Bloomerang

MAY 22, 2021

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who needs advice on how donor-advised funds should be recognized in their annual reports. . Dear Charity Clairity, I appreciated reading your guidance re: donor-advised funds (DAFs) and would like to have additional clarity re: listing DAFs in an annual report.

Fund 96

Fund Gift Donor Award 96

NonProfit PRO

JANUARY 4, 2024

Each month, receive expert advice on securing the second gift, retaining donors, reimagining events, making successful asks, and more. DonorPerfect's Fundraising Calendar empowers nonprofit heroes! Get 12 months of tailored inspiration, with practical tips, key dates, self-care, and customizable stickers.

Calendar 163

Calendar Impact Fundraising Advice 163

Bloomerang

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to attract corporate matching gifts: Dear Charity Clairity, I have a question about how to attract corporate matching gifts. We receive very few, and I wonder why more donors don’t take advantage. Raise one gift, get the second gift free!

Gift 92

Gift Practice Companies Benefit 92

Bloomerang

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to persuade leadership to get donor thank-you letters out sooner: Dear Charity Clairity, I just took a new job and have discovered they don’t get thank you letters out for two weeks. Especially smaller donors. We then looked at the total gift journey.

Donor 87

Donor Exercise Gift Charity 87

Bloomerang

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on when to soft credit donors in their database: Dear Charity Clairity, I have two questions: (1) Our organization received a check from one spouse, without any paperwork crediting the other spouse. 2) We received an IRA Charitable Rollover check from a donor.

Database 89

Database Donor Gift Phone 89

Bloomerang

AUGUST 4, 2023

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to accept a real estate gift for the first time: Dear Charity Clairity, We have a board member who wants to donate a gift of real estate. Whether or not this is a gift you can “make happen” depends on a number of variables.

Gift 79

Gift Law Charity Guidelines 79

EveryAction

OCTOBER 6, 2022

From major gifts to donations the price of a cold brew, contributions from individuals often make up the largest portion of Americans’ charitable giving. If you’re looking to grow your grassroots donors—a segment many nonprofits struggle to retain —sustainer programs in particular can be a natural match for these passionate supporters.

Program 130

Program Donor Gift Fundraising 130

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

What Donors Want – Fundraising Advice Straight from the Donor’s Mouth – Guest Post by Rachel Stephenson Sheff. Major gift fundraising is an intuitive blend of art and science, with relationship-building at its core. Advisors, I produce a podcast called What Donors Want where we ask donors questions just like these.

Advice 93

Advice Donor Fundraising Blended 93

sgEngage

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Without it, your efforts to cultivate and steward donors won’t go very far. A trusting relationship with donors contains shared perceptions and values, openness, transparency, and a willingness to grow the connection. Your Perception of Your Donors I’m sure you can remember an interaction that felt purely transactional.

Retention 83

Retention Donor Build Strategy 83

Bloomerang

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to recognize and steward tribute donors: Dear Charity Clairity, Our small organization has been around for many years, but we have only just recently begun receiving donations “in memory of a loved one in lieu of flowers” for example.

Donor 89

Donor Gift Charity Newsletter 89

Bloomerang

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on what to do after a donor says “no” to a meeting. Dear Charity Clairity, I’ve been getting a lot of resistance from donors saying “no” when I ask them if they’d like to get together. Not every “yes” means the donor is passionate. NO = Why me?

Donor 94

Donor Alternative Advice Tips 94

Bloomerang

MARCH 17, 2023

You’ve completed thorough prospect research , cultivated and provided a site visit, prepared a first-rate proposal and secured a meeting to make a solicitation, but the major donor prospect responds with a “no.” It’s up to nonprofit leaders to be tuned in and sensitive to the complexity of donor words and feelings.

Lesson 111

Lesson Donor Fundraising Gift 111

Bloomerang

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to talk to legacy givers as you document their legacy gift intent. . Dear Charity Clairity, I was talking with a donor the other day and he mentioned our organization was in his will. How do you go about asking for amounts and documenting it?

