October 25, 2019

Wow. Great. First ever. Raise more money by learning extraordinary stuff!!!!

PHILANTHROPIC PSYCHOLOGY  !!!  

A new education program for you and me! For all us fundraisers. Never anything like it before! 

Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology. On line. Starts January 13, 2020. WOW! This is an extraordinary opportunity. Learning none of us fundraisers ever learned before because it just didn’t exist! And now it does……!!

Jen Shang, the world’s first philanthropic psychologist (and still the only one, I do believe). And she’s the first PhD in Philanthropy, too. And Adrian Sargeant, the first Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Here’s the concept of philanthropic psychology (I’ve nicknamed it “phil psych”…) Phil psych focuses on how the actions we donors take make us feel. Phil psych research has shown that when people feel their giving is meaningful — and even transformative to a person’s sense of who s/he is — then those people give more and give longer.

WOW! Fundraising is growing up. Academic research and applying academic learning — and even learning about the academic learning — raises more money.

CHECK OUT THIS PHILANTHROPIC PSYCHOLOGY OPPORTUNITY!!!!

(And check out the Institute’s other education/training programs, too!)

 

MORE about Jen and Adrian…………..They co-founded the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy in the U.K. I sure hope you’re reading the research reports produced by Sargeant, Shang, and their team. Reports like:

  • Everything Research Can Tell Us About Legacy Giving
  • Great Fundraising
  • Great Fundraising Events
  • Learning to Say Thank You: The Role of Donor Acknowledgements
  • Major Gift Fundraising: Unlocking the Potential for Smaller Nonprofits
  • Measuring donor loyalty: key reasons why Net Promoter Score (NPS) is not the way.
  • AND MORE!!!!

 

 

is now offering the Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology. On line. Starts January 13, 2020.

Jen Shang! And Adrian Sargeant!

You and I do NOT NOT know this stuff. This is NOT donor-centrism. Not behavioral economics. Not anything we’ve already learned.

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/certificate-in-philanthropic-psychology-tickets-74968393483?aff=utm_source%3Deb_email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dnew_event_email&utm_term=eventname_text

October 8, 2018

Double your donations!! Are you interested?!!!!

A NEW masterclass for really greedy nonprofits … March 4-6, 2019.

New research shows how to double donations. How cool is that?

And guess who your instructors are? Adrian Sargeant and Tom Ahern.

Where? Someplace improbable, like Lord of the Rings or The Game of Thrones improbable (hint: Scotland, on scenic and legendary Loch Ness; in a venue with a Michelin-rated chef; includes a single-malt whisky-tasting bar to encourage deep, peaty conversations)

 Who’s attending? Well, first of course, there’s YOU … and then there are your other high-performance, really-worth-knowing classmates … and these two experts who speak internationally to rapt audiences … trapped in a small-class setting.

So, yeah, there’s science.

But mostly you get friendly, encouraging, cheer-leading-even (Tom has a story of high-school hijinks), prayerfully supervised, critiqued-by-experts PRACTICE.

It’s a 3.5-step process:

  • You come up with stupid ideas.
  • You come up with better ideas.
  • You come up with breakthrough ideas.

And you’re launched … into the next stage of your career’s advancement … the one where you make WAY more money for your charity employer. 

What’s it like being there?You sit, casually dressed, in an old hunter’s lodge, above Loch Ness. That’s your classroom.

Dress warmly if you like to be outdoors. It’s March; in the very midst of some of the most spectacular hiking country on earth (if that’s you).

Also a great place to read a novel by the fire. Or write some of the deepest, most moving pages in your diary.

Also a great place to walk a few meters … and then hurry back into the bar for a double of that one you liked so much last night.

Just click here.

August 3, 2018

Notes from my dorm room #2

YES YES YES!!!! CRQs… Cage-rattling questions. 

Anyone who ever reads anything of mine knows how I adore and admire and desperately want LOTS of CRQs.

So here are some CRQs from Cohort 28, the new cohort for the Masters in Philanthropy and Fund Development at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

Try asking your donors these questions. Because every donor could be invited to share his/her/their philanthropic story.

