Fundraising Tuesday: The Ones You Liked Best in 2016

My nonprofit friends, you must be really interested in your donors! Here are the top ten Communicate! posts you and other readers liked best in 2016. Do you see a pattern here?

1. The Ideal Appeal Letter Begins With You. To raise funds, you want to focus on the donor, not the organization.
2. The Ideal Thank/-You Letter Went Out Today!  The right ingredients are important (and I let you know what they are), but more important is to say thank you NOW.
3. Fundraising Letters HAVE to Improve in 2016!  Did they? I’ll be telling you in my blog post on Tuesday, January 10.
4. Fundraising Tuesday: What Do You Call a Donor?  First name, Mr. or Ms., hey you? Here’s how the experts answered my question.
5. Are You a Fundraising Outlaw?  How to stay in compliance when you’re asking for money.
6. Your Board is Not Your Audience If your Board loves a certain article or “ask,” your audience may hate it. Here’s why.
7. One Thing You Can Learn about Social Media from the New England Patriots Go, Pats! They have a game plan. So should your nonprofit.
8. Donor Retention Helps You Find New Donors Too…and that’s why it’s so important to show the love to the donors who already chose you!
9. TY Thursday: Your Checklist for the Ideal Thank-You Letter Does yours have the right stuff?
10. Fundraising Tuesday: How to Turn Your Statistics into Stories  When you tell donors a tale of what happens “because of you,” you will touch the heart and move donors to give.

Yes, you have liked these posts best in 2016 because you care about making your donors feel like people. You really want to know how to do that, better than before.

Congratulations! You are on the path to having donors who know, like, and trust you, and loyally support you from year to year. But it takes more than wanting to do it. There are ways of building those relationships that most nonprofits ignore…and you can do better.

I’d like to work with you more closely in 2017. Email me, [email protected], and let’s talk about how you can show the love to your donors and raise more money because of it.

Dennis