Achieving your dreams in a global pandemic

July 13, 2020 by Dianna Smiley in Capital Campaign, Strategy, Board Members

Capital campaigns represent the dreams of leaders in a community to do something important and lasting on behalf of the community. And now...COVID-19. How do these leaders and their teams react to something that might completely derail their project? What if they are in the middle of the campaign? What if they now lack the funds to execute the campaign? What if they are almost ready to launch the campaign? This post has six points of advice for those planning or carrying out capital campaigns right now.

Planned giving is a GAME CHANGER!

October 14, 2019 by Dianna Smiley in Planned Giving, Strategy, Understanding Donors

What if I told you that I could bring you 100 brand new major donor prospects who will each ultimately give your organization $100,000, and over the next few years will increase their annual gifts and be among your campaign donors when you have a special campaign? You would say, “Terrific, Dianna! Where are they?”

Useful Metrics for Your Fundraising Plan

May 05, 2019 by Dianna Smiley in Board Members, Staff Leadership, Strategy

Have you developed metrics for your fundraising programs? How can you make them meaningful? How can you make sure your whole organization embraces them, including your Board? And how can you be sure they are helping you raise more money, producing more net income for your mission?

Fundraising Envy - Combat it with Best-Fit Strategies

April 22, 2019 by Dianna Smiley in Board Members, Strategy

Board members often compare your organization with another they’ve heard about, in fundraising. But Fill-in-the-Blank-Organization is not like your organization, and therein lies the reason you should not be raising money exactly like Fill-in-the-Blank-Organization does. Your group needs what I call “Best Fit” fund raising activities and programs.

Where Fundraising and Net Revenue Intersect

May 22, 2015 by Dianna Smiley in Strategy

Every nonprofit has a business model (if only by default), but many are unexamined and not as effective as they need to be to support the nonprofit’s mission and vision. How can you examine yours to improve its effectiveness, making your organization’s work more sustainable for the long term?

How to include the people you serve in your fundraising

March 06, 2015 by Dianna Smiley in Strategy

The number and profile of “people served” is close to the heart of most nonprofit missions, but how are those factors important in choosing the mix of fundraising programs to develop over time?

Advice for small shops on raising money with 0 – 2 development staff

March 06, 2015 by Dianna Smiley in Strategy

If you can afford only one development professional, that person should probably have skills and experience in building an annual fund, focusing mostly on mass individual giving – building your donor base in terms of numbers and trying to move donors up in their giving.