On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed the much-anticipated Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.  Among other things it includes or extends provisions that benefit donors and charitable organizations.  One of the most exciting provisions on charitable donations is the extension of the Charitable IRA Rollover.  This law allows people [...]

The final three suggestions in Laura Fredrick’s book “The 10 Guiding Principles for Any Ask,” may be the most important.  Here they are: Always use “we” instead of “I” in any ask because that connotes that the ask is being done with all the strength and backing of the organization. At the initial ask, stay [...]

The power of information is not in its availability, but in its collection and organization.

Kathleen Rogers works with nonprofit prospect researchers, development directors, major-giving officers and fundraising consultants to support fundraising campaigns with Blackbaud’s NOZA Philanthropy Data.  She recently published an article in the Philanthropy Journal Online  on understanding and developing prospect research! Please leave questions and feedback in the comments section!

Fond memories, warm and fuzzy feeling, deep love and connection, keeping that magical feeling alive throughout your life – These are all things we would like our donors to have because even if they have two of these then you have a donor for life.  The easiest way to have this happen is to start [...]

Robert L. Weiner’s Nonprofit Blog recently discussed the effectiveness of the new text donation system used by the American Red Cross  for the Haiti earthquake. A NYTimes article, published last month, reveals how the system is flawed and that it is not a device for prospect researchers to gain mass amounts of donor information. Feel free to leave [...]

Words that evoke interpersonal involvement move donors to give, but according to a recent doctoral dissertation on fundraising language, the industry does a poor job at it.  Frank C. Dickerson, Ph.D. used corpus linguistics to review and measure fundraisers’ letters to donors.  He found that we write more to inform rather than involve and concluded [...]

With the holidays upon us most fundraisers are immersed in the business of recognizing the fruits of their efforts—otherwise known as gift acknowledgements.  All of us understand the importance—and need—for timely and accurate “thank yous”, but what happens when we don’t know the best–or right– way to express our appreciation?  This issue has many aspects, [...]

If we sit down and really think about all the areas within fundraising and which areas have been impacted the most, I would have to say advancement services which can include gift processing, prospect research and prospect management.  The field of prospect research alone has completely transformed since I entered the profession back in 1996.  [...]