Chris B.

There are a lot of tools and approaches that make you a more successful fundraiser. But the big one? It’s mentorship. A fundraising mentor is someone to challenge you, support you, and connect you to the bigger world of nonprofits. I know that my career, and my passion for working in nonprofits, owes a huge debt of gratitude to my first mentor, Frank Hall. Frank did more than teach me about fundraising. He showed me what it meant to be a full-time fundraiser and taught me lessons I still use...

The only thing I love more than an insightful report on donor behavior is an insightful report on donor behavior that supports what I've been telling clients for a while now. So you can imagine my joy upon reading Bloomerang's latest - "The Giving Signals Report: 2026 Fundraising Trends for Nonprofits." There's a lot of good stuff here, but what jumped out early on was this: "Donors are motivated less by transaction and more by meaning, identity, and the desire to make a difference." ...

I have a ... complicated relationship with nonprofit fundraising events. I've organized my fair share - even some that I am proud of almost 10 years later. But I also think that events are often an expensive and inefficient way to raise funds. Many nonprofits are stuck in a cycle of putting on generic events that don't celebrate their mission or engage their supporters - but make just enough money to make it difficult to pull the plug entirely. There are some remarkable nonprofit events...