The Future of Fundraising
Welcome to the Future of Fundraising.
Last week, I introduced the concept of the ‘Messy Middle’ and the response has been amazing - both with folks writing in to tell me about their ‘Messy Middle’ stories, and for the webinar Givzey’s Emily Groccia is hosting later this week.
The conversations my team and I have had with many of you in the last week, though, have been about more than just what could go wrong to delay closing a gift. They’ve also been about what can go right and scale across all fundraising programs if we can solve the ‘Messy Middle.’
This is where the conversation turns from the ‘Messy Middle’ being a problem worth solving to the ‘Messy Middle’ being a problem worth solving now.
When organizations solve their ‘Messy Middle,’ not only do they make the donor experience better, but they also see growth that scales revenue. For example, when the ‘Messy Middle’ is solved, it’s easy to accept donor pledges, regardless of the size of the gift. And, when pledges can scale, suddenly, it’s easy and worthwhile to spread multi-year giving to donors at all levels of giving – a strategy that deepens connections by changing the fundraiser-donor relationship to one of stewardship, rather than solicitation cycles.
Solving the ‘Messy Middle’ unleashes a chain reaction for strategic fundraising leaders, frontline fundraisers, advancement services professionals, and donors.
To learn more about the ‘Messy Middle,’ join us on Thursday, April 4 at 2:00 PM ET where we’ll go into depth about why it exists, what can be done about it, and why it’s a problem worth solving now.
Here’s what’s on my radar this week:
[WEBINAR] The Messy Middle
Thursday, April 4 at 2:00 PM ET
In fundraising, the solicitation stage is a carefully crafted series of engagements that leads a donor from proposal to stewardship.
However, the steps between a verbal commitment and closing the gift are anything but simple. This stage is filled with:
All of these tasks create a lengthy process that leaves donors waiting.
This?"Messy Middle,"?which begins after a fundraiser secures a commitment, is where the donor experience becomes most at risk.
Join Givzey as we walk you through commitment to close and show you best practices for eliminating donor risk and streamlining commitments through the?Messy Middle. (SAVE YOUR SEAT)
Attract and Retain Donors with Gift Agreement Management
Nonprofit donors and partners have high expectations in today’s fast-paced world, where convenience and flexibility are paramount. They crave personalized engagement complemented by simple, digital solutions that simplify their donation experience.?
Organizations that fail to adapt to this shift risk frustrating their prospect pool, and will miss out on retaining donors, as well as capturing valuable data. Recent research shows decreased donor retention across the industry, and increased challenges in acquiring new donors?– the need for change is clear.?(KEEP READING)
Fundraising’s “Eureka” Breakthrough. Whispers of Nobel Prize. (The Agitator)
Roger M. Craver writes: In a groundbreaking collaboration Kevin Schulman and the DonorVoice team of behavioral scientists, along with a medical team at the National Institutes of Health have achieved the unimaginable: genetically decoding the Five Personality Traits of individual donors. (KEEP READING)
Upcoming Conferences
April
May
Fundraising Jobs
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