“You are one of my idols. If there were fundraising/social justice hero trading cards, you would be in one of those hard plastic cases.” (RI executive director)

“Simone is my all-time favourite fundraising guru.” (Australian fundraiser)

 

General information (FD)

Asking Essential Questions About Fund Development
Use these questions to stimulate thinking and conversation about fund development. In the Masters Program in Philanthropy and Development at SMU, we talk about cage-rattling questions…affectionately known as CRQs.

Basic Principles of Fund Development
Every board member and each staff person needs to understand and own these principles. Have fun! Emotions and loyalty and professionalism and so much more.

Choosing Your Road: Organizational Development Specialists
Fundraising technicians aren’t enough to do this work. You and I must operate as OD specialists, too. Download this PDF – or read about the concept in the Strategic Fund Development, 3rd edition.

Creating an Effective Fund Development Program
Summarizes key components of an effective fund development program. Useful when your organization is starting its fundraising program. Useful when you’re aiming for more money to build your program.

Culture of Philanthropy
What is a culture of philanthropy and why does it matter anyway? I wrote about this in 1997, in the first edition of my book, Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last. The topic is still there in the 3rd edition, along with the commentary about the concept of organizational culture.

Development Committee Job Description
Remember: The Development Committee is not responsible for raising the money! So what does it do? What is its accountability? Read this handout.

Donor-Centric Pledge
Donor-centered is like customer-centered: non-negotiable! So what’s your agency’s donor-centric quotient? Discuss the donor-centric pledge with all your staff and your board. Then improve!

Donor-Driven Philanthropy, by Kay Sprinkel Grace
E-book by Kay Sprinkel Grace, developed for the International Fundraising Congress. It’s all about the donor…not your organization!

Emotions
Emotions are the key decision makers. Here’s essential information and resources for all fundraisers.

Fundraising Recession Tips
Strategies for fundraising in a tough economy – not so different from good fundraising any time. Just eliminate the word “recession” and keep reading!

Growing Philanthropy Report
Comprehensive report on Growing Philanthropy in the U.S. Authored by Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang. This is definitely not old news! We haven’t done most of this yet. Let’s get going.

Growing Philanthropy Report: Executive Summary
Executive Summary of Growing Philanthropy in the U.S. Report. Authors Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang. Share this with your boss and your board and…

Involving Your Board Members in Fund Development
The role of the development officer in leading and facilitating the fund development process. I speak about this lots. I write about this lots.

Job Description: Development Officer
Job description for the chief development officer. I hope this is your job description. I hope your job qualifications include lots more than fundraising techniques… Check out the monograph above, called “Choosing Your Road: Organizational Development Specialists.” That’s what you’re supposed to know, too.

Key Roles in Fund Development
Summarizes roles of board, board member, committee, and staff. Use this in screening interviews for board candidates.

Nothing Substitutes For Donors
Yes, revenue is important. But nothing substitutes for charitable gifts. Donors give us far more than money. (And there’s a bit of a rant about fundraising events, too.)

PetPeevesPitifulProblems
I have so many peeves. I see so many pitiful problems. Try this with your boss, your board, your fundraising volunteers, your fundraising committee. Push them! Push yourself.

Philanthropy & Power
My musings about philanthropy, privilege and power, and democracy. I believe that philanthropy should be a democratizing act.

Philanthropy: Engaging the Next Generation
An interesting article by Canadian colleague Tony Myers, CFRE, PhD

State of the Union in Fund Raising
Wonderful 2003 speech given by my dear friend, Tim Burchill, CFRE. Still useful insights. And always special for those of us who knew Tim.

Tips for Using A Consultant
Don’t use one if you don’t have to! But know what you’re getting into if you want one.

UnderDeveloped Response
My response to UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising (January 2013) from CompassPoint.  Talk about this important research with your boss, your fund development committee, and your board. And talk about it every year!

