seem to believe that a rising tide lifts all boats (because it’s true). So, there’s really no harm in the free and eager exchange of ideas in the fundraising world. One thing you’ll find at just about any nonprofit conference is an air of camaraderie – commiseration, even – with attendees sharing war stories, success stories, lessons learned, nuggets gleaned, etc. in the halls, at the lunch tables, at the after-session...

Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC If you are new to grant writing, you are likely focused on what your writing should sound like. Perhaps you ask yourself questions about what is the right style or what is the right person to write in. However, the truth about your writing is that the work before the writing is where you should start your efforts and your learning. Writing and submitting grant applications without first following best practices in grantmaker research and grantmaker relationships will leave even the best-written applications resulting in rejection letters. Grant Writing for Beginners – Where to Start Before you sit down looking at a blank document with...

Capital campaigns are one of the most extensive campaigns that an organization will ever undertake. In most cases, an organization needs to fund capital purchases, upgrades, and/or renovations and repairs. Given their highly episodic nature, organizations that are seeking to undergo a capital campaign must do so with foresight and preparation geared to success. The most critical steps are taken before even the actual capital campaign plan is drafted and far before an actual solicitation happens. Organizations that are embarking on their first-ever campaign or who have not undergone such intensive efforts in a while would be wise to take heed of the following preparatory steps to ensure...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp

Guest blog post by: Margaret Battistelli Gardner A special holiday poem (with great apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingston Jr., each of whom was credited at different times with writing the original “Twas the Night Before Christmas”) ‘Twas a few days before year-end and all through the land Nonprofits were scrambling to put out a hand. Donors’ mail and inboxes were stuffed to the hilt With asks and appeals and a wee touch of guilt. Fundraisers were huddled, awaiting the cash, Ignoring, just maybe, they’d been a bit crass. These donors, they knew, keep them sustained And deserve so much more than the same old refrain. When out of the slush pile arose something new – A note...

Guest blog post by: Margaret Battistelli Gardner

This blog post is by CharityHowTo Expert AJ Steinberg The holiday season is upon us! A crazy, hectic time for nonprofits whose intentions are firmly glued on year-end giving. But soon this old year will fade away, replaced with a new year filled with great possibilities. For this new year, give your organization the gift of successful fundraising events. This is the time to bid farewell to bad event planning habits that have scuttled your fundraising events’ effectiveness, and to make a commitment to a new disciplined regime that will transform your bloated, boring events into sleek and engaging money-making machines. Here are five game-changing New Year’s resolutions you can make to get...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp This past weekend, I spent several hours going through the stack of direct mail packs I had received in the past two weeks. I reviewed each one, identified organizations I’d like to donate to and then I scanned in those that could help give me some new ideas for year-end giving appeals for organizations I work with. Every year around this time, I talk to nonprofits, struggling to decide if they should send out a direct mail appeal at year-end. Sadly, every year, some organizations drag their feet too long that they end up missing out on the best time of the year to generate the funds they need to support their mission! Why does this happen? I think there are...

“It’s #GivingTuesday! Give us money!” Yes, there ARE ways to use Instagram to raise money on #GivingTuesday. But that’s not one of them. #GivingTuesday seems so simple. Possibly because it’s so social media oriented. And we tend to think of social media as a quick ‘n’ easy way to raise money and awareness for our causes. But it’s not. Not really. Like any good campaign, a #GivingTuesday effort takes planning. And orchestration. And prep. “Most of the stuff I see is organizations just posting on their social media pages, ‘It’s #GivingTuesday, so give us money,’” Ephraim Gopin, founder of nonprofit communications firm 1832 Communications, says with a heavy sigh. But it needn’t be that way. In...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp

Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC

Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC You successfully wrote and submitted a grant application. And you GOT the grant! Handstands, cartwheels, and high fives for your whole organization! But now you have to implement the proposed work you outlined in the grant application, and you have to manage not just the program, but also the finances, and the required reports. And as you successfully start writing and managing one grant, you begin to build bigger grantmaker relationships and a grant portfolio for your organization building on your grant success. Only now, the management of deadlines, relationships, and the decisions on all of your applications becomes more complicated...

