10 key characteristics of top performing fundraising directors

Fundraising Directors are crucial for success. This incredible mastermind, known as Head of Fundraising in some countries, is in control of a massive budget and responsible for providing the organisation with the resources to do what it is supposed to. If you know how complex fundraising management is, you also know the sheer power of the Fundraising Director. (S)he controls information, makes everyday decisions, prioritises activities, inspires the team and sets the overall direction. At least, that's what they should...

Invest. Experience. Loyalty. Retention. Income. Repeat.

If you are able to keep your donors longer, you will raise more funds for your cause. Simple as that.

The simplest way I can explain it:

We invest in our staff and our fundraising programs. This should result in the best possible experience for both potential and existing donors. This influences satisfaction, commitment and trust, which constitute the donor’s attitude towards the charity. In other words: increased donor loyalty. This leads to the desired behaviour: higher retention rates. In turn this results in more income, which can be invested again. In projects for our beneficiaries, in staff and our fundraising program. And repeat.

A retention vision like Billie Holiday

Across the charity sector we literally spend days on the creation of boardroom presentations, we meet for hours in cross-functional working groups, and the other half of the day we're either in one-on-one or team meetings... We're all taking selfies. It's all Me, Myself and I. But we're looking the wrong way... we should be taking pictures of our donors. All those snapshots will tell us a story about who they are and what they want.

25 awesome fundraising quotes

Often we hear great quotes capturing the essence of the message. They are inspiring! They remind us of the important reasons why we work for charity and how we should do it, or how best practice would describe it…

In December I attended The Annual Lectures, where an awesome line-up of speakers was challenged to deliver their message in 30 minutes. This forced them to be to the point. And I heard some great quotes.

YOU are the reason for your results

Today I want to share what I think is the single most important ingredient for fundraising success. This ingredient can make it, or break it. It’s the multiplier effect. It’s the most powerful element in your fundraising program. Every fundraising program has at least one, some have more, but nobody seems to have enough. Some are good. Some are considered good, but are in fact not.

You’ve guessed it. I’m talking about The Fundraiser. Yes, you.

the fundraiser, opinionReinier SpruitSeptember 12, 2013Charlie Hulme, Adrian Sargeant, Jen Shang, the fundraiser

Essentials of donor loyalty

There are a trillion fundraising topics to choose from, but today I’ve chosen one I consider the most important: donor loyalty.

When I started to use Twitter I decided to tweet only about fundraising. To boost my followers I thought I'd summarize the best Tiny book in the series: Essentials of Donor Loyalty from professor Adrian Sargeant. In the end I tweeted the tiniest summary of the book ever done... in 71 tweets.