Donor Insight. Fundraising Action.

Tonight the US President will deliver the State of the Union address.

If you had to stand before an assembly of marketing and fundraising professionals, how would you report on the ‘State of the Fundraising Union’?

Here’s my outline (please add your own standing ovations and forced tears when needed:)

The State of the Fundraising Union is

Topics: Donor Retention, Fundraising Strategies, Trends, growth in giving

Did you hear that faint sound?  It was Chicken Little breathing a sigh of relief.   When Q2 ended, the sky seemed to be falling.  Donor retention and revenue were down.  Long term impact of tax reform loomed over every fundraiser's halo. Today, Chicken Little and fundraisers across the land are smiling again.   The Fundraising Effectiveness Project released a favorable 3rd Quarter Fundraising Report.  Can we call it a comeback?

Topics: mid-level upgrade, Major Donor Pipeline, Revenue, Retention, Trends, Fundraising Effectiveness Project, FEP, Major Donors, fundraising revenue trends, growth in giving

Fundraising Metrics That Matter #1: Donor Lifetime Value

Topics: Lifetime Value, Revenue, Trends, benchmarks

Our money is on you. 

Topics: Lifetime Value, New Donor Acquistion, Fundraising Strategies, Revenue, Trends, Budgeting, Action Strategies, Mail Strategies

What's the difference between reporting and analysis? According to Salesforce, reporting is answering the question, "What is happening?" and analysis is answering the question, "Why is it happening?"  (You can read more about it in this blog post. ) While this is a good distinction, I don't think most people are much concerned with this nuance.  We all try to answer both of these questions when looking at a report.  The natural next step, after figuring out what is happening, is to figure out why.

Topics: Trends, Action Strategies, Mail Strategies

Metrics!

Topics: Donor Retention, Lifetime Value, mid-level upgrade, donor upgrading, Fundraising Strategies, Upgrade Strategies, Retention, Trends, Lapsed, Lapsed Donors, Action Strategies, benchmarks

Topics: Donor Retention, Lifetime Value, New Donor Acquistion, mid-level upgrade, major donor upgrade, donor upgrading, Fundraising Strategies, Upgrade Strategies, Major Donor Pipeline, Retention, Retention Rate, Trends, Major Donors, Budgeting, Reactivation, Lapsed, Lapsed Donors, Action Strategies, benchmarks

Tonight the US President will deliver the State of the Union address. 

If you had to stand before a constituency of marketing and fundraising professionals, how would you report on the ‘State of the Fundraising Union’? 

Here’s my outline. (please add your own standing ovations and forced tears when needed.)

Topics: Lifetime Value, Retention, Trends, Action Strategies, benchmarks

Right now, many organizations are pulling together year-end numbers to see if they hit their fundraising goals in December.  

Topics: Annual Fund, Year End Strategy, Revenue, Trends

For many of us, this last week of the year is a time when things slow down.  Whether you're traveling for the holidays, taking off a few hours early, or - even if you are working your standard work week - a lot of the world just seems to operate at a warm-up speed, as opposed to full-throttle.  This is not the case, however, when it comes to donations.  More donations will come in over this last week than at any other time throughout the year.   For 2017, nonprofit organizations have a lot riding on just how much of a surge we'll see in year-end donations.

Topics: Year End Strategy, Revenue, Trends, Fundraising Effectiveness Project, FEP