donors
Find resources on how to find, recruit, and care for people and corporations to make contributions in this section. However, resources on grantors will be found under Fundraising, Grants.
feature article:
You know how you can never afford to attend the conferences that would really help your non-profit? Well this one’s for free and it’s virtual. You could sit in your jammies (if they’ll allow you to do that at work) and get all sorts of advice and ideas on the latest and most effective strategies and tactics for engaging, enlightening and empowering your donors. Click here to register for May 20th from 10-5:00 EST. Fund raisers who solicit large gifts need to become knowledgeable about the charitable aspects of a law that allows people to covert their regular individual retirement accounts into Roth IRAs this year. |
more articles:
- Have you noticed all the television and radio ads urging people to send a specific text to a certain number, giving you an opportunity to donate money to Haiti? Other organizations are using text donations, too. Read this article to see whether or not text donations are safe.
- The power of the phone call. Go to listed links for more detail.
- Ten Tips - Top ten tips for cultivating donors, five tips for successful foundation funding, and ten online fundraising basics from Joanne Fritz.
- How to approach your donors.
If there is a fundraising approach during a recession, it is “educate donors about the ways to give today without impacting [their] immediate financial circumstance,” according to Andrew Hastings, vice president of external affairs, National Philanthropic Trust. Donor. In this article you’ll get an analysis of just where we stand today, what we have to look forward to and how to best approach our donors.
- You, Too, Can Raise $25,000 by Tomorrow Night! (or Hooking Up With a Donor)
If you believe the title of this article, I’d like to sell you some swampland in the Florida Everglades... read more - How to Make a Gift
You need donors - long term, short term, any which way you can get 'em. How to Make A Gift is a list of ways that people can choose to contribute to your agency. You can use this in a brochure, or on your website. - Inkind Donations
Charitable gifts of goods or services are considered in-kind donations and an in-kind donation may be used as a tax deduction by the donor. This form is the receipt that you can provide to the donor. Give this form to the donor and ask them to fill it out and return it to you so that you can sign it. Do not sign it until the donor has estimated the value of the gift. Most often, I would send a thank you note to the donor with this form attached. I would have filled in the Articles Donated and directed the donor to please estimate the value and return the form for your signature. Once they do so, mail it back with your signature – another opportunity for your agency to stay in their thoughts!(remember -- the donor MUST assign the value). - The Art of Recognizing your Donors.
Besides The Ask, donor acknowledgements are critical to maintaining your donor base.
quick links:
- 10 tips to getting your donors to give again and again
- VIP treatment for donors (6 things to do to leave a good impression)
- Data Mining - how to identify and analyze donor data
- Donor advised funds where donors keep on giving regardless of the economy
- Treat your donors with kindness. Look at 10 tricks customers love, from the business world and see how it relates to donors
- Donors are more than their wallets. Build relationships and cherish them.
- 29 Tips for successful major gifts solicitation
- EXCELLENT article giving three stories and three guidelines for who to ask, when to ask and how much to ask for.
- How to get that important second gift from a first time donor.
- How to "pop the question" - different & great ways to ask for money
- Elementary basics to developing a donor database and how to start an annual giving program.
- How to ask for a major gift - really good article with examples
- Pledge Invoice - Here’s a sample invoice you can use as a reminder for donors who have made a pledge, but not yet paid. Put your own logo at the top, and you’re set to go!
- Looking to diversify funding? Bequests are a great source of sustainable income.
- Corporate donations can be tough to get -- check out this database for info.
- Know your funder/ AZ article.
- Basic steps to fundraising with donors.
- Everything you need for how to write fundraising letters.
- Donors need to feel they're changing the world. What you write in brochures, letters, email MUST make them feel this way.
- One generous donor's explanation of what makes her give.
- Need a donor database?
- Entrepreneurs are among the most generous wealthy.
- Critical to keep anonymity of donors, if so requested.
- Understanding the motivation of major donors.
- Top 10 tips on the art of cultivating donors.
