We would like to thank Phyllis Freedman for focusing her recent blog posting on prospect research and, in particular, ResearchPoint, a Target Analytics’ product. Her post, “Streamlining the Donor Visit,” directs fundraisers and researchers on how to streamline the process of developing and maintaining a relationship with donors. Please feel free to leave comments and questions [...]

I’ve been sharing Laura Fredrick’s “The 10 Guiding Principles for Any Ask,” and have prompted you to consider them in your own fundraising efforts.  Laura’s principle for planned gift solicitations is an important one:   Any organization’s planned giving program must be coordinated with all other fundraising programs. Was your first response to her statement an [...]

Just thinking about this brings back memories of trying to figure out how am I going to do all that I need to do to be productive?  Traditionally the prospect research budget depending on your department has been very low.  So not only to you have to be resourceful in providing details on your prospects [...]

In Part 1 of this series we looked at the differences between data mining and predictive modeling.  We identified how they both take a look at “commonalities” or characteristics of individuals in your data base to identify patterns of behavior.  Both can be extremely useful when trying to enhance your overall fund raising effectiveness, as [...]

In Part 1 of this article we learned about The Luxury Institute and its new whitepaper titled “Wealth and Luxury Trends 2011 and Beyond” .We also introduced the first trend noted in the whitepaper, which I want to explore further in this part of the article.  To remind you, Trend 1 is Luxury CRM Culture [...]

Predictive modeling, data mining….too many terms, too little time.  As fundraisers, many of us would readily admit that “statistical stuff” just isn’t our thing.  In fact, I can’t even count the number of times I have heard, “I got into fundraising because I can’t do math.”  So, where do we find ourselves today?  Immersed in [...]

Last month, The Luxury Institute published a new whitepaper titled “Wealth and Luxury Trends 2011 and Beyond” .  Who is The Luxury Institute?  Their website states that “The Luxury Institute is the uniquely impartial, independent and objective ratings and research and CRM consulting organization that is the global voice of the high net-worth consumer.”   What [...]

In Part I of this blog, I shared the first three of “The 10 Guiding Principles For Any Ask.”  from Laura Fredricks’ book, “The Ask: How to Ask Anyone for Any Amount for any Purpose.”  Here are three more to consider. Ask for a specific amount for a specific purpose. At the initial ask, stay [...]

Having worked in several fundraising offices, I know there is always a plan to have someone come into the office to open the mail and process the online donations on December 31st to make sure those last minute dollars are deposited.  Sometimes that person was me. There has been quite a bit of financial reliance [...]