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At my first development conference over 20 years ago, a wise gentleman shared the phrase “Don’t confuse action with progress”. For years that phrase was on my desk in some manner and served as a directional beacon for various work efforts. With this in mind I have seen over and over again the need for [...]
Many of you will remember those iconic ads that asked parents who were awake late at night if they knew where their children were at. Well, I believe we can avoid late nights of worrying about how we meet our goals for the year. For many non-profits the development office means that jobs and programs [...]
Do our missions of service supersede anything else we do? Are the loyalties of our alumni, patients, and patrons so powerful that we will be forgiven for other organizational shortcomings? Perhaps on occasion donors will look past our operation, but it seems a risky proposition based on a continual flow of research on donor behavior. The [...]
This Points of Practice presents best-in-class thinking about how to leverage your organization’s advancement services, including ways to sharpen your focus, anticipate what’s next, and align services to advancement goals and opportunities.
Strategic giving is the signature of a new kind of philanthropy that has begun to emerge in India over the past decade, noticeably accelerating in the last five years. Largely from the private sector, with substantial experience either working or studying abroad, India’s new philanthropists are characterized by their hands-on, data-driven, result-oriented approach to giving. [...]
Bentz Whaley Flessner’s Fall 2009 Client Advisory discusses why it is important to campaign now, the impact of the economy, and keys to fundraising success. Author M. Bruce Dreon introduces a new four-step campaign model that fits the economic and philanthropic reality of the times.
Too many development shops are focused on where the economy is now. Last fall Bentz Whaley Flessner looked at where the economy was going to be and advised clients that budgets and gift levels would be difficult in the quarters ahead. We shared our insight in client advisories, spoke at conferences around the continent, and developed new campaign and annual giving strategies to help clients handle the toughest economy in a generation.
The U.S economys downturn is affecting fundraising results. In times like these, perceived cost centers are sometimes slashed through staffing and budget cuts. Increasingly sophisticated nonprofits are finding, however, that such cuts to cost centers can be counterproductive. This is particularly true of advancement and development services. Smaller staff using fewer resources will yield inferior results. These inferior outcomes can negatively affect donor relationships, retention, and acquisition. If your organization needs to consider some belt-tightening due to sluggish giving, consider these advancement services solutions in lieu of budget cuts. Improvements in these areas will maximize your return on investment and help you generate fundraising momentum.
The best of higher education institutions are leveraging advancement services to enhance productivity. New tools and processing are being adopted to address data quality and quantity, databases, reporting tools, and people. Read how in the quest for innovation, advancement services teams need to be nimble without compromising accuracy and integrity.
As the size and complexity of development offices have grown, the demands for more efficiency and effectiveness in constituent analysis and prospect identification are increasing. Resources designed for prospect development have changed dramatically in the last year. Creative and strategic thinking supported by the best technology available have re-invented prospect development as we have known it. You will find amazing new designs for prospecting in many of the references included in the 2007-2008 issue of the BIBLIOGRAPHY: A Guide to Development Research Resources.
