The Future of Fundraising

Welcome to the Future of Fundraising.

An outsider may look at fundraising and assume that January is a slow time, but really, it’s one of the most exciting times. January is when strategy and execution meet all of the learnings from the past 12 months. It’s when we move plans into action and set out to reach our largest goals.

January is also when conference season begins. If you will be at any of the following conferences in January and February, my team and I would love to meet you to show you our newest learnings about the correlation between elevating the donor experience and digital gift documentation. Let us know.

January

• Jan 21-23: CASE-NAIS - Austin, TX
• Jan 24: AFP NYC - New York, NY
• Jan 28-30: AGB Foundational Leadership Forum - Los Angeles, CA

February

• Feb 4-6: CASE District III - Orlando, FL
• Feb 11-13: CASE District II - Baltimore, MD

Here’s what’s on my radar this week.

[RESEARCH] Advancement Moving Forward: The State of Advancement and Alumni Relations

Thursday, January 17 at 2:00 PM ET

Givzey and Washburn & McGoldrick would like to invite you to our webinar next Thursday, where Carla Willis and Steve Devlin will present the firm's latest findings from its Advancement Moving Forward Series.

Come learn:

• 65% of Advancement Leaders Expect to Reach Their Financial Goals - is this a good stat?
• Barriers to Engagement - What assumptions are getting in the way of meaningful connections with donors?
• Team-Building - How do we work better as more and more teams go hybrid?

Register here and join us on Thursday, January 17 at 2:00 PM ET.

The New Acquisition: Don’t Miss out in 2024 (The Agitator)

As Roger M. Craver writes in The Agitator, “Retention is the new acquisition.”

One of the eternal mysteries here at the Agitator is why so many fundraisers ignore the issue of donor retention in favor of an obsessive focus on donor acquisition. They’re whistling past the graveyard of declining acquisition returns and rising costs. Even back in 2012 when we launched the three-year study of donor behavior that led to the book Retention Fundraising: The New Art and Science of Keeping Your Donors for Life most fundraisers in the sector were aware that donors were hitting the exits in record numbers.

In that book, and in hundreds of Agitator posts over the next decade we’ve offered up researched and tested measures to help organizations hang on to their donors. Even back then we knew, in Kevin’s words, “Retention is the New Acquisition.” (KEEP READING)

Givzey Surpasses $3 Million in Gift Agreements Under Management on Platform as Fundraising Leaders Take Action to Grow Giving Pipelines

Givzey, nonprofit fundraising’s first and only Gift Agreement Platform, has surpassed $3 Million in gift agreements managed on the platform in less than eight months of the solution’s launch.

In November 2023, Givzey crossed the $1 Million threshold for gift agreements under management on the platform. In the short time since, the fundraising solution has received amazing accolades from users. For example:

• A fundraiser who secured a $150,000 major gift pledge agreement and easily split it over a five-year commitment.
• A university that moved seven Docusign agreements worth $200,000, which had been stagnant for months, into Givzey – and $150,000+ were confirmed by the next day.
• A fundraiser who used an end-of-year solicitation to secure a donor’s $10,000 annual commitment, and also book their pledge for the following year at the same time.
• A major gift officer who turned her donor’s annual $5,000 commitment into a $15,000 three-year pledge.

Nonprofits use Givzey to send an average of 15 multi-year gift pledges each month and secure hundreds of thousands of dollars through the platform. Users see 72% of gift agreements confirmed within 24-hours of sending, and 92% confirmed within seven days – thanks to Givzey’s automated reminders. (KEEP READING)

[ON-DEMAND] Pledges and Gift Documentation for Independent Schools

If you missed our webinar with Miss Porter’s School ahead of CASE-NAIS, here’s your chance to see it on-demand. In the webinar, Cristina Dieguez-Kou walked us through how Miss Porter’s School is simplifying the pledge process with Digital Gift Agreements and scaling pledges to donors of all sizes, across the giving pyramid.

Watch on-demand to learn how scaling pledges with digital gift agreements unlocks multi-year giving, easy DAF acceptance, and a world-class donor experience. (WATCH HERE)

Upcoming Fundraising Conferences

January

• Jan 21-23: CASE-NAIS - Austin, TX
• Jan 24: AFP NYC - New York, NY
• Jan 28-30: AGB Foundational Leadership Forum - Los Angeles, CA

February

• Feb 4-6: CASE District III - Orlando, FL
• Feb 11-13: CASE District II - Baltimore, MD

Fundraising Jobs

If you have jobs you would like posted in the Future of Fundraising newsletter, please email [email protected] with your requests.

• Assistant Director of Employee Engagement and Development | University of Illinois | Urbana, IL | APPLY>>>
• Senior Director, Office of Philanthropic Partnerships | MIT | Cambridge, MA | APPLY>>>
• Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations $133,500 - $146,500 | Northern Michigan University Foundation | Marquette, MI | APPLY>>>

See what else the future holds for fundraising today>>>