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

Posted on by Alford Group

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.

Slide Deck: Crypto Giving Webinar Presentation

Resources:

Crypto Fundraising 101: Start here to learn about crypto and how your nonprofit can start accepting cryptocurrency donations. This guide includes how crypto works, crypto user demographics, key factors for nonprofits to consider and tips for establishing a successful nonprofit crypto fundraising strategy.

How to Launch a Successful Crypto Fundraising Campaign: Check out this guide to learn how your nonprofit can begin diversifying its fundraising strategy and connect with a new generation of young donors.

Getting to Know Cryptocurrency Donors: Discover the traits, values and motivations of the next generation of philanthropists in this detailed report.

Everyone’s Talking About Crypto, But What Is it? Here’s Your Non-Techie Guide: This is a quick-read article about the basics of cryptocurrency.

The Giving Blog: Looking for more resources for crypto fundraising? Take a look at The Giving Block’s blog with topics such as crypto 101, end-of-year fundraising strategies, NFTs and more.

 

Speakers

Sharon Tiknis, Alford Group

Andi Anderson, PAWS Chicago

Alex Cesario, Breakthrough Urban Ministries

Karl Simpson, The Giving Block

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”

Gratitude Beyond the Thank You Letter

Posted on by Alford Group

By Molly Hansen, Vice President

During this time of year, gratitude is front and center as the holiday spirit begins to take shape in our communities. However, we know that for nonprofit leaders like you, gratitude is not just felt during this time of year but infused in our work all year long.

In fundraising, we know that sending thank you letters within a few days of receiving contributions is an essential pillar of a basic development program. Additionally, there are countless articles on the internet with excellent suggestions for going further in expressing gratitude to your donors and I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you as you come up with new ways to further engage your most valued supporters:

  • Send a welcome packet to new donors with information about the impact of their giving
  • Set up board members to make thank you calls to a few donors each month
  • Engage donors as volunteers, especially with direct contact with your organization’s participants and programs

The idea is to bring people closer to your organization. These small gestures can have a positive and lasting impact on your donor retention – keeping your donors year over year and increasing the level of their contributions.

Continue reading “Gratitude Beyond the Thank You Letter”

Getting the Most From Your Upcoming Anniversary

Posted on by Alford Group

By Mary Kaufman-Cranney, CFRE, Vice President

During my tenure as the head of development with the YMCA of Greater Seattle, I was lucky enough to be there for the organization’s 125th anniversary.

As the 120th year of the YMCA of Greater Seattle loomed ahead, I asked our public relations volunteers if we should start getting ready to celebrate. Their reply? A resounding, “No! Save it for the big one at 125 – but start planning now.”

“Five years out?” I thought to myself. “That  seems crazy!” But as we started to explore the significance of the 125th and realize that no update had been done on our history timeline since the 100th – not to mention electronically capturing our history and thousands of photos dating back to the late 1800s – we had lots to do. Continue reading “Getting the Most From Your Upcoming Anniversary”

Getting the Most From Your Upcoming Anniversary

Posted on by Alford Group

By Mary Kaufman-Cranney, CFRE, Vice President

During my tenure as the head of development with the YMCA of Greater Seattle, I was lucky enough to be there for the organization’s 125th anniversary.

As the 120th year of the YMCA of Greater Seattle loomed ahead, I asked our public relations volunteers if we should start getting ready to celebrate. Their reply? A resounding, “No! Save it for the big one at 125 – but start planning now.”

“Five years out?” I thought to myself. “That  seems crazy!” But as we started to explore the significance of the 125th and realize that no update had been done on our history timeline since the 100th – not to mention electronically capturing our history and thousands of photos dating back to the late 1800s – we had lots to do. Continue reading “Getting the Most From Your Upcoming Anniversary”

Multiply Your Impact: Enlist Key Donors to Create a Meaningful Stewardship Plan

Posted on by JoAnn Yoshimoto

By Wendy Hatch, CFRE, Vice President and JoAnn Yoshimoto, CFRE, Senior Consultant

Don’t we all agree that the most precious things in life are worthy of our best attention, effort and care? In the fundraising world, the most precious “things” are our donors and their philanthropic dollars.

Who among us has the luxury of a daily schedule that is just waiting to be filled with new ideas and activities? Nobody that we know! So let’s take 15 minutes – only one percent of our day – to ponder ways to work smarter and multiply the impact of our efforts, and benefit the most precious “things” – our donors!

