written by Jessica Browning, Principal & Executive Vice Presidentoriginally featured as a guest blog for the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy Over the last twelve months, philanthropy has been on a roller coaster ride and we, as fundraising professionals, have done our best to hold on. Many of us closed our eyes in fear...
Guest post by Teri Behrens, Ph.D, and Michael Layton, Ph.D This post first appeared as part of the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy's 11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2021 report in January 2021. View the full report at this link: https://johnsoncenter.org/trends The Nonprofit Ecosystem At the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, we think of philanthropy as...
Three Reasons to Be Optimistic About Independent School Fundraising in 2021 written by Jessica Browning, Principal & Executive Vice Presidentoriginally published in the Feb 10, 2021 SAIS eNewsletter SAIS (02/10/2021) – It may sound counterintuitive, but we see significant opportunity for independent schools to realize philanthropic growth in 2021, particularly in major gifts. So many...
Written by Jim Bush, Principal and President KPIs Donors are actively giving large and transformational gifts despite the pandemic. We’ve seen ample evidence of generosity across the country and across nonprofit sectors. There are two primary factors motivating today’s record gifts. Understanding these motivators is key to securing the transformational gifts that are on the...
Written by Jessica Browning, Principal and Executive Vice President KPIs Giving during the pandemic has surprised us—in a good way. From the beginning, we predicted that donors would be generous in response to the crisis, but we weren’t prepared for the levels of generosity we’ve witnessed. AFP’s Fundraising Effectiveness Project, which tracks quarterly giving in...
“It was a miraculous call,” says Stacy McIlduff, Vice President of Development and External Affairs at SUNY Schenectady. “It was the call we all hope for.” The call, from an anonymous SUNY Schenectady donor, resulted in the second largest gift in the college’s 51-year history. McIlduff sees the gift as a result of best practices...
Written by Jessica Browning, MBA, Principal and Executive Vice President Donors are giving. It’s a message we’ve been sending since the early days of the pandemic. But we’re revising that message based on what we’ve seen in the past month. Donors aren’t just giving…they’re stretching. It’s why we’re predicting that nonprofits will see substantial major gifts...
Written by Sarah Evans Sprinkle, Senior Consultant KPIs As fundraisers, you’ve probably read every article on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure fundraising success. But those KPIs probably aren’t the best measure of success in a 2020 that has thrown us all some real curveballs. Because the Winkler Group has had the opportunity to serve...
Written by Courtney Brady, Senior Consultant Homecoming is a vital event for alumni relations and development. But thanks to COVID-19, most schools are cancelling or postponing their celebrations. So how do you connect with alumni, cultivate high-level donors, and keep them connected to your school without being face to face? Here are a few ways...
Written by Jim Bush, Principal and President You can raise significantly more money each year by just keeping your current donors happy and fulfilled. A 1% increase in retention rates can mean as much as $123,000 in new revenue next year. Donor retention isn’t hard. Clearly it’s worthwhile. So why are we, as fundraising professionals,...
The generous will prosper: those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
(Proverbs 11:25)