FundRaiser Blog

The FundRaiser Software Blog is an excellent resource for nonprofit organizations looking to learn more about fundraising, donor management, membership management, and much more.

Ideas for an Arts Advocacy organization looking to diversify funding sources

ArtDiversity

Dear Kim,

I work for a small statewide arts advocacy organization, and by small I mean in staff size rather than geographic size. We receive funding from our state agency and membership but realize the need to diversify our funding sources. We are finding it difficult to approach foundations and corporations for funding because we are statewide and we do advocacy. Any advice on how to solve this problem?

Continue reading
2733 Hits

Giving Friends and Allies a Chance to be Donors

Poverty

Dear Kim:

We are a 19-year-old organization of mothers in poverty fighting for the lives of mothers and children who are on the front line in the escalating war on the poor. Our budget has generally been around $52,000—just enough to cover two staff salaries, printing, postage, volunteer stipends, and office utilities and phones. We combine grant writing, subscriptions sales, fundraising events and private donations from quarterly fundraising letters to support our work. Several years ago, we lost our major funder and we have had difficulty getting smaller grants for our work in the last three years since welfare deform lost its “sexy” topical appeal. To survive with our reduced budget of less than $20,000, we have only one part-time paid staff person, our website was disconnected, and we did not replace our copy machine when it died. Consequently, we are accomplishing less work, so it is even more difficult to get grants. We do not want to quit at a time when single-mother families in poverty are suffering nightmares unimagined ten years ago: millions of US single moms forced to quit college; 37 percent increase in infant deaths in cities like Milwaukee; hundreds of thousands of moms and children homeless every year; tens of thousands of moms living with zero income after reaching unrealistic welfare time limits; tough competition for awful jobs paying even less than before, and so on.

Continue reading
2442 Hits

Cultivate a "Grass-Roots" Fund-Raising Campaign for your Organization

Cultivate a "Grass-Roots" Fund-Raising Campaign for your Organization

Many non-profit organizations serve individuals who pay very little or who are unable to pay anything in the way of fees for the services they receive. They generally are in no position to give even the smallest donation to their organizations’ annual fund. In all instances those client/user groups are grateful for the good being done for them and their families. They quite often ask if they can do anything within their power and means to show appreciation to their service organizations since they have no money to give to them. Leaders of those non-profits want to know how best they can respond when at the times the people whom they serve say, “I know you need money and I want to help. Is there anything I can do?”

I have found many such individuals were able to solicit small donations from their immediate family members, other relatives, friends, co-workers, and from other sources personal to them. They responded well to plans presented to them by their organizations’ development officers and trustees. Perhaps your organization can do the same by employing a model of such a program I have used a number of times with success.

Continue reading
4619 Hits
Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
recurring gifts solicitors data conversion Task List donor retention rate mission driven Cloud board members support social media Excel happiness reports new version publicity materials donor prospects the Ask event management membership programs donor attrition customer portal merge fields Volunteer module follow up word processor membersip benefits case study phoning donors office spare fields Resiliency planned giving donor targeting direct mail planning volunteering training tip Congratulations charity golf tournaments ticketsales disaster relief Thank You increasing giving amounts welcome packet donor advised funds adding personal notes to letters how-to videos New Year memorial giving online donations Facebook new donors features communications Network for Good In-Kind gifts brick campaign development director technical support online donations custom page training lapsed donor how to handle auction gifts Importing Data Constant Contact in honor of donations thank you letters appeal letters Alternative Addresses FundRaiser Basic community arts nonprofits letter templates Tickles #GivingTuesday importing csv donor loyalty donation history Crowdfunding Campaign legacy giving premiums holiday giving general volunteers FundRaiser Spark anonymous donors small donations relationship tracking understanding giving trends annual maintenance plan capital campaign fundraising letters role of nonprofits moves management donor recognition Thanksgiving tax summary letters vacation nonprofit fundraising Facebook campaign user spotlights new leadership large donations FundRaiser Hosted End of Year Letters National Change of Address auction ROI animal rescue Snow Birds monthly giving upgrading donors prospects GivingTuesday product news user interface NCOA processing overview grants fundraising major gift prospects donor retention upgrade new nonprofit data entry grassroots campaign PayPal Codes donor contact information Groupings look and feel giving history flash sales donor engagement foundations campaign management salutation correspondance spreadsheets new features operational costs correspondence mode code transparency merge notes accounting software Personalizing donor attrition rate targeted mailings operating systems mailing holiday letters Donor Portal passwords appeal gift acceptance policy donor profile gift entry entering auction gifts email personalizing letters alumni Reminders add ons security government grants GoFundMe project donor source announcements donor Company culture motivation code data analysis advanced tab giving levels password protection LYBUNTS tech tip change of address updating motivation ticket sales tribute gifts gift notes field corporate sponsors endowment campaign backing up data pictures repeat donors banquet updates donor slip building donor relationships on site training segmenting donors campaign community supported gardens holiday donor preferences arts Reporting to IRS membership benefits pledges donor relations major donors budget annual campaign letter community broadcasting raffle SYBUNTS texting donors customer service

Connect With Us

  800-880-3454 ext 3
  Email Us
  Request More Information
  Monday-Friday
      8:30AM-5:30PM CST

Customer Portal Login Form

User Name:
Password:

If you are not sure about your Customer User Name, please call 800-543-4131 and we will be able to help you.

Or you have lost your password, Request Password