How do you make sure that your donor stewardship is intentional, timely and effective? You need to plan for it! Wonderful ideas for individual stewardship activities, timelines and plans abound on the internet, so we aren’t going to reiterate them here. The idea we are offering is a strategy for multiplying the impact of your stewardship planning process by also using it as an engagement opportunity for key donors, staff and board members. Continue reading “Multiply Your Impact: Enlist Key Donors to Create a Meaningful Stewardship Plan”

Optics Matter: Avoiding Red Flags that Undermine Your Fundraising Efforts

Posted on by Alford Group

By Amy Hines, Senior Vice President, Alford Group

With the start of an unprecedented intergenerational wealth transfer, nonprofits have a lot to gain by avoiding any inadvertent pitfalls that deter potential donors from contributing to their efforts. With access to the internet, donors do not have to rely on government scrutiny to avoid unscrupulous charities (Besides, government entities have limited authority as watchdogs). Donors can look for evidence themselves, vetting charities with a tap or a click.

Maintaining integrity is key—but ensuring that an organization’s optics convey that integrity is also essential.

A potential donor’s due diligence before opening her wallet, is likely to take place by heeding to the credo–“follow the money.” While that may in fact be just a line in a movie, it resonates in the philanthropic ether as a sound way to approach investigating an organization’s worthiness.

How do potential donors assess the money trail? There are several logical ways:

  1. Look at the organization’s website to see if financial information is being reported in a transparent way.
  2. Go online to GuideStar, the primary resource for accessing an organization’s IRS 990 and comparing similar organizations.
  3. Go online to Charity Navigator to see how the organization is rated.
  4. Go online to BBB Wise Giving, to check out whether they have been accredited as a trustworthy national organization.

 

It’s important for nonprofits to manage the optics of their organizations in these four locations. Here’s how. Continue reading “Optics Matter: Avoiding Red Flags that Undermine Your Fundraising Efforts”

People Keep Giving Money Away!

Posted on by Alford Group

Today, June 20, 2011, the latest Giving USA numbers were released by the Giving USA Foundation estimating the giving for 2010 based on the recently released actual numbers for 2008 to include their re-revised numbers for 2009.  In past years the revised numbers were usually revised upward.  Due to the recession that began in late 2007 and carried through 2008 and 2009, the revision was downward and has created a little (or a lot of) angst among some in the nonprofit community. Continue reading “People Keep Giving Money Away!”

There are donors and then there are donors!!

Posted on by Alford Group

This past week I was away from Seattle doing client work for a national organization with many programs around the country and the world.  They are doing incredibly good work for a large number of people and have significant volunteer and donor support.  Over the past four years they have seen a decline in their giving to one particular program and they are attempting to discover why—hence our firm’s involvement.

One of their affiliates arranged for two focus groups.  The first was comprised of people who did not support this particular program, the second was comprised of people who did.  It was a wonderful contrast of communication, style, personality, trust and values.

A common trait was that both groups are generous and both groups significantly give of their resources especially for local programs.  I find it very rewarding to be around generous people: they know who they are; they know what they value; they care about the community, their neighbors and people they may never know.  It was enjoyable to discuss the programs with both groups, who asked specific, well-stated questions.

Here are several things I discovered from these two groups:

  • Some people just need more information than others.  The donor group was trusting and required little information to respond to the need.  The non-donor group needed a lot of data and felt they were not getting it.
  • Some people judge an organization as a whole, while others are selective in their judgment.  The non-donor group had larger issues with the national organization and although those issues did not relate to the program being discussed, it kept them from responding to the financial need.  The donor group had the ability to put aside any issues they may have around other national policies or procedures and respond to this particular need.
  • “Connectivity” is different for different people.  The individuals in the non-donor group felt more connected locally and wondered why a national connection was necessary.  The donor group felt connections both locally and nationally.  They valued being connected nationally because they, as individuals, could do even more and have greater impact on people’s lives, than they ever could as an individual or local group.

After the time spent with both groups, I also discovered the importance of leadership around these three observations.  Leadership (staff and volunteer) needs to take the observations above to heart as they communicate with both donors and non-donors.  Why are these programs important?  Why must we respond to the need the programs are addressing?  What is the impact now?  What will be the impact in the future?  Will you join with me and the many others in our organization who financially support these programs in giving what you can?

As you reflect on the ideas and observations here, let me or the other readers know your thoughts or experiences around donors and non-donors.  I look forward to reading your comments.

All the best,

Tom