Annie Tukman

In fundraising, it is crucial not only to tell but show your donors how their contributions are making a difference within your mission and vision. You must communicate your organization’s impact to your donors regularly and effectively so they are more likely to encourage repeat donations. A donor impact letter is a key tool to accomplish this task. Check out my recent post on how and why you should build donor impact letters into your organization’s communication mix. https://lnkd.in/e_wt2iHK #fundraising #nonprofits

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Bi-partisan election alert! The 2024 Election is a problem for fundraising. Experts say that November will be a total loss when it comes to getting donor attention. So, let's focus on how to maximize fundraising this fall. With less than two months, let's get started! Check out our FREE webinar! https://lnkd.in/gzfu5sqG

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"I hate boards." Boards, councils, advisory committees. Call them what you want. The truth is I have heard non-profit leaders express this sentiment of frustration time after time. And to be fair, there are some really terrible boards out there. But it doesn't have to be that way. Maybe the problem is, you aren't inviting the A Team to be a part of your committee. So why are you surprised when you don't get an A Team effort? My Co-Host Greg Jeffrey highlights five ways you can build an A Team of volunteers in this week's podcast episode. Check out the comments for the link. #justask #nonprofits #development #boards

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Donor Cultivation: A Term We're Using Out of Context It's one of the most frequently used words in fundraising, but used by so many in so many different ways that it has become all but meaningless. "Cultivation," in so many instances has become a parking lot term - where we put prospective donors when we don't know what to do next. We see that they are not ready for solicitation yet we hold out hopes that someday they will, so we park them "in cultivation." That usually means that we will continue to befriend them and try to warm them up when we have the chance, thereby consigning many a prospective donor to a form of suspended animation for years. I have come to call this the Hansel and Gretel deep dark woods of cultivation into which many a prospect has been lured and from which few donors actually emerge. So let's remind ourselves that cultivation is a term used to describe a phase in a larger agricultural cycle. It is proceeded by planting and followed by harvesting. Cultivation, therefore, is not a stand alone phenomenon. We can't cultivate prospective donors if we do not first plant seeds of hope in the form of real possibilities and real differences to be made. Trying to cultivate prospective donors with seeds of short term needs proves increasingly fruitless. We keep coming back to donors with another year's budget to be balanced and often with only a few abstractions and anecdotes to justify or illustrate why they should give again. We lose four out of five donors because the seeds we attempt to plant have so little potential for long term growth. We further exacerbate the problem by seeking to hurry up the harvest and wonder why we have lost so many donors for decades. We must put the cultivation back in its agricultural context. We must seek to plant seeds with far more tangible potential. We must be far more patient in allowing those seeds to take root. We must seek to harvest not on our terms but when our donors become philanthropically mellow, when they have come to believe, belong and see the chance to make the world better by giving through us. And, when they have given, we must remember another agricultural tenet - the importance of letting a field lie fallow until it naturally regenerates. In other words, we need to learn the fine art of letting donors see and enjoy the fruits of their philanthropic labors. And we certainly should not ask them to give again and again without having a lot to show from previous harvests and without offering promising seeds of new hopes lest we experience further philanthropic erosion.

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It is this simple. Learn more at https://kisstheground.com. #earthday2024 #soilhealth #regenerativeagriculture #kisstheground #denverurbangardens #foodcommunityclimate #climateaction

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When it comes to securing grants, nonprofits often ask: Which funders will give us the best shot at success? With numerous types of funders available—from private foundations to federal agencies—knowing where to focus your grant-seeking efforts can be challenging. Read Instrumentl's report detailing success rates across different types of grant funders: https://lnkd.in/eqkhwZcq

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Want to turn PROSPECTS into DONORS? YOU need "The Fundraiser’s Guide to Soliciting Gifts" You'll learn how to prepare to meet with a prospective donor, what to say in donor meetings, how to identify prospective donors, how to overcome objections, and more... Order here: https://lnkd.in/gYn2jirw

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Philanthropy is changing. But knowing where trends are headed gives fundraisers an advantage. Read insights from BDI CEO Michael J. Tomlinson on the latest Giving USA report to help chart your course as fundraiser.

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While nonprofits are fueled by passion and purpose, it’s donors who turn their aspirations and fundraising goals into tangible achievements. Yet, many nonprofits struggle to foster these important relationships, which require a robust donor engagement strategy. This Donorbox blog post unpacks everything you need to know about building great donor relationships and offers eleven tips for year-round donor engagement. By reinforcing these bonds year-round, not just during fundraising peaks, nonprofits can gather momentum to propel their missions forward. https://lnkd.in/eaiqXUwF #fundraising #nonprofits

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#Philanthropy in #Defense of #Science (1); the #Value of #Local Giving (2); #Nonprofit #Startups (3) + #ArtificialIntelligence (4-5): #fundraising https://ow.ly/wEli50Ts1bn https://ow.ly/4jga50Ts1bp https://ow.ly/mV6r50Ts1bo https://ow.ly/QpSs50Ts1bm https://ow.ly/BNx850Ts1bi

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An impact report is a pivotal opportunity – a chance to enhance your organization’s donor retention and stewardship, leading to long-term sustainability and growth. Retaining existing donors is significantly more cost effective than acquiring new ones, and if you steward those donors by keeping them informed, appreciated and engaged, they’ll likely increase their contributions over time and become valuable advocates for your cause. But how can you use your impact report to build those relationships? Storyraise co-founders Josh Kligman and Jeff Rum have compiled six key steps for impact report success, allowing your report to work for you. View the full ebook here: https://lnkd.in/eV549RYA

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We are seeing the early roots-and-shoots of municipalities who are finishing up their uses of ARPA funds, now starting to come to philanthropy to fill the gap. This is part of a larger arc of government more-and-more coming to philanthropy, sometimes under the guise of "public-private partnership" to ask for funding to pay for things that they themselves fully funded just a short time ago. I think as we live through this impending "ARPA cliff" case study, two things emerge to me. The first, we can see how well casted our public dollars were based on the philanthropic need to sustain them. I don't take this lightly. Philanthropy cannot maintain ARPA funding and there is going to be real pain at the local level as these dollars subside. This should be less about philanthropy and more about the challenges in the public side of maintaining our safety net. To that end, my second point, is that in most cities and counties, the safety net is largely publicly funded, often two-thirds of the total cost. The different forms of philanthropy together make up like just under a fifth of the total pie and with the growth of government needing private philanthropy more and more, it's likely a philanthropic 10%. I suspect that one of the biggest lessons of ARPA, like TARP fifteen-years prior, will be that the largest segment of our safety net did not really shift or alter itself to meet our communities' long-term needs. Shiny things were bought with those dollars but the infrastructure behind the service delivery to our most vulnerable stayed, unfortunately, intact. I am nervous about the developing ARPA challenge to our communities and how philanthropy will respond. I hope the moment can be used to have some hard conversations, which I believe are long overdue.

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