Gift 99

Gift Pledge Charity Mentoring 99

Bloomerang

APRIL 17, 2021

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit leader who needs advice on who the best prospects are to ask for legacy gifts. But we don’t have a lot of major annual donors and don’t know many rich people. Dear No Rockefellers, It’s a myth that legacy gifts must come from rich people. 20% loyal donors = 500 loyal donors .

Gift 111

Gift Charity Award National 111

Bloomerang

JUNE 26, 2021

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who wants advice on how to honor, credit, and recognize their memorial gifts. . How should those donations be credited on our Honor Roll of Donors? . Should the amount any particular donor has given to this memorial fund also be added to their cumulative giving?

Gift 105

Gift Public Fund Donor 105

Bloomerang

JANUARY 4, 2022

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on best practices around sharing tax information with donors. First, I’m not really comfortable with the way we inform donors of the tax-deductibility of their gifts. I hear a lot about IRA rollovers and stock gifts, but we don’t really receive those.

Kansas City 124

Kansas City Share Donor Kansas 124

Bloomerang

JANUARY 13, 2023

Today’s question come from a nonprofit leader who wants advice on how to frame monthly gift asks to minimize accounting complications between restricted and unrestricted gifts: . Put another way, if we ask donors to cover the cost of a learning event to help students gain job skills, with different set amounts per month (e.g.,

Gift 80

Gift Lesson Skills Training 80

Bloomerang

MARCH 8, 2024

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on whether they can credit a donation in 2023 if the check was dated 2024: Dear Charity Clairity, A donor advised in early December a $20,000 check was mailed to us. — Want to keep donor happy Dear Want to keep donor happy, Of course you do!

Calendar 91

Calendar Difference Mail Law 91

Achieve

AUGUST 25, 2023

The high ROI of planned gifts and their accessibility to wider groups of donors has always made them a smart investment of your time and development resources. While you should leave explicit financial or estate planning advice to the professionals, there are other steps you should still take. They include: Bequests.

Gift 52

Gift Team Fund Donor 52

Bloomerang

MAY 8, 2021

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who needs advice on how to deal with a potential legacy gift that has conditions attached. . I have stayed in touch by calling but want your advice as to what we can do so that he will further explore our offer. Turning down a gift can be a tough decision.

Gift 97

Gift Proposal Law Charity 97

Bloomerang

DECEMBER 20, 2021

Part of the job of being a true philanthropy facilitator is showing donors how they might benefit from being a little more generous. Philanthropy” – aka “love of humanity” – works best when everyone wins – your organization, the donor and the community. Let’s review these two giving opportunities of which your donors may not be aware.

Donor 108

Donor Giving Philanthropy San Francisco 108

Bloomerang

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Donor plants jump up at your gala’s auction , raise their hand high, and start, or advance, the bidding. A seasoned fundraiser in Jewish philanthropy taught me about donor plants years ago and, celebrating the best of fundraising’s oral tradition, a hallmark of our field, I am passing it on to you. Carefully comb your donor records.

Donor 95

Donor Nonprofit Gift Sponsor 95

Bloomerang

JANUARY 20, 2023

Today’s question come from a fundraiser and donor who wants advice on how to handle poor donor engagement: Dear Charity Clairity, I’m a fundraiser, but also a donor. Because when a nonprofit doesn’t treat me as if I matter, as I carefully and consciously treat donors to my organization, I get a little peeved.

Donor 100

Donor Philanthropy Charity Gift 100

Bloomerang

JULY 1, 2021

Legacy gifts are an area of revenue in the nonprofit sector that few can afford to overlook. The problem is that these donor drives don’t pay off quickly. What is the hardest part of legacy donor drives? You have to measure more by sign up rather than funds coming in, which is quite different to most other donor drives.

Gift 108

Gift Program Guide Charity 108

Bloomerang

DECEMBER 4, 2021

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on what to do when you get notified of an estate gift of which you were previously unaware. . For example, the form would ask about the designation, contacts/background of the donor, timelines to expect funds (for future planning purposes), etc. .

