Blog

At Donor By Design, one of our core beliefs is to always to tell the kind truth. We serve our clients best when we’re honest with each other about what’s working and what’s not. The importance of an outside perspective was vividly illustrated for me on a recent drive.

As I work with nonprofit staff and volunteer leaders, I often get this question: “How do you ask someone for a $1,000+ gift?”

Endowment, stewardship, and relationship development are fundraising tasks all too often placed on the dreaded back burner. We all have one: the place where the really critical tasks go to simmer and eventually dry up and die.

It’s nearing the end of the year and something is unfinished on your to-do list. It’s something you’ve been thinking about all year, perhaps even for the past several years, and yet you haven’t quite gotten to it.

It seems every development conversation I have with a Camp Executive Director eventually moves towards alumni engagement… or the serious lack thereof.

It is estimated that 30% of charitable contributions are made between Thanksgiving and Christmas and 10% of those are made in the last 48 hours of the year. With that being the case, it is not too late to capture a share of this year’s holiday generosity by launching a year-end fundraising effort!

At Donor By Design, we are guided by a series of axioms: core concepts that shape our work and have proven their worth over and over again. In this series, we’re digging into these axioms and clarify how they can help you achieve your development goals. Read Part 1 or Part 2. 

For years, the big fundraising lie has been the donor pyramid. You know what I am talking about: the image of a pyramid that shows we need a large gift at the top, a few more at the next level and so on until you get to the base of the pyramid. Nonprofit leaders have shared this with their boards and donors, but, if you do regression analysis on campaigns, the infamous pyramid looks more like a donor pagoda or, as I like to call it, the donor champagne glass.

It’s beginning to look a lot like… end of season appeal time. Yes, December is the number one month for giving. I received five appeals this week: two from my universities, my daughter’s university (like the five-figure tuition is not enough!), and two others.

Currently at more than $5 million on their original $4.3 million capital goal, Betsy and Kristi aren’t done yet. The Executive Directors at the Itasca County Family YMCA and ElderCircle respectively are building the shared vision that started more than four years ago.

In 2010, the Itasca County Family YMCA, ElderCircle and the City of Grand Rapids began talking about the area’s changing needs. It quickly became clear that the three share a steadfast commitment to a better community, and knew it could be stronger if they worked together.

SENIOR CONSULTANT

J. David Schmidt brings a wealth of experience on strategic thinking, large scale innovation and organization leadership development for nonprofit organizations, foundations and more.