  1. Tell me about the path that brought you here today.
  2. What drives you to get up, go to work, and do your best each day.
  3. What is worth fighting for?
  4. Tell me about yourself – share with me your life’s journey.
  5. What are your interests? Passions?
  6. What unique hobbies do you enjoy?
  7. Who are some people who have influed your charitable life?
  8. What is your favorite thing about giving?
July 16, 2018

Include your voice in critical research!!!

Hey colleagues…

Do you (and your organizations) want to raise more money?

Then our fundraising profession needs MORE VERY GOOD RESEARCH. Research that helps us fundraise better.

So add your voice to this important new research!!!

YES. With just 16 minutes of your time, you can help design new research. YES! YOU!

Click below…

https://philanthropycentre.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ebTdaDN6uJUwC7b

I just reviewed the survey. This is GREAT!! Please play. PLEASE COMPLETE THE SURVEY. I want the answers. You’ll want the answers.

The results can help  RAISE MORE MONEY!!!!!!!!!

 

Filed under: Resources / Research

July 6, 2018

On my gosh. I forgot my weekly blog!!!

I got lost somewhere in Twitter and in my e-newsyletter. And I fogot my favorite place… my weekly blog.

I’m so sorry! So here are some interesting resources that I’ve just been encountering:

BOOK: The new ASKING STYLES: REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR FUNDRAISING book by Brian Saber

ORGANIZATIONS:

  • MULTICULTURAL BRIDGE. A grassroots organization dedicated to advancing equity and justice. The wonderful Gwendolyn Hampton VanSant.
  • EduLeadersofcolor.org. Cultivating spaces for leaders of color invested in social justice to challenge inequities in education, strengthen local organizations led by people of color, and foster community partnerships. I met Karla Vigil, co-founder on the telephone today!
  • RI Urban Debate League: RIUDL is all about equity and social justice. In fact debate is a proven tool that helps students in urban schools. Ms. Ashley Belanger has been a marvelous Executive Revolutionary and I know RIUDL will hire another great one.

EDUCATION AND LEARNING: Do you know MOCEANIC? What’s not to love? GREAT blog. COOL cartoons. EXCELLENT online courses. You must visit Moceanic!

  • People like Jeff Brooks and Harvey McKinnon and Tom Ahern and Sean Triner and Christiana Stergiou offering courses. Me, too, eventually (I just have to create it still!)
  • Popular blog posts and even videos from Jeff and Tom and Roger Craver and Sean and…

AND FINALLY…VISIT SOFII, the Showcase of Innovation and Inspiration.Ideas, information, initiatives to help you change the world. The best of the best fundraising… from yesterday and today. And help for you to create the best of the best tomorrow.

Okey dokey. I’m off to play with clients now.

 

Filed under: Resources / Research

June 25, 2018

If those people only knew how great we are…

I know you love your organization. I hope that’s why you work there.

But just because you love your organization does NOT mean that I will love your organization. AND OH MY GOSH… If you educate me, that won’t make me love and give either.

Real life is NOT NOT NOT like the movie Field of Dreams (If you build it, they will come!) NO NO NO NO… And no matter how visible you are and how much you think you’ve educated me… I won’t fall in love.

People pay attention to what interests them. For example, I’m not interested in sports of any kind…ever never never ever!! Even when my alma mater is playing. My alma mater where my parents met and my dad taught and and and…

I know how awful the environmental mess is. I believe in global climate change. I believe we humans are deeply fecking (Irish) up stuff. But I don’t give much to the environment. That’s not my favorite cause.

Your visibility — trying to shove me hard into awareness — does NOT NOT NOT make me a donor.

Just read Jeff’s blog: How Awesomeness Syndrome can torpedo your fundraising. Then watch the Awesomeness Syndrome video imbedded in Jeff’s blog.

 

June 5, 2018

Ah neuroscience… So useful for fundraising.

Surely every single fundraiser knows that giving a gift is not a rational decision. In fact, most decision-making is based on emotions. Sure, we might rationalize it within seconds, but even the rationalizing isn’t rational!

Dr. Antonio Damasio “…[A]t the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing. In fact, even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion … we are living an illusion of conscious choice.”

Dr. Antoine Bechara, leading authority on the mental processes behind decision making: “What if sound, rational decision-making in fact depended on … emotional processing? The studies of decision-making in neurological patients who can no longer process emotional information normally suggest just that … I will make the case that decision-making is a process guided by emotions.”

