Don’t Think About Your Fundraising

This fall, don’t think about your fundraising. Seriously. I hear you already. -         “But Jen, we raise most of our money in fall and early winter.” -         “But, but Jen, we always do our donor acquisition in the fall.” -         “But, but, but Jen, ARE YOU CRAZY!?” This fall, don’t think about your revenue target. Don’t think about your organization’s pressing [...]

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Pop quiz, hotshot…

What starts with “s”, ends with “n” and can immediately improve your fundraising results and your donor/prospect/community engagement? Nope, it’s not seclusion. Or seduction, secretion, sexualisation, sanitization, sentimentialization, septuagenarian or sesquipedalian. Gold star for anyone who got it. Segmentation. Seriously – I’m starting to wonder whether some charities think the $70,000 database whirring away in the corner of [...]

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golb sdrawkcab!

“I’m not looking at you Dudes, I’m looking past you.” – Jay-Z Agents work from your donor out. We think from your donor’s perspective. We start with your objective and create the irresistible call to action that will inspire your donor. We work backwards from there to build the compelling case and figure out how you’ll [...]

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Twitter and the Twilight Zone

“Am I in the Twilight Zone?” was what I didn’t say. I was chatting with a client and she says “…how you do have time for blogging and social media? Doesn’t it take, like, ALL your time and energy? I just don’t have time for that. No way.” I’ve been creating and consuming social media content as [...]

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Dear Mr. Fancypants

(With some apologies to the Norweigian Curling Team-jl) This is an open letter to Executive Directors, Board Chairs and anyone in leadership positions in charities who sign fundraising appeals. It’s not my job to write appeals that sound like you. It’s my job to write appeals that engage your donors and raise you money. So here [...]

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Interval House Gratitude Report

“Your mission, Agents of Good, is to create a thoughtful and inspiring donor-centred report.” – Interval House, September 2009 Agent Jen, Mark and John reporting for duty. Debrief and disclosure on a successful mission. About You Interval House’s 2009 Report is so donor-centred that it isn’t even an Annual Report: it’s a Gratitude Report. Our vision was donors [...]

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Donor Centred Fundraising from the Iceberg

Today I am thrilled to post this new entry by the Executive Director of the Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto and Agent of Good operative, David Love. For those of you who know David, he needs no introduction – and there is none that I could provide that would do him the justice that his [...]

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Titanic Teachings

Agent Jen Love is firmly a 21st century digital gal. But I have an unexplainable predilection for Titanic references. No, I’m not talking about “I’m the king of the world”. I mean the real Titanic. The big boat. That sunk. Here are 5 reasons I have a daily reason to reference the Titanic as a fundraiser: 1. [...]

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Renew Your Donors in 3 Letters. Right Now. Well…

Here’s what you know: it’s way easier to raise money from people who have given to you before than to find a new donor. Renewing your donors should take up a giant portion of your strategic focus, database analysis and campaign development. You can raise a ton of money, gather insights into your donor file, convert your [...]

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Coverage of Haiti Transformative in Our Home

As his eyes widened, I realized it was his world that was actually expanding. If you have a child in your life, you’ll know what I mean when I say that it’s a brave new world for our children and their use of technology. My son Mason, at 4, knows how to access YouTube, search [...]

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