As you fine-tune your end-of-year appeals, it’s worth thinking about the words that - when used judiciously - can inspire people to give to your cause. 

Below you’ll find a link to one of my most popular guides about the 20 or so words that are powerful and proven to impact donations. But in today’s podcast, I’m focusing on seven words and phrases to consider as you craft your ‘asks’ for support. 

• A few are from my list of...

This time of year, there’s a question that confounds many small nonprofits as they head towards the end of year fundraising deadline. 

Should we participate in #GivingTuesday? Is the one day social media give-a-thon worth it for a nonprofit our size - or are we going to drown in a sea of requests? And even if we wanted to dive in this year, there’s only three weeks until #Giving Tuesday, which will be on Dec. 1 this year.  

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why I...

There has never been a time like right now. Never. 

And despite all the chaos and pivoting and scrambling you have had to do this year, 2020 is providing your nonprofit a very unique opportunity as you gear up for these last few weeks of fundraising.

Your job is to embrace all of this. Don’t be afraid to ask for money (even as you show empathy for folks who might not be able to give this year.) Don’t be afraid to think about what your program could do if you could expand it...

I want to help you solve the case of the disappearing donor. Someone who you can see is responding to your message and even getting to your donation platform, only to leave without a trace. And the clues lead you right up to the culprit.

Your donation page. 

There’s a temptation to think that the conversion of a donor happens when your prospect clicks on the DONATE HERE button, when in fact that’s just the start of the process. Your donation page is the “closer”...

A question for nonprofits right now is what we can do as marketers to shore up our organization’s financial position as we weather this prolonged crisis. 

One option is to seek out new donors, but that can be an expensive way to go - about 10 times more expensive than retaining a current donor. But you’ve probably reached out to your current donor base (possibly more than once) during this challenging time. 

Where else can you turn? 

Well, there is a group that...

Right now, during this confounding and troubling time, your nonprofit has a dual role.

The first is the stated goal embodied by your mission statement. Whether you’re promoting education, fighting food insecurity, sheltering the homeless, protecting animals, raising the next generation of entrepreneurs, curing disease or providing culture to the masses, you’re helping to heal the world. 

But you’re also providing a space where people can take a stand. At a time when we...

For two months now, we’ve focused on topics to help nonprofits deal with the challenges of the coronavirus, with an eye on coming out stronger on the other side of this pandemic. And in the spirit of emerging with more confidence in marketing our missions, I wanted to take a small dive into the M+R Benchmark Report. 

Because this report, released just a couple of weeks ago, is telling me that the steps we have taken during the era of COVID-19 are actually what we might want to be...

#GivingTuesdayNow is right around the corner and your nonprofit should be there. This day of global giving and unity is the financial and feel-good event we have all been needing during the coronavirus pandemic. 

It’s got big backers (Bill & Melinda Gates, PayPal, and Ford among many others) and lots of media coverage (NBC is a big sponsor) so you know awareness is going to be high. And it’s very different from the traditional #GivingTuesday right after Thanksgiving that...

It has been hard times for many nonprofits as passionate, heart-centered professionals to try to market their mission and get the support they need - or just keep things afloat during these unusual times. 

Recently, when I asked the almost 200 members of the Smart Marketing for Small Nonprofits Facebook Group what they needed from me most right now, they overwhelmingly said fundraising ideas. Which makes perfect sense; this is the time when we typically host our galas, Spring Flings,...

There is one big hit that many nonprofits are facing right now - the cancellation or postponement of events that they were counting on to raise needed support to continue their missions.  

From Spring Galas, to fundraising walks and runs, notices of postponements and cancellations keep pouring in. Nonprofits are being forced to make what might feel like untenable decisions. 

But the good news is that there is a Plan B - a way to fill the fundraising gap digitally.

There are...