Fundraising Operations: Take Your Organization to the Next Level

Posted on by Alford Group

By Mary Hackett, Vice President

It’s that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colors, the aroma of pumpkin spice is in the air and year-end giving is once again upon us.

For those development professionals in the middle of a campaign, you might be wondering what best practices you should adopt as you close out the year. For others, you might be concerned about how to maintain the year-end giving momentum into the new year. And for others still, there’s an age-old question that always comes to mind during this time each year: how do I make sure that next year I’m more prepared to tackle year-end giving and all of the work that it entails?

Well, this is exactly where fundraising operations comes into play. By focusing on enhancing and improving your fundraising operations, you will strengthen every area of your development department and make sure that you and your development team feel better prepared to handle the flurry of year-end tasks and responsibilities.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can take your fundraising game to the next level! Continue reading “Fundraising Operations: Take Your Organization to the Next Level”

Fundraising Data: 3 Secrets to Strong Reporting

Posted on by Alford Group

By Mary Hackett, Vice President

Your fundraising reports should be purposeful and engage your audiences. The right reports can drive better fundraising results and deploy different audiences to act in different ways. Many of our clients come to us when they are at their wit’s end with their reporting. Here is what they say:

  • “I’m frustrated because my monthly fundraising reports take 5x longer than they should.”
  • “I want to produce the right reports, but my database doesn’t exactly export what we need so there’s a lot of manipulation in Excel.”
  • “I don’t have the right visuals that spur conversation or action.”
  • “I’ve been producing the same reports for years and hardly anyone looks at them anymore.”

Continue reading “Fundraising Data: 3 Secrets to Strong Reporting”

Tomorrow’s New Normal: 4 elements of an action-forward approach to planning

Posted on by Alford Group

MODERATORS:

  • Alexis Cooke, Senior Consultant, Alford Group
  • Jamie Phillippe, CFRE, Vice President, Alford Group

PANELISTS:

  • Felicia Davis, President and CEO, Chicago Foundation for Women
  • Darrin Goss, President and CEO, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina
  • Rachel Krinsky, Executive Director, LifeWire
  • Michele Stauff, Executive Director, Million Dollar Round Table Foundation

Slide Deck: Planning Webinar Presentation_Alford Group

Never Waste a Good Pause

Posted on by Alford Group

By Mary Hackett, Associate Vice President and JoAnn Yoshimoto, CFRE, Associate Senior Consultant

It was Machiavelli who first advised “never waste a good crisis.” By that he meant one could look at the opportunities afforded by a crisis to change, to innovate and to improve.

To paraphrase Machiavelli, we advise “never waste a good pause.” Whether it’s a lull in activity or a forced rethinking of business-as-usual, most nonprofits are experiencing a “pandemic pause.” At minimum, everyone should take a moment to consider how to effectively navigate in the new normal. For those who are experiencing a pause, the silver lining is that we can utilize this time to strategically prepare for the future.

We can explore ways to embrace the pandemic pause to PAUSE:

P – Position

A – Analyze

U – Unify

S – Steward

E – Evaluate

Continue reading “Never Waste a Good Pause”

Highway to Your Fundraising Metrics

Posted on by Alford Group

By Jennifer Shin, MBA, Consultant and Mariah Fosnight, MBA, MID, Client Service Associate

Congratulations! As you near year end, you can momentarily rest in cruise control knowing that the craze of event season is an image in your rearview mirror. Imagine you’re in a position where both the total number of attendees and the number of new attendees spiked at the variety of friend-raising events you’ve held throughout the year. Exhale a sigh of relief, crank up the volume to your favorite song and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Now the dust is settling and it’s time to take back control of the car. You run your annual metrics and expect to see strong retention numbers with the added donor engagement you’ve invested in over the last two years. To your surprise, you see that retention rates for the last fiscal year actually decreased for the first time in several years. Yikes! Before you accelerate off the next exit, let’s take a deeper dive. Along the way, we’ll provide helpful strategies to get ahead of these downward trends. Continue reading “Highway to Your Fundraising Metrics”

Maximize Donations with These 5 Nonprofit Technology Tips

Posted on by Alford Group

Guest blog by Sarah Tedesco, Executive Vice President, DonorSearch

Are you frustrated that your fundraising efforts don’t have your desired result? That’s okay! It’s good to be frustrated at your fundraising campaigns because that means you have not only identified a problem, but you are willing and ready to make some changes to fix it. (You should be worried if your team seems unconcerned that your organization isn’t yielding as much revenue as it could!)

You should be doing everything in your power to ensure your nonprofit’s fundraising campaigns are bringing in as much support as possible. After all, the more funds you raise, the more you will be able to do to further your cause¹.

Continue reading “Maximize Donations with These 5 Nonprofit Technology Tips”

WINTER IS COMING:

Posted on by LuCinda Vacura

Prepare your donor database for year-end fundraising with performance analysis, data clean up, and…dragonglass

By Mary Hackett, Associate Vice President and Cassandra Di Prizio, Consultant

Ok folks, Halloween is officially over and WINTER IS COMING (Game of Thrones references provided for our fellow fans – you’re welcome). Hopefully the change of seasons from fall to winter and the accompanying year-end appeal planning and execution feels less like you’re facing the Night King and an army of Wights and more like you’re planning a feast for your loyal bannermen or awaiting the Lannister loot train (minus the pesky Targaryen dragon attack).

For many organizations the year-end push yields a significant portion of annual giving. By November you’ve likely already planned your appeal, written your letters and booked your mail house, but have you planned for measuring your success and course-correcting any shortcomings? If not, we’ve pulled together a few tips to guide you on your quest for the Iron Throne, errr….I mean, for a successful year-end appeal!

Continue reading “WINTER IS COMING:”