By Tony Poderis on May 21, 2013
You can’t fix a problem in a campaign unless you know there is a problem !! We track progress in a fund-raising campaign to be able to identify problems in time to take corrective action. If at any point in the campaign it begins to look as if the ability to achieve the goal is [...]
By Hank Lewis on April 23, 2013
This posting by: Hank Lewis I Recently saw the heading on a listserve posting relating to naming an annual award after a donor. It started me thinking about the ways that a donor could be recognized for their support. (BTW, I didn’t read that posting, just to be sure that whatever I wrote wouldn’t be [...]
By Hank Lewis on February 19, 2013
A Reader wrote: “Even after 18 years in development, and earning the CFRE credential, I still have a hard time making the mental adjustment from thinking about our clients’ and organization’s needs to thinking about the needs of the donor. And it’s a totally foreign concept to my Executive Director. “I also have difficulty understanding [...]
By Hank Lewis on November 13, 2012
Every nonprofit must have its own set of policies that cover all areas of service and operation; and, those policies must be written based on the circumstances and needs of that organization. First, you need to have policies in place to “regulate” what your organization will do with all gifts – cash, stock, in-kind, bequests, [...]
By Hank Lewis on June 12, 2012
This posting is based on an email exchange asking about the relationship between bequests and Naming Opportunities (NOs). I have expanded on my responses in that exchange: With regrets, I do not have a set of generic naming policies that I can share. I would, however, be happy to suggest how you might structure such [...]
By Hank Lewis on March 13, 2012
To stand, to be effective over the long term, a major gifts program needs all three legs: Leaders, Prospects and Involvement of both in the life of your organization. Leadership includes the organization’s CEO, Trustees and (often) key volunteers. It’s their role to define the funding need, take their case to the public, and identify, [...]
By Hank Lewis on February 21, 2012
Responsible planning, in any economy, involves identifying sources of funding sufficient to ensure continuation/survival of the programs that satisfy the needs of the people and the communities you serve. Ensuring the funding of your programs requires that you minimize the risk of (again?) losing a large percentage of your income. According to “Giving USA 2011,” [...]
By Hank Lewis on November 22, 2011
Hopefully, over the last two weeks, you haven’t been cold calling, cold writing, sending “surprise” invitations or making “cold” visits to people who may or may not have been major gifts prospects. With that in mind, we’ll finish making the distinction between a “large” gift and a “major gift.” If the person who suggested the [...]
By Hank Lewis on November 15, 2011
Hoping that, between last Tuesday and today, you haven’t used the four illustrations of bad fundraising technique, we continue with the theme/intent of this three-part posting. Once in a while, the response to the cold Letter, the cold Call, the Invitation (out of the blue) or the Visit (not preceded by the appropriate education and [...]
By Hank Lewis on November 8, 2011
In our definition, we suggest that, no matter its size, unless a gift met certain parameters, it wasn’t “major.” We emphasize the requirement that the process that obtained the gift had to be based on a plan/strategy that included face-to-face cultivation and solicitation components, and that the gift had to significantly help in attaining fundraising [...]
Hank Lewis with Development Consultant Associates has over thirty years as a fundraising consultant and is a specialist in Board and Leadership Development, Capital Campaign, Bequest Program and Major Gifts. [Read more ...]