Partner Post

Now that the 2015 giving season is over, you’re probably knee deep into planning your fundraising calendar for 2016. We invited special guest Brad Davies, Fundraising Expert from NextAfter to share his experience and talk through a specific strategy on how to grow your organization this year and turn your 2016 fundraising goals into a reality. Brad Davies is an online fundraising expert who was the project director of the “Online Fundraising Scorecard” which looked at the online giving habits of 250 charities, 100 of which are on the Chronical of Philanthropy’s 400 list. Brad has consulted with hundreds of organizations [...]

You’re sitting in your office on November 21st. You’re fielding texts from your mom about what time your flight home lands. At the very moment you begin to map out your Turkey Day plate real estate (mashed potatoes at 3:00, green beans at 9:00, please), you scroll across a teaser for a #GivingTuesday donation match a partner organization has organized and that feeling sinks in. You missed the #GivingTuesday boat. Again. #sad That was 2016. And here we are in 2017… the #GivingTuesday planning you vowed to map out in August has gone by the way of your hydration and decluttering [...]

This post was originally published on Firefly Partner's blog, and is being shared with their permission. If the title of this blog post resonates with you, you have lots of company. Most nonprofit organizations have a degree of dissatisfaction with their online engagement tool – primarily because there is no perfect platform.  Advocacy, email marketing, events, fundraising, eCommerce, and CRM are all fairly standard components of an online engagement program at most organizations.  These elements are really critical to the success and core functions of the modern nonprofit.  You just want to provide a great experience for your supporters and use [...]

Nonprofit organizations do so many things really well:  First of all…they impact lives! Every. Single. Day.  The paid staff and leadership for nonprofits work tirelessly long hours and often get paid much less than they could if they worked in the private or corporate sector.  Or, maybe they’re a volunteer board member serving faithfully.  Either way, all involved give liberally of who they are for the mission. For nonprofits to break free of traditional constraints and transform into high-performing, high-growth organizations, there is a need to clearly define what limits growth and become intentional with solutions to effectively expand these limits.  [...]

Today’s donors are very tech savvy. Almost two-thirds of us are now smartphone owners – even the boomer generation has embraced them – and these devices are a primary access point to the online world for many. The use of paper checks continues to decline in favor of electronic payment methods and credit/debit cards. In fact, since 2013, mobile giving to a charity’s websites has increased by 80 percent. We are a digital society. Source: creditcards.com As connected individuals, the donors of today are more impulse-driven, they’re on the go and they expect great experiences – or they will walk away. From shopping, to dating, to [...]

Every nonprofit event has some hiccups, so we’ve come to expect them. But imagine if you didn’t have to stop five, ten, or a dozen times throughout your event to troubleshoot the guest list, or fix a data entry error. Imagine how much faster registration and check-out would move. How much of that time could be better spent giving the best service possible to your guests? All it takes is a tiny bit more preparation, practice, and organization. Make these five small changes to your process, and you’ll find you can breathe much easier on the big night.   Maintain Physical [...]

Hosting an event for your organization is an excellent way to build relationships with your supporters and to enable them to introduce their own networks to your cause in a fun environment. Surprisingly, post-event follow-up is often overlooked, but is still critically important.   While many debate the value of nonprofit events given the high costs, data supports the idea that an event is an excellent opportunity to build a more actively engaged community - one that volunteers, donates, and supports your organization in multiple ways. Your follow-up is an acknowledgement of their participation and can build on the relationship between [...]

Time and time again as we are working with our nonprofit clients we hear a common challenge: We don't have the budget to do that. Whether it's investing in a new website, buying a better camera, spending money on a fancy social media metrics dashboard, or even having a full-time social media employee, the refrain is all the same - small nonprofits are strapped for cash and have a limited budget.   We get it, we really do. At CSL, the majority of us have worked at nonprofits or startups so we understand competing priorities when it comes to your limited [...]

Major gifts are the financial backbone for your organization. Follow these 8 best practices to grow your own major giving strategy.   Perform a prospect screening. This is a good place to start, as it feeds directly into the major donor identification process. Prospect research can reveal a wealth of information about potential and existing donors. Whether you hire a screening company, bring in consultants, take on the task in-house or some combination thereof, it’s going to be crucial to candidate identification.   Form a major giving society. Launching a major giving society is an excellent way to recognize and reward [...]

If you are serving on a nonprofit board or are considering doing so, it is important to keep in mind that along with the great work of that organization, it’s also your responsibility to understand that nonprofit’s finances. There are a variety of differences between non- and for-profit accounting. The more familiar you are with the differences, the better prepared you will be as a board member.   Why is it so different? It’s important for nonprofit organizations to understand their accounting needs to be able to maximize their resources and spend more time raising awareness for their cause and less [...]