Get a Grip on Nonprofit Event Budgets Creating Budgets and Cutting Costs Nonprofit event budgets are as unique as snowflakes, and just as elusive to pin down! Whether a gala, festival, or house party, organizations need to understand how to create a nonprofit event budget in order to successfully plan and execute their events.

“People grant to people, not to proposals.” — Heather Stombaugh, Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Why Are Grantmaker Relationships so Important? Relationships with grantmakers have become an integral part of seeking and obtaining grants. While not all grantmakers have the capacity or the desire to communicate with potential grantees prior to making a grant award, you must remember that your funders are humans, too. Your efforts in building authentic, long-term funding relationships and partnerships with grantmakers will make it easier to get grants from your preferred funders now and in the future. Here are six ways you can establish and solidify relationships with grantmakers before...

Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC

Blog Post by Julia Campbell The seasons are changing, summer is waning, fall is approaching and that can only mean one thing – year-end charitable giving season is about to descend upon us! For many nonprofits, year-end giving season is kicked off by the global giving movement #GivingTuesday. #GivingTuesday was created in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to the consumerism that often marks year-end. Americans have a day of giving thanks (Thanksgiving). This is followed by two days of giving and getting deals (Black Friday, Cyber Monday) – so why not a full day for giving back? This year #GivingTuesday is on December 3, and expectations are sky high....

Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp, Charity How to Presenter, Author, Blogger and Nonprofit Library Contributor I grew up with and in direct mail. I was fortunate to work at Reader’s Digest (RD) in Amsterdam right after college and it really shaped the rest of my career. I’ve always loved direct mail because you can measure results, but nothing beats seeing the boxes and boxes filled with responses coming back. I was ‘hooked’ on direct mail and all of us direct mail ‘nerds’ at RD loved recieving the latest direct mail samples sent to us from countries like the U.S. Australia, Canada etc. The general rule of thumb was that if direct mail packs worked in those countries, they’d most likely also...

Instagram is a marketing powerhouse for brands, companies, and nonprofits alike. If you want to target a younger demographic, Instagram could be for you, with 59% of online adults ages 18-29 active on the network. More than 500 million people have Instagram accounts, more than 300 million of which use it daily!

What To Look For (And What to Avoid) In Grant Writing Training For Nonprofit Organizations Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp

This blog post is by CharityHowTo Expert AJ Steinberg Does Your Nonprofit Event Need a Psychologist? Many organizations spend an enormous amount of time and resources on nonprofit events, only to have them fall short of their goals. They may try changing venues and changing themes, but still, the events fail to meet expectations. What these organizations should be changing instead is their own mindsets and figuring out how to fix their events’ psychology! As a 20-year veteran nonprofit event planner, I deeply understand the psychology of fundraising through nonprofit events and how the choices we make during the event planning process will impact, positively or negatively, a guest’s...

Blog post by Mike Brand Let’s talk about advocacy. Many nonprofit organizations regularly engage in advocacy to advance a particular cause. Some organizations’ primary function is to advocate for change. There are also countless organizations that do not engage in advocacy, or at least think that they don’t. And they are missing out! If your organization falls into that last category keep reading! I’m going to tell you how your organization can benefit from advocacy and how you can move your nonprofit ambassadors from knowledge to action. What is Advocacy? When people hear the term advocacy they often think of a major protest or perhaps an organization like the ACLU pops to mind. But we are...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp Setting up a successful monthly giving program doesn’t have to be difficult, as long as you keep these key components in mind. Let me share the top 5 with you: Commitment Accountability Preparedness Detail orientation Persistence For a successful monthly giving program these apply to the person who’s interested and willing to grow the program as well as to the program itself. Let’s take them one by one.

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp

This past week I heard this expression several times, so I wanted to explain why it’s especially important when it comes to monthly giving. Let me start with the Wikipedia definition: “Drinking the Kool-Aid” is an expression commonly used in the United States that refers to a person who believes in a possibly doomed or dangerous idea because of perceived potential high rewards.”

