We Read it So You Don’t Have to: Giving USA’s Annual Report

You’ve most likely heard about Giving USA’s annual report on the state of philanthropy — a massive deep-dive into all things fundraising: who gives, how much they give, who they give to, how they give it, and how it all compares to previous years. At 402 pages, it’s not a quick read. Here’s their infographic with key […]

Is Your Nonprofit’s “Check Engine” Light on?

Has the CHECK ENGINE light in your car ever come on? As car issues go, it can be pretty minor. It might require nothing more than adjustment of the gas cap. Or it might indicate that your car needs a significant repair! All you know is what you can see — that one warning light. […]

3 Ways to Attract Gifts from Donor-Advised Funds

Has your organization adopted any new strategies to attracts gifts from donor-advised funds (DAFs)? Donors love these accounts. They can deposit funds (as little as $5,000) and immediately take the full charitable tax deduction. The assets then grow tax-free, and donors can make grants from them any time they wish. There are a couple of […]

Hey, That’s Pretty Cool.

There’s a great new resource in Austin for nonprofits. (And we aren’t just saying that because we helped make it happen!) Last year, consultants (like us) who serve Austin’s nonprofit community began meeting regularly. We learned quickly that there are a lot of us — and we cover a lot of ground. Some of us are […]

3 Tips to Tax-Law-Proof Your Fundraising

Are you making any changes to your fundraising plan in consideration of the new tax law? It’s tough to turn on a dime, we know. It’s hard to rethink your schedule, messages and tactics when no one is precisely sure what the ramifications will be. We all want to believe that — tax law or […]

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Your Donor Data

What’s the state of your donor database? Here are some of the answers we’ve heard from our clients: “We’ve got board members from the 80s. Event attendees from the 90s. It’s hard to hack through all of it to find anything useful.” “We don’t know who anyone is — we have names and gift amounts, but […]

Make Your Donor the Hero, Not the Sidekick

A few of you reached out to us after our last email to ask what we meant when we said “Show your donors … what their gifts do. They want to help people. They want to change the world. Show them how their gifts make that happen.” Do you want to know how to make your […]

Where the Money’s Coming From

You’ve heard Tip O’Neill’s famous phrase “all politics is local.” Here’s the fundraising version: All giving is personal. The latest GivingUSA report on philanthropy in the US was released last month (here’s a digest infographic of the key findings, if you’re into that sort of thing), and it confirmed what many past reports have found: individual giving is […]

Don’t Wish. Plan.

When it comes to fundraising, are you guilty of wishing instead of planning? Lots of intelligent, experienced professionals are. They fall into the trap of simply believing that they’ll raise more money, year over year, just because that’s what they hope will happen. You’ll hear them say things like this: “We raised $200,000 last year, so we should be […]

The Secret to Amplify Austin Success

Happy New Year! We hope you’re ready to face 2017 with enthusiasm and a renewed sense of purpose. It’s never easy to change the world! Keep that in mind, and remember that your steady efforts are making good things happen. Speaking of steady efforts … that’s actually why we’re writing to you today. Because in […]

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