StoryListening
Fundraising isn’t about money…neither is giving. Fundraising and giving are about stories and aspirations and meaning. Fundraising is storytelling. And fundraisers are storytellers. But good fundraising and good fundraisers are story listeners, too. How about you? Just read my story.

Securing the gift

Donor-Centric Pledge
Is your organization truly donor-centered? Test your DCQ (donor-centric quotient).

Du Recrutement au Don Majeur
Relationship building workshop and handout – in French – for the 2004 conference of the Association Française des Fundraisers.

Evaluating Interest Readiness Capacity
Tool to evaluate the interest, readiness, and capacity of your prospects and donors. Try applying this tool to your prospects and donors.

IFC Proposal Development Outline
Detailed outline about how to develop and write the best proposals.

ListeningHearing
Are you listening to me? Do you actually hear me? Because I’m not so sure. Check out this Luncheon plenary delivered at the 2015 SoCal Regional Philanthropy Conference.

MajorGiftsReady
A few thoughts. Some questions. And once you’ve gotten through this, start reading lots of books about soliciting!

Personal Solicitor Job
Describes the job of a solicitor. When I was a chief development officer, I had 75 volunteers (only 10 of whom were board members), personally soliciting (face-to-face) 500 individual and corporate prospects each year to support annual operations/core program.

Training Solicitors
A tool to orient and train your volunteer solicitors.

Relationship building & communications

Building Relationships
Describes, in detail, how to plan a cultivation gathering for donors and those who might be predisposed. Great handout to help board members and other friends host a gathering.

Donor Questions
Engage your donors in meaningful conversations. Try these. And then tell their stories on your website, in your donor newsletter, and in your annual report. Give them the story to share with their family.

Donors, Donor-centrism & Relationship Building
Series of short articles about donor-centered organizations, donors and relationship building. Share these with your staff and board. Talk. Make change. Raise more money.

Extraordinary Donor Experiences
Build loyalty by creating extraordinary experiences for your donors. See this handout from the 2011 Festival del Fundraising, Italy.

Identify the Predisposed Form
Tool to help you identify those who might be interested in your organization. Don’t trespass on personal and professional relationships! Instead, identify those you think might be interested – and then qualify them as prospects…or not.

Keep Your Donors
Share this brief article with your boss and board. Make sure you keep your donors.

Keep Your Donors: Relationship Building
Workshop outline describing how to nurture relationships in your organization.

Social Media Article
Beware of the hype. Read the research. And just be careful!

Story Contest
Does your program staff regularly tell your stories about the the people you serve? Or do you struggle to get good stories? If it’s sometimes tough to corral those program people… Try this story contest!

Telling Your Story
Handy handout about your case for support / case statement.

Planning, managing & evaluating

Boards and Fundraising
Improve your fundraising by involving your board and your board members in this important work. Review this handout from the 2011 Festival del Fundraising in Italy.

Creating Your Fund Development Plan
Describes the process to develop a comprehensive fund development program / plan for your institution. Check out my book Strategic Fund Development, 3rd edition for a detailed description and samples on the book’s website. (Find the URL in the book’s Preface. The publisher hosts the book’s website.)

Enabling Functions
Help your board be more effective in fundraising, and in governance, too. Use these enabling functions to lead, guide, and support your volunteers. By the way, effective enabling should be an important element of the performance appraisal of CEOs and fundraisers. See complete details in my book Strategic Fund Development, 3rd edition.

Measures Overview
List of various measures including measures for fundraising.

Menu of Choices
Sample tool to engage your board members in fund development. Every year, negotiate this commitment form with every single board member. It’s not optional. It’s mandatory. (This is a word document – in tables – so you can edit for your own use.)

Relationship Measures
Ideas for measuring the effectiveness of your relationship-building program.

Sample Gift Envelope
Information to collect on your gift envelope.

Sample Gift Tables
Examples of how many gifts – at what size – you need to make a goal.

Underdeveloped Report
Joyaux comments on the report, “Underdeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising,” released in January 2013 by CompassPoint and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

Women’s Fund Gift Form
Another version of a gift transmittal form.

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