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp

Blog Post by Julia Campbell Getting sick of Twitter? Are you considering joining the #DeleteFacebook movement? Have you considered using Instagram for nonprofits? Even though it’s owned by Facebook, building an engaged community of supporters on Instagram may be a viable social media alternative for your nonprofit. Here are some Instagram statistics from the Pew Research Center 2018 Social Media Report: 35% of U.S. adults now say they use Instagram (an increase from 28% last year); 71% of Americans ages 18-24 use Instagram, with 81% of this group going on the platform daily! Even if you have been on Instagram for years now, or if you are a complete novice, there are a few tried-and-true...

Blog Post by Julia Campbell What if Instagram Stories could help your nonprofit reach its’ audience? The social media struggle, especially for nonprofits and social causes, is real. Organic reach is plummeting on Facebook. Twitter is removing millions of fake followers from users’ accounts. 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Every day it seems to get harder to reach the people who care, let alone get new people into the fold and excited about your cause. But, there is hope… enter Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories have been exploding in popularity – and not just for early adopters and celebrities like Busy Philipps (even though her Stories are a must-watch)....

Blog post by Diane H. Leonard, GPC Letter writing may seem like a lost art, but done well, it has the potential to open doors for funding opportunities. Specifically, a well written letter of inquiry can open to the door for you to submit a full proposal to a grantmaker to support your organization. Many grantmakers have implemented the process of letters of inquiry from potential grant seekers as a way to learn more about your agency, understand your ideas, and determine if it is a good fit with their mission. Letters of inquiry can serve multiple purposes including saving time for both funders and grant seekers and building relationships. With the increased utilization of online grant...

Plus: How to be Submit Competitive Applications Blog Post by CharityHowTo Expert Diane H. Leonard, GPC Your organization may have a successful grant seeking strategy. You may have great relationships with foundation and perhaps even state agency grantmakers. You may be managing your funding and reporting requirements well. But as your Board of Directors or fundraising team look at how to grow the organization further or diversify your revenue, it is likely that the question of federal grant support eventually arises. So how do you know if federal grants for nonprofits are a good fit for you? And if your organization is prepared to take on the 100+ hour process of applying for an average...

Blog post by Erica Waasdorp

This blog post is by CharityHowTo Expert AJ Steinberg

Does your organization have a social media calendar? As a nonprofit marketer for a small organization, I am positive that you wear many hats. Between answering emails, making phone calls to supporters, editing the annual appeal letter and coordinating fundraising events, who has time to maintain more than one social media account?

Do you ever wonder how your USPS direct mail gets to your donor’s mailbox? And how you can use best practices to save money on all of your nonprofit USPS direct mail campaigns? Have you ever been to the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC? It’s located right next to Union Station and access is FREE. The museum shows in interactive ways how it all began. You’ll see how people literally risked their lives to make sure that the mail got delivered. From horse to stage coach to trains to planes…

Blog post by Brian Saber We all know that asking doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. Your organization and staff have to embrace asking for donations clear across the board in order for you to develop a strong culture of asking. Think of what it would mean if you did have a culture of asking for donations. First and foremost, fundraising would stop being a dirty word! We all know that as soon as we mention the word fundraising most people cringe. Well, that isn’t going to get us anywhere, is it? Here are seven ways to shape a culture of asking and a strong fundraising future at your organization. 1) View capital campaigns as the standard During a capital campaign we invest a tremendous...

Blog post by A.J. Steinberg

This is a post by Diane H. Leonard, GPC Grantmaker relationships are a critical element of a successful grant seeking strategy, but you may be wondering how you can best build on those relationships once you get your first grant from a funder? How can you authentically build long-term funding relationships and partnerships? It boils down to the key question: “How can you express next-level gratitude for your grantmakers of all sizes and types (in a way that aligns with your own capacity and other grant-related responsibilities)?” Here are four ways that you can engage in more authentic grantmaker relationships as a way to express next-level gratitude: 1. Ask About and Respect Their...

This post is by Tobi Johnson, MA, CVA When it comes to volunteer recruitment for your nonprofit, understanding human nature and psychology is key. Why? Because our brains determine everything we do. By better understanding what triggers humans to act, nonprofit staff can become better influencers and, ultimately, better marketers. One of the most powerful and enduring psychological phenomenon is that of social proof. Over the millennia, our species has survived because of our ability to mold our behavior to that of our clan. Those who did not conform risked banishment and extinction. We have learned subconsciously that social conformity is linked to our very survival. The power of the tribe...