It’s my friend’s birthday today and for most, it’s a very special time. You want to celebrate with friends and family, open presents, and my favourite…eat cake.

Get your fork…there’s enough for all of us!

 And yes, I know that I talked about cake before, but I really love it!

Talking about celebrations, you want to feel elated when your board signs off on your fundraising plan because you know you poured yourself into building it and they should just approve it, non?

There’s more to it tha...

Have you ever watched the TV show, Schitt’s Creek? If not, it’s a hilarious take on a wealthy family who has lost everything and has to move to a motel in a small town they bought in…you guessed it, Schitt’s Creek. Our favourite character, although very hard to choose, is Moira. Why? Because she says things like the following…

“After a glut of unasinous ideas put forth today, the room is suddenly bombilating with anticipation; can you feel that?”

Bombilate means ‘buzz’ but we won’t use big w...

Hey there,

I think we need a bit of a shift in thinking about fundraising programs. And we want to talk about ALL of the elements that you need to be aware of including some we don’t necessarily spend much time talking about.

And I’m going to say something that provokes a strong reaction from non-fundraisers:

Fundraising is a critical part of the mission of your organization.

Let’s repeat it for the people in the back…

Fundraising is a critical part of the mission of your organization.

G...

Being successful at major gifts is an art unto itself. That’s why we wanted to share more with you in this two-part series.

So last week (if you need a refresher, you can check out the blog here), we talked about the importance of (1) a plan and (2) knowing what you’re asking your donors for…

But that’s not all…

Here’s the rest of the secret sauce.

In addition to planning and knowing what you need funding for, there are two more elements to put into place so you can secure gifts that will m...

It’s easy, they say.

I’ll just wing it, they say.

I know the donor, they say.

They say…is not what we say.

There are several things you need to put into place to be successful with major gifts…especially if you’re a small shop and it’s either a one-person show or a small team.

We’re going to provide some direction so you can run a solid program…because the better you are at major gifts, the more money you bring into your organization and that’s a good thing!

Here are two key initiatives y...

As a fundraiser, you know how to do your job. And you’re getting some results. But do you ever stop and think: ‘Can I be doing better?’

It’s a common thought among fundraisers. It’s what we do and it’s who we are. Especially when there are so many things your organization could be doing better if you had more funding.

Sometimes, we’re so deep in the weeds of our day to day that it’s difficult to then pull up to look at the whole fundraising house from the required 60,000 feet. 

But that’s whe...

By Cathy Mann, MA, CFRE

The pandemic has kicked your butt. 

It’s ok to admit it.  A lot of us feel that way. 

But despite how you feel, you still have to raise money for your important mission. And sometimes it feels overwhelming.  

Today I want to talk to you about your fundraising plan.  

Foundation and government grants, special events, direct mail, corporate giving, planned giving, volunteers, your data…the list goes on.  

So how do you bring everything together? 

You plan. 

So let me ...

We’ve been talking a lot about how to fundraise throughout this year's giving season, but what happens once a donor reaches your website and wants to make a donation? Do you have an online donation page that is easily accessible and quick to complete?

Online giving is growing at three times the rate of overall giving, so it’s really important to make sure that your online giving game is on point. You don’t want to put in all the work to steward your donors, only to lose them at the final click....

By Cathy Mann, MA, CFRE

In the car driving around Nova Scotia, just a few months after returning to live here, I got to thinking about optimism. Maybe it was the beauty I was surrounded by that led me there, but it stuck in my head and when I got to where I was going, I sat down and wrote a blog post about it. 

Then I got to thinking that I should ask my LinkedIn peeps what keeps their OQ (Optimism Quotient) fueled. So, I did. And they did not disappoint.

I wanted to share some of the answers...

By Cathy Mann, MA, CFRE

Our stock in trade as fundraisers is optimism.

When I was Academic Coordinator at Ryerson University's Fundraising Management Program, I was invited to speak at a panel each year for the Intro to Fundraising students. The question that the instructor asked every year was: what is one word you would use to describe fundraisers. I always hoped I could go first so I could answer what I answered every year: curious. Because I do think we need to be curious if we are goin...