Higher education and nonprofit communications teams tend to turn their noses up at donor profiles. Their reaction isn’t unfounded; college alumni magazine readership surveys, for one, consistently show that donor profiles and gift announcements rank last in interest among types of content in these publications. After working for more than a decade on both sides … Continue reading How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Development Content: Five ways to reframe your donor stories
What To Do When Someone Is Bringing Down Your Team
Tolerating performance or behavior that negatively impacts the team is choosing to signal to the team that you are OK with it. The only choices you really have in situations like these are to Tolerate, Train, or Terminate. Shane Snow took this advice to heart over the years and made a flowchart as a reminder … Continue reading What To Do When Someone Is Bringing Down Your Team
The big question your donors want you to answer: WHY
Why should I give you money? Why should I care about your work? Why will this matter to someone? Too often, we focus on HOW. We love to talk about how we do the work. All the cool ways we accomplish great things. A new process. A unique way of tackling a problem. All of … Continue reading The big question your donors want you to answer: WHY
What does the Rich List tell us about the super rich?
Every year Susie Hills writes about the Sunday Times Rich list and reflects upon what it tells those of us who work in philanthropy. This year though, Susie felt surprisingly depressed as she read the List. The news that the richest 250 on the list collectively are worth more than the whole 1000 listers were worth in … Continue reading What does the Rich List tell us about the super rich?
Why the things you hate make good appeals
That informal language is undignified... A fundraising appeal is not a business letter. Say it again. Keep saying it until you believe it. An appeal should read like a letter from a dear friend. Or better yet, like a phone call from that friend, transcribed. So yes, there will be contractions, because people use contractions … Continue reading Why the things you hate make good appeals
10 Visualisations Every Data Scientist Should Know
Data visualisation plays two key roles: 1. Communicating results clearly to a general audience. 2. Organizing a view of data that suggests a new hypothesis or a next step in a project. It’s no surprise that most people prefer visuals to large tables of numbers. That’s why clearly labeled plots with meaningful interpretation always make … Continue reading 10 Visualisations Every Data Scientist Should Know
How to Follow Up with Someone Who’s Not Getting Back to You
We’ve all been there. You email someone asking for a conversation, information, input, or an introduction, and you get no response. Whether you are reaching out to a coworker, a donor, a recruiter, a prospect, or even an old friend, not everyone will get back to you on your timeline — if at all. As … Continue reading How to Follow Up with Someone Who’s Not Getting Back to You
The Science Behind What Motivates People To Donate To Nonprofits
There is no algorithm for human behaviour. To truly understand your donors, you need to take a cue from science and their findings. First, the good news: Charitable giving to nonprofits is contagious and elevating. Most people assume that generosity involves sacrifice: We are giving something up so someone else can have more. But this … Continue reading The Science Behind What Motivates People To Donate To Nonprofits
Happy New Year – the Top 12 blogs of 2021 – part 2
Let's hope 2022 brings us much joy and enables us to spread more kindness around the world. Together, we can create positive impact for those we are aiming to help. Before we look ahead to the New Year, here is part 2 of the 12 most popular blogs on propper-fundraising.com from 2021. 6. The 4 … Continue reading Happy New Year – the Top 12 blogs of 2021 – part 2
Happy Christmas – the Top 12 blogs of 2021 – part 1
As we approach Christmas 2021, I wanted to thank all subscribers, followers and readers of this website and I wish you all a lovely time, whatever circumstances you find yourself in. In 2021, Propper-Fundraising.com received over 5,300 visitors and for the second year running, the site saw the number of page views increase by 28%. … Continue reading Happy Christmas – the Top 12 blogs of 2021 – part 1
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