The 2 things to avoid in year end fundraising

With 4 weeks left in the calendar year, staying focused is more important than ever. Rather than feeling like you’re living out a well planned fundraising year, these last four weeks can often feel like you’re missing out on everything. That you’re falling short everywhere. The 2 Things To Avoid In Year End Fundraising It would…

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Just ask! – FundraisingCoach.com

I’ve been doing LOTS of trainings in the last few months. And getting a lot of the same types of questions. They generally sound like: “How do I know when a right time to ask so-and-so?”“How do I know if that asking amount is too much?”“This is what happened during the ask. I haven’t heard…

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Why high-achievers find fundraising hard

As a leadership coach, I work with a lot of high-achievers. People who’ve experienced success enough times to be promoted to the head of a team, a department, or even the head the organization. One of the oddest things about leadership is in the Western model is that, you lose positional supervision just as your…

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You don’t need to be in crisis!

Last week, I heard board members make a classic blunder. They were worried that they couldn’t fundraise any more. Why? Because they weren’t in a crisis. They had good reserves and the finances were very well managed. So they couldn’t see why anyone would donate to the cause. Do you know what they started talking…

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What if we’ve asked them all?

When I’m being a fundraising coach, I tend to coach nonprofit CEOs and executive directors. One of my primary tasks I try to help them build into their rhythm is for them is to make 5 – 10 major donor calls each week. But since CEOs aren’t managing a large portfolio of donors, what do…

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Stop telling fundraisers their goal is “more”

Enough is enough. Nonprofit leaders need to set actual fundraising goals. Unfortunately, nonprofit leaders rarely do. Rather than setting a clear goal, leaders pressure fundraising professionals to raise more. “More” is vague and immeasurable. “More” is unacceptable. “More” grinds us all, even the best fundraising professionals, to a pulp. Because “more” can never be reached….

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