- Main things to consider before starting a planned giving program.
- How and why to profile your donors.
- Cultivate your donors. Here is an expert who tells you what to do and why.
- Women are taking the lead in philanthropy.
- Three ways to identify a major donor.
- How to create a great donor newsletter. Listen to the podcast.
- How to thank your donors.
- Are your donation request letters personal enough?
- This philanthropic organization will find you donors; just partner up with them.
- When you are meeting with potential donors, be prepared for their objections and life will be easier.Check it out.
- Donors wonder if they should give to charities that use professional fundraisers. Here's what the pro's say about it.
- Is "The Philanthropist" television series going to get us more donors? We don't expect so, but you may like to read about it here, just so you know what it is.
- This is such an easy "JUST ASK" strategy and gives you both the do's and don'ts.
- If you are considering buying software to handle credit card payments and donor information management, look at this extraction from what consumer reports found.
- Good advice for handling the aftermath of a disaster that brought in a lot of donations.
- Here's a good discussion of whetheror not to do prospect screening and when to do it.
- Engaging young donors
- Now is a good time to talk to donors about planned giving. Here is an article written to donors from which you can "eaves drop" and learn a lesson.
- Are you seeing more anonymous giving? Here's an explanation why.
- When you're talking to a donor, let them know what you want early on before you waste a lot of time.
- It doesn't hurt to ask - or does it? You can screw up an ask if you're not careful.
- A look at one fundraiser gives good advice on how to reach Hispanic donors.
- This is a great metaphor that exemplifies the reasons you need to spend most of your time "chasing" major donors.
- Do you, as a fundraiser, spend your time in the right relationships? This article tells you which relationships make good business.
- Should you provide "trinkets" to get people to donate?
- Understand your female constituency.
- This article's talking about getting votes on social media networks but it's the same thing as begging for money. It's called Dogs Are Cute When They Beg...You're Not
- Build donor loyalty to meet your long term goals.
- This philanthropic study shows that you should pay attention to donors and do not over solicit, and more.
- We’re the first to say that “there’s no free lunch,” but we’ve checked it out and this is really the deal. The folks at e-tapestry want your business, of course, but they also went into this business because they care about the work that non-profits do. So to any non-profit that has under 500 donors to track – and there are a lot of you who wish you had 500 donors – they will set up a database for you that’s does everything you need it to do.
Check it out! - An ongoing question for fundraisers is how often can you ask the same donors for contributions? If you follow the Obama camps’ plan for how to raise money before the election, it was pretty successful and donors were bombarded with emails. After the election, as donors continue to get requests to contribute, they are experiencing “donor fatigue.” See the Chicago Tribune’s take on it.
- After Madoff’s ripoff, advice is being given to donors on how to know their donation is going to be “safe” with the charity in which they invest. It may behoove you to provide this information to insecure donors to let them know that you meet all of the criteria they should check out.
- A summary of the book The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave
- Monthly giving can be the lifeblood of your agency.
- Blogger makes important point about the need to talk to donors.
- Setting limits with overly demanding donors
- Excellent article on how to use focus groups to explain planned giving.
- Most of the money given and most money over $1 million came from self-made donors.
- There are so many ways to ask -- read this.
- Low dollar donors are worth keeping and wooing the same as high dollar donors.
- 7 Steps to a Successful "Ask"
- Rules to get donors to give again and again
- Find the millionaire donor next door!
- How to acquire and keep new donors.
- Get and keep donors from a blogger with a pretty good sense of the situation.
- Ask older donors for stock, lots of people will give stock if they know that's an option.
- Measure donor delight and plan for future donor giving.
- Happy donors = donors who will give again. Are your donors happy? Not according to a recent survey. Read and learn!
- Based on the rule of thumb in philanthropy — that 90 percent of the money is raised from 10 percent of the donors — the very wealthy can expect to be receiving more and more requests. Charities are looking at ways to put pressure on longtime donors and reach out to new ones even as they brace for fewer contributions directly from corporations.