Want more information on all this?

  • Read Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships (2008. Ahern and Joyaux)
  • And read Tom Ahern’s books and newsletter.
May 21, 2018

Neuroscience can help fundraisers

Thanks to MRI machines, we can monitor what’s happening in the human brain.

For example, did you know: When you’re the victim of a mistake – if the handling of that mistake is really good – you experience a dopamine high. (If you don’t know what a dopamine high is, check it out!) That dopamine high can be great … I almost think we should make mistakes on purpose to give our donors a dopamine high. (On the other hand, I figure we all make sufficient mistakes that what we really need to do is to handle mistakes very very very well!)

So here’s my story of my dopamine high! One day, I get a very nice email from EMILY’S List, indicating that it appears that I haven’t renewed my membership. And how much I matter as a member and what my participation has accomplished.

I checked my checkbook and, as I had remembered, I had renewed.

So I called EMILY’S List. A human being answered. I asked for the development office. A human being answered. Wow. Not caught in voicemail hell!

The development officer immediately looked me up in the database. Quickly and efficiently. No referral to someone else!

I had renewed. She apologized very graciously and corrected the entry.

I wasn’t angry or even annoyed. Everyone makes mistakes. No big deal at all. Off I went to my appointments.

I returned home and there was a very gracious email apology. Then a couple hours later, a personal call from the chief development officer apologizing. That was so unnecessary. No need for another apology!!

And then… After apologizing to me personally, the chief development officer said: “Do you realize that in 4 more days, it will be the anniversary of your 20thyear as an EMILY’S LIST member? Thank you so much.”

What an amazing experience. Talk about a dopamine high! I tell everyone this story. I repeat this story over and over when presenting.

Thank you EMILY’S LIST. You gave my brain a dopamine high. You made me admire you even more.

June 12, 2017

Amazing thank-you letter

Another amazing letter from Ashley, Executive Revolutionary from RIUDL.

Sounds real. Like Ashley actually wrote it.

Hand-written note at the top on the front page. Yes! It’s a 2-page thanks letter. Can you imagine?

Tells a story about Genesis, 11 years old when she arrived in Rhode Island USA.

Later in the letter, in bold: Your gift of $2,500 on 3/1/2017 is helping create more stories like this.

Next sentence: In a single year your generosity allowed us to go from reaching just over 100 to well over 1,000 students. No joke.

And check out this P.S. “This letter doubles as a tax receipt and a pick-me-up. Becuase of you, young people like Genesis are that much closer to becoming policy makers. And I have doubt they will wield that power to do amazing things. Thank you for setting them up for success. Onward and upward!”

WOW.

 

January 17, 2017

Prepping for 2017 Giving Tuesday

It’s never too late to start thinking about big actions, small meaningful activities, etc.

If you’re thinking about #GIVINGTUESDAY for 2017, read these blogs and research first. Because maybe #GivingTuesday isn’t so great. Maybe #GivingTuesday needs to change.

And probably for sure…. your organization needs to think long and hard about how you do fundraising and how you might do #GivingTuesday and………

Giving Tuesday and the when versus why of giving (Nick Ellinger, DonorVoice, November 30, 2016)

  • Starts with: “I like the idea of Giving Tuesday very much – there needs to be a day (actually, more than one) dedicated to giving. That’s why it frustrates me that we are killing it….Killing it in the sense of making it unable to survive.”

Losing Donors in the Sea of Sameness (Roger Craver, The Agitator, December 2, 2016)

  • Starts with: “…abandoning support of an organization is influenced and controlled by the actions the organization itself takes…. Perhaps nowhere are the sloppy, copycat practices of some fundraisers more pronounced that on #GivingTuesday.” READ IT!

Please think. Please review your practices. Please let’s make it better.

P.S. A board member asked me the other day about what I think about “donor fatigue.” And I responded: “Donor fatigue is something we fundraisers and organizations make ourselves. And not because we’re asking. But because we’re doing this work so poorly.”

P.P.S. Do you read the Whiny Donor on twitter. I’m always apologizing to @thewhinydonor. I asked if s/he was actually a fundraiser in disguise – “NO.” I asked if I had ever met him/her – “NO.” Check out @thewhinydonor. Ah tristesse.

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