50 Practical Tips for Successful Fundraising

Part One: Relationship Building (The Heart of Fundraising) 18 short videos (3-10 minutes each) designed to enhance your effectiveness in building and cultivating relationships with donors and prospects.

1- Small Windows into Life: How We Experience the World Around Us (4:50)

2- The Fundraiser as Guest (4:39)
 
3- Heart vs. Head Fund-Raising (5:11)

4- Signs of a Donor’s Emotional Connectedness to Your Organization (5:11)

5- When “No” is Actually “I Don’t Want to Talk About it.” (3:00)

6- Setting Aside Emotional Space (and Time) for the Older Donor (7:16)

7- Making Space for Wealthy (and Well-Known) People at Your Table (7:38)

8- What is “A Lot of Money”? (6:21) 

9- When Raising More Money is Easier Than Raising Less (3:36)

10- The Power of the Statement: “What You Just Said Could Really Be Helpful” (3:44)

11- Opening the Door for a Future Visit (4:44)

12- Making People Comfortable During a First Visit (6:45)

13- Looking Beyond The Next Gift. (3:29)

14- Your Role As the “Fourth Partner” (3:52)

15- Letting the Donor “Lead You” to What is Important and What is Not (2:30)

16- The Ask as an Act of “Confident Vulnerability” (4:45)

17- The Float: The Ask as Inquiry (4:04)

18- Listening: What is Too Much... And What is Too Little? (2:55)

Part Two: Practical Strategies and Applications (The Science of Fundraising) 32 short videos (3-9 minutes each) presenting concrete steps that will strengthen your development skills and fundraising program.

19- The Top-Down Principle: The Key to Organizing Your Office, Your Time, and Your Work. (3:54)

20- Internal vs. External Language and Communication (4:30) 

21- The Importance of “Organizational Hum” (3:40)

22- Uncovering the Nuggets; Seeding the Field (7:01)

23- Moving Beyond Donor Cultivation (4:45)

24- The Solicitation Ladder (5:06) 

25- Determining What is - or Should Be - a Major Gift for Your Organization (4:55)

26- Donor Acquisition: Some Hard Realities (5:35)

27- Determining Gift Capability (6:20)

28- The Donor Pie Chart: A Practical and Cost Efficient Way to Increase Your Numbers ((5:33)

29- How Much Time Should I Spend “Out of the Office”? (5:20)

30- Who Are Your Best Planned Gift Prospects? (6:45)

31- Special Event Fundraising: The Questions Often Not Asked. (10:06)

32- When the Tail Wags the Dog (3:15)

33- The “Rubber Band Test”: Avoiding Organization Drift (4:15)

34- Which Way is the Train Headed? (3:47) 

35- Turning Over the Bottle Caps: Finding (and Sorting) Your Major Donor Prospects (6:52)

36- The Importance of Institutional Memory. (11:18)

37- Making “Space Available” for the Unexpected Large Gift (7:19) 

38- Triangling Important Relationships (5:34)

39- Tipping Point People Within Your Constituency. (7:35)

40- Tracking Gift Income: A Practical (and Highly Useful) Development Office Report (4:25)

41- Keeping the Ask Simple. (6:55) 

42- The 80/20 Rule (4:11)

43- Evaluating Staff Performance: Pitfalls to Avoid. (6:20)

44- Building an “Updraft” As You Near Your Campaign Goal (5:20)

45- The Team Visit: Who Does What and Who Sits Where? (5:45)

46- Bequests: The Centerpiece of an Effective Planned Gift Program (7:07)

47- The Challenges of a “Group Ask” (6:10) 

48- The Solicitation Safety Net (3:02)

49- The Impromptu Thank You Call (Following a Gift) (6:17)

50- The Impromptu Phone Call (No Special Occasion) (3:54)

 Purchase The Nine Guiding Principles & 50 Practical Tips and/or The Non-Profit Board’s Guide to Successful Fundraising.