Fundraising Consultants & Credibility: Some Thoughts

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on October 11, 2011

This is a follow-up to an earlier posting – see: Who/What is a Fundraising Consultant? Sometimes a client will accept as gospel every bit of advice/direction that a fundraising consultant provides. Sometimes everything the consultant advises/suggests is questioned. I’ve worked with organizations/institutions that fit each category, and of course I prefer working with the former […]

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If You’ve Met One Type of Grant, You’ve Met Them All

By Lynn deLearie on October 6, 2011

Not Exactly… There are a variety of grants available, but they’re not all the same. Sure, the basic proposal stuff will be the same: organization information, mission, history, and general agency overview, but the guts of these proposals may differ significantly. Program/Project Support Grants • The most common type of foundation grant, and funded by […]

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Major Gifts Committee Member Job Description

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on October 4, 2011

In response to an email request…. “This” committee was created with the understanding that, to obtain the gift income needed for this organization to effectively pursue its mission, an organized approach to the acquisition of major gifts must be designed, and assiduously followed. Major gifts, for this purpose, are those that are obtained from a […]

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Tell a Great Story in your Gov’t Grant Proposal!

By Jayme Sokolow on September 29, 2011

Being able to tell a convincing story is an important issue for anyone working on a government grant proposal; but, sadly, too many proposals tell no story. Proposals may contain plenty of information, but they must also incorporate a cohesive story line that unifies the narrative. What is a Powerful Story? According to Jennifer Aaker, […]

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Fundraising Ethics Revisited

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on September 27, 2011

A couple of months ago I wrote my first posting on fundraising ethics. In that posting I posed three questions — three situations that required ethical resolutions. And, although there have been a few emails from readers that related to ethical questions, the situations that I posed have not been addressed. So, in the context […]

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Thanking Your Online Donors

By Rick Christ on September 22, 2011

When I was young, there was a rule about thank-you notes. If I got $5 from a distant aunt, I wasn’t allowed to spend it until after I had written and mailed her a thank you note. When you were young, you probably had a rule at your house that was similar. It’s a great […]

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How Do You Pay A Fundraiser???

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on September 20, 2011

That was the subject line in a recent email in which the writer asked: “We have a skilled fundraiser who wants to do an event for us. She is willing to do it for 10% of profits after expenses. She is passionate about our cause and has worked hard for us for a couple of […]

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The Biggest Mistake that Nonprofits Make…

By Carter McNamara on September 15, 2011

… in the Combined Federal Campaign… is to run a stealth CFC campaign. If a nonprofit has done all the work to become admitted to the CFC, and then they keep it a secret, it shouldn’t be a “surprise” when the results are not as good as they hoped. With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, You […]

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Designing An “Ask Package”

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on September 13, 2011

An email asked if I know of any resources for designing an “Ask Package” The writer explained: “I’ve found lots of general rules such as ‘include your mission statement’ and ‘specifically outline what their donation will cover’ but I can’t find any templates for designing one. Are there any websites you could recommend? “We’re a […]

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Private, and Corporate, and Family Foundations! Oh, My!

By Lynn deLearie on September 8, 2011

If you’ve started down the yellow brick road to foundation funding, then get set to meet some different characters (foundations) along the way – specifically: Private, Corporate, Family, and Community Foundations. Much of the information below comes from the wizards at the MIT Office of Foundation relations; I’ve added the bulleted items in italics. You […]

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