Major gift visits carry a particular anxiety that every development professional knows. The preparation alone can consume hours, as we pull together scattered conversation notes, review giving patterns, and try to remember where the relationship left off. The worry that something important will slip through is always present, whether it is a detail that changes…
Most annual fund appeals read like they were written for everyone and no one. A well-crafted letter about the year’s accomplishments, a reply envelope, and a hope that enough people respond to cover the budget gap. The letter is good, the case is compelling, and the results are roughly the same every year, enough to…
The most important stewardship moment in any donor relationship is the first one, and the clock starts the instant a gift is processed. Within 24 hours, every donor should hear from us with personal gratitude that acknowledges the specific gift, the specific donor, and the specific impact. Most organizations know this. Most aren’t doing it,…
The major gift ask generates more anxiety than almost any other moment in fundraising. Development professionals delay, rush, or avoid the conversation entirely, because the fear of damaging a relationship we’ve spent months building is real. The stakes are high, and the preparation that most fundraisers can manage before heading out the door rarely provides…
Let me start with a confession. I am deeply skeptical of AI in fundraising. As a novelist and composer, I try to steer far clear of it. It wants to destroy my human creativity, and I won’t let it. I compose at a piano, using pencil and paper. I outlined my novel on a whiteboard,…
I’ve been working in the nonprofit sector since 1977. Through CharityChannel Press, which I founded in 1992, my publishing house has published more than a hundred books, most of them for nonprofit professionals, covering everything from capital campaigns to board governance to planned giving. I’ve built and administered fund development programs, and founded a few…