Future-Proof Your Mission: How to Engage Five Generations of Donors

Online Webinar

Giving from individuals continues to make up the largest portion of philanthropy in America, powering the missions of countless nonprofits. But winning the attention of the specific individuals most inclined to support your mission is more challenging than ever. With audience-centric strategies—informed by data—you can achieve better resonance and activate greater generosity.

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6 Great Online Fundraising Tips for Nonprofit Organizations

By Shay Lessman from Qgiv

Qgiv is an online fundraising platform empowering over 20,000 nonprofit fundraisers to raise money for their causes. Learn as one of their experts shares with us 6 tangible takeaways for nonprofits to increase donations and accelerate online fundraising.

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4 Reasons Why You Need Strategic Planning Before Launching a Campaign

By Jaron Bernstein, MBA, Consultant

Consultant Jaron Bernstein breaks down what you gain by investing in the strategic planning process and what dangers are in store if you don’t. All with the help of the cast of the hit TV show Schitt’s Creek.
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6 Trends to Watch in Philanthropy and Fundraising in 2023

By Alexis Cooke, Greg Whitney, Jaron Bernstein, Lieve Hendren, Mariah Hickey and Shay Upadhyay

The world  is changing rapidly and it can be a challenge to stay informed and strategize around frequent shifts. We asked our consultants to tell us what they believe are the most pressing trends in philanthropy to keep on the radar and to share their advice on how to stay ahead of the curve.

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The Case for Equity-Centered Philanthropy: How to Collect and Utilize Demographic Data

By Mary Hackett, Vice President

Fundraisers often don’t believe that they can have a significant impact on their organization’s journey toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Here’s the truth: development professionals play a critical role! You have a unique superpower that can play the role of disruptor: your donor data.

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Demystifying Cryptocurrency: How Crypto Giving Works and Why It’s Important

Online Webinar

More and more, donors are giving through crypto giving.  This dialogue presents the opportunity to engage this growing segment of philanthropists. This webinar will lead you through what it is, why it’s important and how to use it. Hear from a panel of experts who will share their stories of working with donors to support the causes they care about through this source of giving.

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Year-End Giving: Reach the Next Level in Fundraising Results

Online Webinar

Do you want to take your internal operations to the next level – and raise more money? Especially with year-end giving upon us, the answer for most development professionals is “Yes!” This session will walk you through year-end campaign best practices and highlight how you can improve your internal operations to accelerate fundraising this year and beyond. Learn how to strengthen systems, save time and money, and ultimately raise more dollars to have a greater impact on the communities you serve.

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The Philanthropic Paradox in Donor Communication: Change is the only constant, with ONE big exception

By JoAnn Yoshimoto (CFRE 2000-2021), Senior Consultant

The explosion of online communications channels, expanding new technologies and a younger population is a reality to be reckoned with. Add to those trends the new and exciting fundraising results from online giving, and the projected $8.8 trillion transfer of wealth by 2027, and it’s easy to leap to the conclusion that the wave to catch and surf to the land of opportunity is digital. However, let’s look closely at compelling opportunities, documented results and stated donor preferences before we take the plunge.

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5 trends to inform your 2022 fundraising campaign strategy

By Mariah Fosnight, CFRE, Consultant

With the help of the cast of Friends, Mariah Hickey shares 5 major trends that every nonprofit should be tracking for their campaign efforts.

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The Growing Power of DAFs: Here’s what you need to know

By Jamie Philippe, CFRE, Vice President

Donor-advised funds, or DAFs, have been at the top of mind for many people since the release of the Giving USA report for philanthropy for the year 2020 (check out our blog here for an overview) and especially now with Giving USA’s groundbreaking report on DAFs which was released on November 11, 2021. DAFs have also received extra attention this year due to the bills that have been introduced in the U.S. Senate that aim to place new restrictions on DAFs. However, for many, there is a real lack of clarity around the current status of DAFs, and they raise more questions than answers.

For development professionals who oversee fundraising for their organization, the question is how to engage DAF-holders. Given the stunning growth in DAFs over the past five years, there are no signs of their popularity slowing down, so let’s unpack and demystify this hot trend. What are the rules around DAFs? What are the benefits of a DAF? How can your organization gain access to them?

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Never Waste a Good Pause

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

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Giving USA: The Next Normal and a New Age of Philanthropy

By Alexis Cooke, Consultant, Alford Group

On Wednesday, June 17, Alford Group hosted a panel of national experts and funders to discuss Giving USA’s Annual Report on Philanthropy in 2019 in light of current realities, new opportunities and our future as non-profit staff, funders and philanthropists. The full discussion, along with Alford Group’s Giving USA report, may be found here.

As Brenda Asare, Alford Group’s President and CEO, noted as she opened the panel discussion, we all had high hopes for 2020 – momentum within the sector was strong and anticipated to continue at the close of 2019 and through 2020. Of course, no one knew what was coming nor how incredibly important that cushion would be to the survival of many nonprofits. As leaders representing funders and philanthropists across the country, Laura, Marguerite, Steve and Beth offered critical insights into philanthropy today and provided some hope as Brenda said “we must look up and ahead, as that is where we are all going.”

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