Gift 100

Gift Phone Charity Contact 100

Bloomerang

MAY 1, 2021

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who needs advice on how to shine a light on their legacy giving program by publicizing bequests. . Dear Charity Clairity, We just received a significant bequest from a donor who is childless. So no one in the family will notice how, or if, we acknowledge the gift.

Gift 96

Gift Public Award Story 96

Bloomerang

MAY 8, 2021

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who needs advice on how to deal with a potential legacy gift that has conditions attached. . I have stayed in touch by calling but want your advice as to what we can do so that he will further explore our offer. Turning down a gift can be a tough decision.

Gift 84

Gift Proposal Law Charity 84

Bloomerang

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to handle gift solicitation when more cultivation is needed first. . I ask because this happened once when I thought the donor wasn’t really well enough cultivated for an ask. How do you slow a donor down to get them where you want them to go?

Gift 74

Gift Charity Advice Guidelines 74

Bloomerang

AUGUST 11, 2023

Today’s question comes from a director of development who wants advice on how to quickly and efficiently find the best major gift and planned giving prospects: Dear Charity Clairity, We recently purchased donor analytics and now have a database overlay indicating who has major gift and planned gift likelihood.

Analytics 63

Analytics Donor Gift Database 63

Bloomerang

JUNE 9, 2022

As a nonprofit fundraiser, you’ve probably heard some variation of the phrase, “treat every donor like a major donor.” If you treat every donor like a major donor, you’d probably run out of team member time. Plus, not all of your supporters want to be wined and dined like a major donor. Who are your major donors?

Donor 102

Donor Gift Database Relationship 102

Bloomerang

MAY 29, 2021

Today’s question comes from a fundraiser who wants advice on best practices around recording and recognizing in-kind donors. . Dear Charity Clairity, We often receive gifts in kind which are worth a lot of money. The form of the gift is not what’s important. How the donor feels about having made the gift.

Donor 105

Donor Gift Professional Advice 105

Bloomerang

DECEMBER 9, 2022

Today’s question come from a nonprofit employee who want advice on which year to count gifts that are made on or before December 31, but not received until January: . Our auditors later told us the gifts should have been recorded as pledges, with the payment showing as being applied in the new year. Donor Perspective.

Gift 80

Gift Charity Mail Pledge 80

Pamela Grow

JANUARY 25, 2024

With the overall decline in both donors and dollars, smart nonprofits are recognizing the importance of monthly giving programs. What policies and procedures does your organization have in place to ensure that donors who have made that extra commitment to give monthly to your organization are happy with their decision? It worked well.

Donor 64

Donor Wiki Wikipedia Mentoring 64

sgEngage

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

Is donor retention different when the donor is acquired online? In this episode, you’ll learn more about ways to improve donor retention for online-acquired donors. Topics Discussed in This Episode: What organizations do to improve how they retain and engage online donors. Preferences of people making online gifts.

Retention 85

Retention Donor Online Podcast 85

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JUNE 23, 2020

As a general rule, donations pages should be simple, optimized for mobile giving, and ask for the minimal amount of information required to make a donation and to capture a donor’s contact information. It’s also worth sending a postcard campaign to your one-time donors asking them to become monthly donors.

Practice 339

Practice Online Fundraising Nonprofit 339

Bloomerang

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Considering doing a donor cultivation event ? According to fundraising expert and author Penelope Burk, 67% of respondents attending a donor cultivation event credited it as the reason why they made their gift. . The number one thing donors want is to know they make a difference. Donors get to see your need firsthand.

Donor 108

Donor Audience Fun Script 108

Get Fully Funded

APRIL 4, 2024

As you incorporate these tips, work at fostering genuine supporter relationships, and strategize ways to improve the donor experience, you can generate more reliable revenue streams over time. Boosting revenue starts with forming stronger ties with the people who support your mission: your donors. Personalize donor outreach.

Donation 110

Donation Strategy Nonprofit Gift 110