Chris B.

An effective fundraising system is not just about your donors or your revenue.   It's about employee retention.   Recently, the Social Impact Staff Retention Report was released. It's not a lot of good news.   According to the report ... 70% of the nonprofit workers surveyed are looking for or considering a new job, or will be, this year.  Thirty five percent plan to stay in the nonprofit sector.  And 22% are rarely or never fulfilled in their work.   I'm no statistician, but yikes.   The...

Early in my fundraising career, I was driving to a donor's office to drop something off. It was a featureless office park in Orange County, and I wasn't sure I was in the right place.   Then I saw the donor's car. His unmistakable personalized plate and his gleaming Maserati.   I pulled my humble Honda Civic into a nearby spot and got ready for the meeting. And all I could think was:   "Do I really belong here?"   For a moment, the gap between my world and my donor's world seemed vast - and I...

Fundraising can feel confusing.   Depending on who you are listening to or what you are reading, you may think you need to add more events, cancel all your events, focus on major giving only, start a grants program, start a monthly giving program, start a board development committee, disband that committee, and change your CRM. Possibly all at once.   Oh, and call Amazon for a gift, while you are at it.   It's not that any of that advice is bad (well, the Amazon one is), but they require...